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Another season of American Idol is upon is. As a result, we wanted to look back at some of the best and worst judges in the history of the show.&nbsp;

Favorite American Idol Judges

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Simon Cowell

Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television music and talent show judge, businessman, A&R executive, talent manager, television producer, and entrepreneur. He has judged on the British TV talent competition series Pop Idol, The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, and the American TV talent competition shows American Idol, The X Factor and America's Got Talent. Cowell is the principal, founder and chief executive of the British entertainment company Syco.Cowell often makes blunt and controversial comments as a television show judge, including insults and wisecracks about contestants and their singing abilities. He combines activities in both the television and music industries. Cowell has produced and promoted singles and albums for various singers whom he has taken under his wing. He is popularly known for signing successful boybands such as Westlife, One Direction and CNCO.
In 2004 and 2010, Time named Cowell one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph ranked him sixth in their list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture".

Keith Urban

Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is a New Zealand singer, songwriter and record producer well known for his work in country music. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States the following year. He found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Nashville and charted two singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Still signed to Capitol, Urban made his solo American debut in 1999 with a second eponymous album. Certified platinum in the US by the RIAA, it produced his first number one on the Hot Country Songs chart with "But for the Grace of God". "Somebody Like You", the first single from his second Capitol album Golden Road (2002), was named by Billboard as the biggest country hit of the 2000s decade. The album's fourth single, "You'll Think of Me", featuring his nephew and Australian country artist Rory Gilliatte, earned him his first Grammy Award. 2004's Be Here, his third American album, produced three more number one singles and became his highest-selling album, having earned a 4× Platinum certification. Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing was released in 2006, containing "Once in a Lifetime" as well as his second Grammy Award song "Stupid Boy". A greatest hits package entitled Greatest Hits: 18 Kids followed in late 2007. Defying Gravity and Get Closer were released on 31 March 2009 and 16 November 2010, respectively. In September 2013, he released a brand new album titled Fuse, which produced four more number ones on the Country Airplay chart, two of which are duets—one with Miranda Lambert and the other with Eric Church. A new single, entitled "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16", was released in June 2015 as the lead-off single to his eighth American studio album, Ripcord. The album later produced the Country Airplay chart number one hits "Break on Me", "Wasted Time", and "Blue Ain't Your Color", with the latter also becoming Urban's longest-reigning number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, spending twelve weeks at number one. His tenth album, Graffiti U, was released in 2018 and includes the Top 20 hit "Female".
Urban has released a total of nine studio albums (one of which was released only in Australia), as well as one album with The Ranch. He has charted 37 singles on the US Hot Country Songs chart, 18 of which went to number one, counting a duet with Brad Paisley and the 2008 single "You Look Good in My Shirt", which he previously recorded on Golden Road. Those also include his third Grammy Award-winning single "Sweet Thing" from his album Defying Gravity.
Urban is also known for his roles as a coach on the Australian version of the singing competition The Voice and as a judge on American Idol. Since 2006, he has been married to actress Nicole Kidman. In October 2013, Urban introduced his own signature line of guitars and accessories.

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), nicknamed "J-Lo", is an American actress, singer, dancer, fashion designer, producer and businesswoman. In 1991, Lopez began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on In Living Color, where she remained a regular until she decided to pursue an acting career in 1993. For her first leading role in the 1997 Selena biopic of the same name, Lopez received a Golden Globe nomination and became the first Latin actress to earn over US$1 million for a film. She went on to star in Anaconda (1997) and Out of Sight (1998), later establishing herself as the highest-paid Latin actress in Hollywood.Lopez ventured into the music industry with her debut studio album On the 6 (1999), which helped propel the Latin pop movement in American music. With the simultaneous release of her second studio album J.Lo and her romantic comedy The Wedding Planner in 2001, Lopez became the first woman to have a number one album and film in the same week. Her 2002 remix album, J to tha L–O! The Remixes, became the first in history to debut at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. Later that year, she released her third studio album This Is Me... Then, and appeared in Maid in Manhattan.
After starring in Gigli (2003), a critical and commercial failure, Lopez subsequently starred in the successful romantic comedies Shall We Dance? (2004) and Monster-in-Law (2005). Her fifth studio album, Como Ama una Mujer (2007), received the highest first-week sales for a debut Spanish album in the United States. Following an unsuccessful period, she returned to prominence in 2011 with her appearance as a judge on American Idol, and released her seventh studio album Love?. In 2016, she began starring in the crime drama series Shades of Blue and commenced a residency show, Jennifer Lopez: All I Have, at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas. Since 2017, Lopez has produced and served as a judge on World of Dance. 
With a cumulative film gross of US$3 billion and estimated global sales of 80 million records, Lopez is regarded as the most influential Latin performer in the United States. In 2012, Forbes ranked her as the most powerful celebrity in the world, as well as the 38th most powerful woman in the world. Time listed her among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018. Her most successful singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 include: "If You Had My Love", "Love Don't Cost a Thing", "I'm Real", "Ain't It Funny", "Jenny from the Block", "All I Have", and "On the Floor", which is one of the best-selling singles of all time. For her contributions to the music industry, Lopez has received a landmark star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Billboard Icon Award and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award among other honors. Her other ventures include clothing lines, fragrances, a production company, and a charitable foundation.

Randy Jackson

Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American bassist, singer, record producer, entrepreneur, and television personality.
Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing bass guitar for an array of jazz, pop, rock, and R&B performers. He moved on to work in music production and as A&R at Columbia Records and MCA Records. Jackson is best known from his appearances as the longest-serving judge on American Idol and executive producer for MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. Jackson has won a Grammy Award as a producer.

Randy Jackson is an American actor and producer who has appeared in his role in "The Simpsons" as Himself. Jackson was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2007 for "American Idol."

Harry Connick, Jr.

Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is a Grammy and Emmy-award winning American singer, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with 16 million in certified sales. He has had seven top 20 US albums, and ten number-one US jazz albums, earning more number-one albums than any other artist in US jazz chart history.Connick's best-selling album in the United States is his Christmas album When My Heart Finds Christmas (1993). His highest-charting album is his release Only You (2004), which reached No. 5 in the US and No. 6 in Britain. He has won three Grammy Awards and two Emmy Awards. He played Debra Messing's character Grace Adler’s husband, Leo Markus, on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace from 2002 to 2006.
Connick began his acting career as a tail gunner in the World War II film Memphis Belle (1990). He played a serial killer in Copycat (1995), before being cast as a fighter pilot in the blockbuster Independence Day (1996). Connick's first role as a leading man was in Hope Floats (1998) with Sandra Bullock. His first thriller film since Copycat came in the film Basic (2003) with John Travolta. Additionally, he played a violent ex-husband in Bug, before two romantic comedies, P.S. I Love You (2007), and the leading man in New in Town (2009) with Renée Zellweger. In 2011, he appeared in the family film Dolphin Tale as Dr. Clay Haskett and in its 2014 sequel.

Paula Abdul

Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American dancer, choreographer, singer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographer for the Laker Girls, where she was discovered by The Jacksons. After choreographing music videos for Janet Jackson, Abdul became a choreographer at the height of the music video era and soon thereafter she was signed to Virgin Records. Her debut studio album Forever Your Girl (1988) became one of the most successful debut albums at that time, selling 7 million copies in the United States and setting a record for the most number-one singles from a debut album on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: "Straight Up", "Forever Your Girl", "Cold Hearted", and "Opposites Attract". Her six number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 tie her with Diana Ross for seventh among the female solo performers who have topped the chart.Abdul was one of the original judges on the television series American Idol from 2002 to 2009, and has since appeared as a judge on The X Factor, Live to Dance, and So You Think You Can Dance. Notably, she received choreography credits in numerous films, including Can't Buy Me Love (1987), The Running Man (1987), Big (1988), Coming to America (1988), Action Jackson (1988), The Doors (1991), Jerry Maguire (1996), and American Beauty (1999). She has received five MTV Video Music Award nominations, winning twice, as well as receiving the Grammy Award for Best Music Video for "Opposites Attract" in 1991. She received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography twice for her work on The Tracey Ullman Show, and her own performance at the American Music Awards in 1990. Abdul was honored with her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and is the first entertainer to be honored with the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards' Hall of Fame Award.

Steven Tyler

Steven Tyler (born Steven Victor Tallarico; March 26, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and former television panelist. He is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, piano, and percussion. He is known as the "Demon of Screamin'" due to his high screams and his wide vocal range. He is also known for his on-stage acrobatics. During his high-energy performances, Tyler usually dresses in bright, colorful outfits with his trademark scarves hanging from his microphone stand.
In the 1970s, Tyler rose to prominence as the lead singer of Aerosmith, which released such milestone hard rock albums as Toys in the Attic and Rocks, along with a string of hit singles, including "Dream On", "Sweet Emotion" and "Walk This Way". By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Tyler had a heavy drug and alcohol addiction and the band's popularity waned. In 1986, Tyler completed drug rehabilitation and Aerosmith rose to prominence again when Tyler and Joe Perry joined Run-DMC for a re-make of the classic Aerosmith song "Walk This Way," which became a Top 5 hit. Aerosmith subsequently launched a remarkable comeback with the multi-platinum albums Permanent Vacation, Pump, Get a Grip and Nine Lives, which produced a combined thirteen Top 40 singles and won the band numerous awards. During this time, the band embarked on their longest and most extensive concert tours, promoted their singles with conceptual music videos and made notable appearances in television, film and video games.
In the wake of this success, Tyler emerged as one of the most enduring rock icons. Since the late 1980s, he has embarked on several solo endeavors including guest appearances on other artists' music (working with artists as diverse as Alice Cooper, Mötley Crüe, Santana, Pink and Keith Anderson), film and TV roles (including as a judge on American Idol and several cameo and guest appearances in other programs and films), authoring a bestselling book and solo work (including the Top 40 hit single "(It) Feels So Good" in 2011). While tension with his Aerosmith bandmates boiled in 2009 and 2010 after he fell off the stage at a concert, had a relapse with prescription drugs (which he successfully received treatment for in 2009), and signed on to American Idol without telling his bandmates, Tyler has continued to record music and perform with Aerosmith, after more than 48 years in the band. In 2016, Tyler released his debut solo album, We're All Somebody from Somewhere, a country rock album that included the hit single "Love Is Your Name". Tyler supported the album with the "Out on a Limb" Tour. Tyler continues to perform both solo (with the Loving Mary Band as his backing band) as well as with Aerosmith.
Tyler is included among Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers. He was ranked third on Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Aerosmith and in 2013, Tyler and his songwriting partner Joe Perry received the ASCAP Founders Award and were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen Lee DeGeneres (born January 26, 1958) is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and has hosted her syndicated television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, since 2003. Her stand-up career started in the early 1980s and included a 1986 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. As a film actress, DeGeneres starred in Mr. Wrong (1996), EDtv (1999), and The Love Letter (1999), and provided the voice of Dory in the Disney/Pixar animated films Finding Nemo (2003) and Finding Dory (2016); for Nemo, she was awarded the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first time an actress won a Saturn Award for a voice performance. In 2010, she served as a judge on the ninth season of American Idol.

Kara DioGuardi

Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi (; born December 9, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, singer, composer and television personality. She writes music primarily in the pop rock genre. DioGuardi has worked with many popular artists; sales of albums on which her songs appear exceed 160 million worldwide. DioGuardi is a Grammy and Emmy-nominated writer. She is a  2011 NAMM Music For Life Award winner, 2009 NMPA Songwriter Icon Award winner, 2007 BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year, and has received 20 BMI Awards for co-writing the most performed songs on the radio.
DioGuardi served as a judge on American Idol for its eighth and ninth seasons. In 2008, she was appointed to the position of executive vice president of talent development at Warner Bros. Records, and has signed acts such as Jason Derulo and Iyaz. In 2011, she was a head judge on the Bravo singer-songwriter competition series Platinum Hit.

Kara DioGuardi is an American actress who appeared in "The One: Making a Music Star," and "Platinum Hit."

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, record producer, and entrepreneur. Referred to as the "Songbird Supreme" by the Guinness World Records, she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style, and signature use of the whistle register. She rose to fame in the early 1990s after signing to Columbia Records and releasing her eponymous debut album, which topped the U.S. Billboard 200 for eleven consecutive weeks. Soon after, Carey became the only artist ever to have their first five singles reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, from "Vision of Love" to "Emotions".Following her marriage to Sony Music head Tommy Mottola, Carey achieved worldwide success with follow-up albums Music Box (1993), Merry Christmas (1994), and Daydream (1995). These albums spawned some of Carey's most successful singles, including "Hero", "Without You", "All I Want for Christmas Is You", "Fantasy", "Always Be My Baby", as well as "One Sweet Day", which became the longest-running U.S. number-one single in history (sixteen weeks) from 1996 until 2019. After separating from Mottola, Carey adopted a new image and incorporated more elements of hip hop into her music with the release of Butterfly (1997). Billboard named her the country's most successful artist of the 1990s, while the World Music Awards honored her as the world's best-selling recording artist of the 1990s.
After eleven consecutive years charting a U.S. number-one single, Carey parted ways with Columbia in 2000 and signed a $100 million recording contract with Virgin Records. However, following her highly publicized physical and emotional breakdown, as well as the critical and commercial failure of her film Glitter (2001) and its accompanying soundtrack, her contract was bought out for $50 million by Virgin and she signed with Island Records the next year. After a relatively unsuccessful period, she returned to the top of music charts with The Emancipation of Mimi (2005), which became the world's second best-selling album of 2005. Its single, "We Belong Together", made her the only artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 Decade-End chart twice. With the release of "Touch My Body" (2008), Carey gained her eighteenth number-one single in the United States, more than any other solo artist. The next year, she starred in the film Precious, which won her Breakthrough Actress Performance Award Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Throughout her career, Carey has sold more than 200 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the third-best-selling female artist in the United States, with 64 million certified albums. In addition to this, she is listed as the female songwriter and producer with the most number one songs in U.S. chart history. In 2012, she was ranked second on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music. Aside from her commercial accomplishments, Carey has won five Grammy Awards, nineteen World Music Awards, ten American Music Awards, and fifteen Billboard Music Awards. She has consistently been credited with inspiring a generation of singers, and is hailed as being one of the pioneers of contemporary R&B music.

Nicki Minaj

Onika Tanya Maraj (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj, is a Trinidad and Tobago-born rapper, singer, songwriter, actress, and model. Born in Saint James, Port of Spain, and raised in Queens, New York City, she gained public recognition after releasing the mixtapes Playtime Is Over (2007), Sucka Free (2008), and Beam Me Up Scotty (2009).
After signing with Young Money Entertainment in 2009, Minaj released her first studio album, Pink Friday (2010), which peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 and was ultimately certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Her second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, was released in 2012 and debuted at number one in several countries. Minaj made her film debut in the 2012 animated film Ice Age: Continental Drift. In 2013, she was a judge on the twelfth season of American Idol. Minaj's third studio album, The Pinkprint, was released in 2014. She subsequently played supporting roles in the films The Other Woman (2014) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016). Her fourth studio album, Queen, was released in 2018.
Early in her career, Minaj was known for her colorful costumes and wigs. Her rapping is distinctive for its fast flow and the use of alter egos and accents, primarily British cockney. Minaj was the first female artist included on MTV's annual Hottest MC List. In 2016, Minaj was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. As a lead artist, she has earned four top-five entries on the Billboard Hot 100: "Super Bass" in 2011, "Starships" in 2012, and "Bang Bang" and "Anaconda", both in 2014. She has accumulated the most Billboard Hot 100 entries among women of all genres. Minaj has broken other records including the most top 10 hits among women on the Billboard R&B Hip-Hop Airplay chart.Minaj has been called one of the most influential female rap artists of all time. Throughout her career, she has received numerous accolades, including six American Music Awards, 11 BET Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, a Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award, and 10 Grammy Award nominations. Minaj has sold 20 million singles as a lead artist, 60 million singles as a featured artist, and over five million albums worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists.


 
 
 Another season of American Idol is upon is. As a result, we wanted to look back at some of the best and worst judges in the history of the show.&nbsp;
 
