SIMON Cowell has revealed the hilarious moment his young son Eric told him to listen to One Direction.
The Britain’s Got Talent judge was previously known for his superb eye for spotting new talent.
Before rising to fame as ‘Mr Nasty’ on huge worldwide talent shows, Simon, 64, first made a name for himself on the music scene as a record producer and talent agent.
He had a string of hits in the 80’s and 90’s with the likes of Robson & Jerome and his discovery of long-time friend Sinitta.
The TV personality was also known for The X Factor which gave an initial platform to global acts such as One Direction.
However, it seems the apple didn’t fall far from the tree as the former music exec revealed his young son Eric also has an ear.
Simon recently announced his secret brand new arena tour style documentary project where he will look for the next One Direction.
Speaking on the radio for the need to find a new boy band, he revealed that his offspring is ‘obsessed’ with his former creation.
Except the young tot left his famous dad in hysterics as didn’t know the longtime talent show judge was behind their worldwide band’s success.
“My son is 10 and is now obsessed with them,” Cowell exclaimed. “He actually said to me, ‘have you heard of this band called One Direction, dad?’,”
He added: “And I went, ‘yeah, why?’ and he went, ‘yeah, they’re really, really good.’ And I went, ‘oh, thanks.'”
It was on The X Factor where Simon put together Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik after they auditioned as solo artists.
He is no stranger to discovering top talent, as the former ITV talent competition was also behind the likes of Little Mix, Leona Lewis, Olly Murs and JLS to name but a few.
Speaking on Capitol Radio’s breakfast show, he told host Jordan North: “Because we decided a year ago, there hasn’t been a successful British boy band since One Direction.
“I still think those records would have been as successful today; I think the band would have been even more successful today. And for whatever reason there hasn’t been one since them.
“So I thought, you know, with my team last year, ‘oh you know what, let’s put aside some time and just go and do what we used to do,’ which is open auditions – first come, first serve – and just see if we get lucky enough to put a band together.”
The former Pop Idol judge donned dungarees as he erected a giant billboard in London, encouraging aspiring singers to apply.
It read: “Simon needs you! Future megastars wanted for new boyband. No time wasters”
He’s teamed up with production company Box To Box films, who made the slick Netflix show Formula 1: Drive To Survive, as he returns to his “core talent discovery” roots.
“It’s exactly what I used to do,” he remarked.
“Which is you would get your team in a room – and these are all managers, producers, writers, A&R people,” It’s not singers judging singers, because I’m not a huge fan of that.
“Because the truth is, bands don’t form themselves. Somebody has to be the person to go, ‘I think you, you, you, you or you and you, whatever, will work together.’ Because they never knock on your door and say we’re here.”
He will soon launch his nationwide search to find the perfect group but without the ‘TV spectacle’.
The auditions are set to kick off in Newcastle on July 4 and 5, then move onto Liverpool on July 7 and 8.
Dublin, the hometown of former colleague Louis Walsh, will see the filming for the show arrive on July 28 and 29, and it will finish up in London for the first three days of August.
Although he’s going back to basics, Simon admitted he’s not exactly sure what he’s looking for.
He added: “I think it’ll be a mistake to say exactly what we’re looking for until we find it.
“Because like I said, you know, if we were lucky enough to find Wham! it would be, like, great! If we found another One Direction, it would be amazing.”
