Most financially successful prog artist? - Progressive Rock Music Forum

I wonder if Christian Vander is well-off with Magma ??

Jon Anderson was also involved in several hit singles unlike Peter Hamill. Owner of a Lonely Heart, Wondrous Stories, I Hear You Now, I'll Find My Way Home and State of Independence. These still get plenty of airplay so you'd think that might generate a reasonable level of royalties. It all depends on how careful he's been in managing the rights to his back catalogue I suppose. I'd always assumed he was pretty astute as he used to be known as The Hippy with the Iron Hand!

"And now...on the drums...Mick Underwooooooooood!!!"

"He's up the pub"

Cactus Choir wrote:

Jon Anderson must have got really stiffed for the Yes royalties if he has less than Peter Hamill. JA was on several mega selling Yes albums including 90125 the biggest of the lot. VDGG were briefly big in Italy in the early 70s, but as far as major commercial success goes I thought that was about it. Has Jon had a few costly divorces like Rick?

Jon was only married once before his current wife but that was a while ago(so only one divorce). I don't really know what the deal is but none of his solo albums have really sold much(none probably more than 50,000 copies).

With VDGG you are pretty much on the money. However, they were a lot bigger in Europe(and the UK)than in the US(where they only played a few times).

From what I understand artists don't really make much money from album sales at all. It's mostly from touring. Money from album sales goes mostly to the record companies, producers etc. Most artists make most of their money from touring. As such they need to be very careful and save a lot(especially for a situation like what we are facing now when touring isn't possible).

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - May 30 2020 at 04:30

richardh wrote:

Googled a few more net worth estimates

Jean Michel Jarre $100 mill

Mike Oldfield $45 mill

Ian Anderson $40 mill

Pete Hammill $19 mill

Jon Anderson $12 mill

Rick Wakeman $10 mill (this one surprises me! , thought he was penniless after all the divorce's!)

Steve Howe $10 mill

Carl Palmer $10 mill

Vangelis $2.5 mill

Peter Baumann $1.2 mill

the difference between J M Jarre and Vangelis is striking! Also Peter Hammill at $19 mill is very interesting if anything like true. How did that happen?! VDGG never had a top 75 album in the UK!

Out of those the one that really surprises me is Peter Hammill. Wow. I thought his would be a lot less. Conversely, I would think Rick Wakeman's would be a lot more because of his tv shows, comedy tours etc not to mention his plethora of albums. I suppose divorces have hurt him financially as was stated earlier. Hey Rick get a prenup next time! LOL

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - May 30 2020 at 04:25

Tom Ozric wrote:

^ Hammill more than Jon Anderson ? Impossible !!

Hi,

Not really ... he has way more albums to show for his efforts than Jon does ... and in Europe, PH is a big sell and the main reason why he doesn't mind doing shows at his age ... still strong after 50 years, though a slightly forced retirement due to some issues around the world, has slowed him down ... but I'm sure that we will see at least an album or two in the future.

Unlike Jon, though, I think that PH has had control of his music for a long time ... and this makes a huge difference. Jon still has to fight with his band members to get his part, it looks like.

Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com

Googled a few more net worth estimates

Jean Michel Jarre $100 mill

Mike Oldfield $45 mill

Ian Anderson $40 mill

Pete Hammill $19 mill

Jon Anderson $12 mill

Rick Wakeman $10 mill (this one surprises me! , thought he was penniless after all the divorce's!)

Steve Howe $10 mill

Carl Palmer $10 mill

Vangelis $2.5 mill

Peter Baumann $1.2 mill

the difference between J M Jarre and Vangelis is striking! Also Peter Hammill at $19 mill is very interesting if anything like true. How did that happen?! VDGG never had a top 75 album in the UK!

I’d say the guys in Iron Maiden are pretty comfy......

Catcher10 wrote:

I've looked at these figures before just for curiosity sake, just Googled again.

Net Worth:

Roger Waters = $310 Million (why on earth is he bitchin' so much!!!)

Phil Collins = $260 Million

David Gilmour = $175 Million

Peter Gabriel = $90 Million

Neil Peart = $42 Million

Geddy Lee = $40 Million

Alex Lifeson = $35 Million

Robert Fripp = $10 Million

I'm sure these figures are estimates, but even if off by 5% is a lot of moolah.

Dang I was almost right on the money!

Porg for short. My love of music doesn't end with prog! Feel free to discuss all sorts of music with me. Odds are I'll give it a chance if I haven't already! :)

M27Barney wrote:

Gabriel would also have inherited shed loads, as would phillips, Rutherford and Banks...

I think the difference with Mike and Tony is they didn't have nearly as massive solo careers as Peter or Phil, so their looking at the majority of their wealth coming from Genesis alone while Phil and Peter make a lot off of Genesis and their solo stuff (though Peter probably doesn't make that much off of Genesis so he's probably less wealthy than Phil).

Poor Steve Hackett, out of the band before the big money and never ventured into hit-making himself. At least he's got the respect and adoration of Genesis fans everywhere and an excellent solo career in terms of prog.

Porg for short. My love of music doesn't end with prog! Feel free to discuss all sorts of music with me. Odds are I'll give it a chance if I haven't already! :)

Whoever gets to perform at stadiums rather than theater halls gets to be the wealthiest so it could be any of the above (except for Gabriel).