Most financially successful prog artist?

However, I always considered prog rock musicians as toiling away for their craft, and not being particularly successful in terms of personal wealth. 

Who might be the wealthiest of the prog rock artist community?  

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.

Dang I was almost right on the money!

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!

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.

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! 

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).