SIMON COWELL - COWELL 'COULDN'T STAND' AMERICAN IDOL WINNER HICKS

Music mogul SIMON COWELL has blasted the most recent AMERICAN IDOL winner TAYLOR HICKS for lacking the talent to become a pop superstar. Cowell, who is a judge on the hit reality TV show alongside PAULA ABDUL and RANDY JACKSON, confessed last Thursday (01MAR07) he wanted to axe Hicks early on in American Idol last year (06). And British Cowell isn't surprised 30-year-old Hicks has struggled to sell records, while fellow contestant CHRIS DAUGHTRY has. He says, "They (Abdul and Jackson) loved him. I couldn't stand him. I didn't get it. "At the end of the day you have to find a bona fide recording artist. Just because you win the show doesn't mean you will sell a lot of records. Chris is the one who sold the albums, not Taylor."