Rock music is a lucrative game, and it'll come as no surprise to find that the world's
most prolific rock musicians have made a ton of money over the years.
But who is the wealthiest of them all, and just what are they doing with all that money?
Dave Matthews is a self-taught musician who formed his first and only band, the Dave Matthews
Band, in 1991.
And to this day, all of the band's original members are still with him.
Their first gig was for a private party in Charlottesville, Virginia, atop a downtown
warehouse.
Three years later, the band released their first studio album, Under the Table and Dreaming,
which quickly moved up to No. 11 on Billboard's top 200 chart.
Since that first album, the Dave Matthews Band has produced a number of studio albums
and live records.
Their second live album, Live at Red Rocks, debuted at No. 3 on the charts without any
marketing efforts whatsoever, and sold over three millions copies.
Today, a number of other musicians have joined the original line-up, and the group in total
have a combined net worth of $51 million.
Notable too is that the group supports some 22 charities and foundations, including the
band's own Bama Works Fund, which supports at-risk youth and numerous other charitable
programs around Charlottesville.
In 1972, musicians Don Henley and Glen Frey were playing with Linda Ronstadt's band when
they decided to form a musical group of their own.
Two more musicians, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, joined them to form the Eagles, who
released their first album that same year.
Soon, America was singing along to such epic songs as "Take it Easy" and later, the epic
"Hotel California."
In 1998, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, by which point the
group consisted of Henley, Frey, Leadon, and Meisner, as well as Joe Walsh, Don Felder,
and Timothy B. Schmit.
Following the sad death of Glen Frey in 2016, the Eagles issued a statement saying:
"Words can neither describe our sorrow, nor our love and respect for all that he has given
to us, his family, the music community and millions of fans worldwide."
Nonetheless, the Eagles have continued to tour, and some estimates place the band's
net worth at $60 million.
However, that doesn't count Don Henley's own net worth of $250 million, nor Joe Walsh who
has some $75 million.
Much of Henley's money has contributed towards charitable causes, such as the Walden Woods
project — an organization he set up in 1990 to preserve the historic Walden Pond area
in Concord, Massachusetts.
Will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Jaime "Taboo" Gomez, and Kim Hill first formed Black Eyed Pods
in 1995, but soon changed the name of the band to The Black Eyed Peas.
Their first album was produced in 1998, but it wasn't until 2003, after Hill had been
replaced by Fergie, that the group really took off.
To date the band has produced nine albums and dozens of singles, selling some 76 million
records.
Of those, their 2005 album, Monkey Business, has gone platinum four times.
And there's more.
In 2009, The Black Eyed Peas made music history by remaining No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart for 20 consecutive weeks in a row.
Their efforts have awarded them an amazing 15 nominations and six wins at the annual
Grammy awards.
The band is now worth $61 million, and donates regularly to 17 different charities.
The Black Eyed Peas' Peapod Foundation has put on concerts around the world, and their
cover of John Lennon's 'Power to the People' was released on a tribute album for Amnesty
International.
A native of New Jersey, Jon Bon Jovi was working at his cousin's music studio when he got his
first gig at age 17.
In 1983, he formed his own band: the imaginatively-titled Bon Jovi.
The band owed its popularity to its knack for crafting punchy power ballads, filled
with catchy melodies and crazy guitar riffs.
By the mid-1980's, Bon Jovi was not only one of the hottest hair bands around, but quickly
became one of the biggest American rock bands of all time.
Even better, the group has since demonstrated the know-how to change their music to fit
audience tastes over time.
Bon Jovi actually once made $200 million alone from just 74 shows.
The band itself is now worth some $125 million in total, but that doesn't include Jon Bon
Jovi's personal wealth.
The money enabled Jon Bon Jovi to form his own Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation to help feed
the hungry in New Jersey, which now has two Soul Kitchen locations.
As for Jon Bon Jovi, he still works at the Soul Kitchen, where he keeps things ticking
over by washing the dishes.
His own net worth is estimated to be around $410 Million.
"The way to feel good is to do good.
You know, find your good and do it."
In 1976, Irish teenager Larry Mullen Jr. posted a note on his school's bulletin board seeking
musicians for a band.
Four boys answered: Paul Hewson, David Evans, Adam Clayton, and Dick Evans, who left the
group in 1978.
After throwing around a handful of names for the band, the boys finally settled on U2.
And although some of U2's members have come and gone over the years, the group has still
been incredibly successful.
In fact, U2 grossed a staggering $1.67 billion in ticket sales between 1990 and 2016, and
over the past three years they have earned an additional $193 million.
Their achievements got them inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, the
same year Time magazine named Bono one of the "Persons of the Year."
And in 2007, Queen Elizabeth dubbed him a knight.
Why?
Because Bono, who is worth almost $700 million himself, is a champion of global charity efforts.
Bono's main causes are ONE and (RED) — the former was set up to help fight extreme poverty,
while the latter combats AIDS and other diseases.
Many would argue that Coldplay doesn't quite fit in with the average music landscape.
They aren't quite rock or indie, and they're certainly not punk — but that's okay, according
to guitarist Jon Buckland who, along with Guy Berryman, Will Champion, and Chris Martin,
have created a sound quite like no other.
These veteran musicians first formed in London in 1996, recorded two albums on their own,
and signed with Parlophone Records in 1999.
It was their fourth album, 2000's Parachutes, that really shot them to stardom.
Three multi-platinum albums later, Coldplay found themselves playing the Super Bowl in
2016.
Sadly, the band became a sort of joke even as they shared the stage with Bruno Mars and
Beyoncé, the latter still recovering from her 2013 Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction.
Undaunted, the band masqueraded under the name Los Unidades in 2017, went on to win
awards from MTV and the Grammys, and have sold over 100 million records all over the
world.
These days Coldplay is reportedly worth a cool $475 million.
Known for their epic harmonies and jamming guitar riffs, Aerosmith's beginnings date
back to 1970, when singer Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton, and guitarists Ray Tabano and
Joe Perry came together to form one of America's hottest rock bands.
In 1972, they landed their first record deal with Columbia Records, but it wasn't until
1975 that their third album, Toys in the Attic, brought them serious success.
And that's when the party started; by the early 1980's the musicians had fully embraced
the rock and roll lifestyle.
Tyler would later explain that he blew some $20 million on drugs, even keeping a "medicine
cabinet" onstage.
In 2011, he said:
"I snorted my Porsche, my plane, and my house."
Nobody seems to have a tab on just how much Aerosmith is worth nowadays, but band members
Tyler, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, and Brad Whitford are each worth between $40 and $130
million.
The band still tours to this day.
In 1965, the band Tea Set, headed by David Gilmour, Roger "Syd" Barrett, and Roger Waters,
booked a gig at a Royal Air Force base.
To their horror, the musicians discovered there was already a band by that name on the
roster.
The boys did some quick thinking, grabbing the names of two blues artists: Pinkney "Pink"
Anderson and Floyd Council — and Pink Floyd was born.
And while one of their biggest hits, "Money," is quick to denounce the evils of cash, the
band have managed to rake plenty of it in themselves.
Following the epic success of The Wall in 1979, Pink Floyd sold nearly 121 million albums
across the globe.
The band itself says record sales are now around 250 million, and although Pink Floyd
broke up in the 1990's, their collective net worth remains at over $800 million.
David Gilmour continues to release music today, as does Roger Waters, who is worth $310 million
alone.
The guitarist also contributes a portion of his earnings to 10 charities dedicated to
some 17 causes, from needy children to conservation to peace.
A popular saying has taken off in the last few years: "we need to start worrying about
what kind of world we are going to leave for Keith Richards."
That's a testament to the fact that the musician and his band mate, Mick Jagger, were both
born in 1943, and are still rocking to this day.
Along with Charlie Watts, they are the three remaining original members of the Rolling
Stones, arguably the longest-performing rock band of all time.
Formed in 1962, the British group first stormed America in 1964 and remains one of the most
familiar names in music.
Over time, the Rolling Stones have weathered drug charges, concert violence, members' deaths
and more.
But they also have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, won three Grammys,
and watched Jagger get knighted in 2003.
And let's not forget nearly 100 million record sales worldwide, bringing their estimated
net worth to over $900 million.
The band is still touring, of course, and reportedly pulls in over $800,000 on a good
month.
Lars Ulrich formed Metallica in 1981, and was soon joined by bass player Ron McGovney,
singer/guitarist James Hetfield, and lead guitarist Dave Mustaine.
After one self-released album in 1982, the band signed with a number of different labels
over the years to produce dozens of albums with various band members.
It hasn't always been easy, though; in 1986 a tour bus crash in Sweden killed bassist
Cliff Burton after the vehicle rolled off the road.
In the years since Burton's death, Metallica has made headlines for a number of other reasons.
In 2000, for instance, the band discovered that their song "I Disappear" from the Mission:
Impossible 2 soundtrack was on the file-sharing site Napster before it was even released.
"I got a call from my office like the next day, 'it traces back to something called Napster,'
we were like 'well, they f--- with us, we'll f--- with them."
Metallica sued for copyright infringement, Napster was shut down, and thousands of music
lovers, including Metallica fans, lost their source of illegal music.
Then, in 2017 the band formed All Within My Hands, a foundation dedicated to helping out
local charities.
Today the band is worth around $1 billion — and shows no signs of slowing down.
Yeah, shocker: The Beatles are the richest band in the world.
The story of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr dates back
to 1957, when McCartney joined Lennon's group, the Quarrymen.
Add Harrison a short time later and Starr in the 1960's, and the Fab Four was born.
Fast forward through dozens of group and solo albums, seven Grammy awards, concerts, movies,
and other feats, and it's no wonder that they're generally considered the founding fathers
of pop and rock.
Today, The Beatles' combined net worth amounts to roughly $1.2 billion.
During their lifetimes both John Lennon, who died in 1980, and George Harrison, who died
in 2001, were charitable in their own rights.
Notably, Harrison's The Material World Foundation, which started in 1973, still makes donations
to numerous causes.
Paul McCartney, meanwhile, continues to support upwards of 45 charities.
As for Ringo Starr, 100% of his proceeds today go to his own Lotus Foundation to assist a
bevy of causes, including abused women, children, and animals.
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