London, Oct 16 (ANI): Pop guru Pete Waterman has claimed that he made entertainment mogul Simon Cowell.

When asked if he is jealous of Cowell's popularity, he replied that he is the one who made the X Factor boss 'what he is'.

"No, because I am glad to say that I made Simon what he is," the Sun quoted him, as saying.

"He followed me around for so many years. If you go back to the 1980s, wherever I was Simon was always somewhere very close behind. I gave him his first Christmas No1, some of his biggest acts and made him into a TV star.

"When we did that first day's filming of Pop Idol, none of us could have realised that it would ever become the biggest television show on the planet," he added.

However, the 60-year-old also hailed praises on Cowell, saying that he has done a fantastic job of the Pop Idol concept.

"If I had not known Simon, I am sure it wouldn't have worked - because I'm the one who got Simon to be Simon. I called him in and: "Sorry Simon, if I came to you with a piece of c**p, you would tell me it was a piece of c**p," he said.

"You've always got an opinion about everything and now, suddenly, you haven't got an opinion. But we have been mates for 30 years and never fallen out. What he does is fantastic.

"I take my hat off to him because I never thought he would make the Pop Idol concept work in America. I thought it was the craziest thing he had ever done. How wrong could I be!

"I don't regret not going with him to the States though, my personal circumstances meant that I couldn't. Also I knew my TV career was over, but being 20 years younger he was the perfect age," he said. (ANI)