Which artist with the lowest profile made the most amount of money and had success? ie an artist you may hardly know about who actually performed their music, not songwriters who wrote for others which is common not to know of. I haven't got a clue!
I'll start with Sade, for one thing that's low profile is they have only put out 6 records in 36 years. Two record only in the last 20 years. They also don't do that many tours over the past 25 or so years. So how does not working much earn them so much money? Good product and a good contract!!! When they signed with Epic, epic wasn't even the highest bidder, but they where also able to have freedom. They did a unheard of contract with them, they got 15% of all record sales, $75,000 up front to sign, and not forced into a specific number of records in a given time. Epic looked at it as we got nothing to loose signing them and can see how it goes. Most artist get pennies for record sales and earn most their money on ticket sales touring. Sade's US certified sales so far stand at 23.5 million units according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and have sold more than 75 million records worldwide to date. The band were ranked at No. 50 on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
Very difficult to be virtually unknown and have success at the same time - the only one I can think of offhand is Russ Ballard who has released about 10 solo albums , but his main success is from interpretations by other artists . Another one is Graham Lyle who has recorded with M;cGuinness Flint, Gallagher & lyle and solo but his main income surely comes from hits other people had with his songs (from wikipedia: "Between 1970 and 1997, he co-wrote 18 British Top 40 hits, 8 Billboard Hot 100 entries, 4 US Country No.1s and 1 US Adult Contemporary No.1, as well as 3 Australian chart-toppers.")
Nick Lowe could be a contender. He made a lot of money through having a track on The Bodyguard soundtrack.
I'll go with John Densmore of The Doors. All four members of the band received 1/4 of the publishing of almost all of the songs the band released (even though Densmore didn't write or co-write any of the songs to my knowledge).
Carole Bayer Sager has released 3 solo albums but her main source of income is from the hits other people had with her songs (many co-written with her former husband Burt Bacharach). also Paul Williams , who has recorded his own songs but made his money from his songs being recorded by other people (Carpenters etc)
He said you may not have even heard of, but yet also said, have a low profile and made the most amount of money and had success. Kinda hard to make lots of money and be successful and not be known at all.
Similar to Nick Mason and John Densmore > John Paul Jones and John Deacon (who I think wrote Another one bits the dust )
Sade was the first artist that sprung to my mind having read a book about Live Aid recently, I never realised exactly how popular/successful she/they were.
Bill Champlin has recorded with his first band Sons of Champlin , and later Chicago, of,course , while also releasing solo albums , his songs have been recorded by Patti LaBelle, Lou Rawls, Elton John, Boz Scaggs, Donna Summer, Nancy Wilson, George Benson, Jimmy Smith, Amy Grant, Neil Diamond and Kenny Rogers
According to wikipedia soundtrack composer Hans Zimmer is worth € 185 million - he also performs his songs on stage Hans Zimmer Live
Maybe ones that are also prolific producers, songwriters for other artists and /or session musicians. Trevor Horn is worth 90 million. Brian Eno is worth 60 million.
"Andrew Lloyd Webber Net Worth: Andrew Lloyd Webber is a British composer and impresario of theatre who has a net worth of $1.2 billion." Andrew delegates very well.
Yes but I was talking about actual performers as well. I'm guessing he made the bulk of his money with Elton John,I havent googled but did he bring out his own solo albums?
In the 50+ years since Genesis started, I don’t think Tony Banks has ever said a single word on stage. Hard to be much lower-profile.
Tom Waits? Is very rich from a lawsuit he won. Well-known and critically acclaimed but not really a huge seller.
Actually a classic example is staring me in the face....the kid I grew up literally next door to. Tim Gane of Stereolab. His family moved in the next house to mine when I was a kid in 1976.I was mainly friends with his brother and sister as Timmy as we knew him then was 7 years older than me and didnt play in our street games much. He's done alright for himself to say the least and isnt exactly famous.
