At the time of his death, on March 2020, Kenny Rogers was mourned around the world, and his earnings stood at an incredible $250 million. Rogers had a long career that started in the mid-1950s and continued until the the day he passed, at age 81. With over 70 hit singles on pop and country music charts, Rogers was consider an icon of American country music, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. He has received countless awards, including Grammys, ACMs, CMAs, AMAs, and even a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Rogers began in the 50s with a band called The Scholars, that played doo-wop. He left the group in 1958 and went on to join and leave several other bands during his six-decade career, writing some of his first hit songs in the 60s, after forming his band, The First Edition, in 1967. But it was in 1976 and 1977 that Rogers produced his first solo hits, including “Laura (What’s He Got That I Ain’t Got)”, and “Lucille”, which went on to sell more than 5 million copies and topped charts in twelve different countries.
$500 million
Dolly Parton got her initial success by writing songs for other people. In 1967 she made her debut album, Hello, I'm Dolly. She gained a pretty steady stream of success throughout the 1960s. She continued on as a solo artist and released a couple of duet albums as well. However, her sales peaked in the 70s and continued well into the 80s. She released more albums in the 90s, but they did not do as well.
This didn't stop her, though, and she made a comeback in 2000’s and released multiple albums on Independent labels, including albums on her own label, Dolly Records. Over the span of her career, she has a record 41 top-10 country albums, and she has 110 charted singles over the past 40 years.
$400 Million
Canadian country pop singer-songwriter and 5-time Grammy Award winner, Shania Twain, has an estimated net worth of $350 million. She has achieved major success as singer and songwriter, winning 27 Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Songwriter awards. Twain credits the time she ѕреnt wоrkіng wіth hеr fаthеr’ѕ rеfоrеѕtаtіоn buѕіnеѕѕ for giving her the solitude she needed to spark her creativity. After a long day of physical labor, shе uѕеd tо sit in the woods with only her dog and guitar, and wrіtе ѕоngѕ.
In the mid-'90s with her hit album, The Woman in Me, Twain became the most popular country music artist since Garth Brooks. That record became a multi-platinum phenomenon, selling over 9 million copies in America alone. Selling a total of 100 million records globally, Twain's the best-selling female artist in country music history and also one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Many critics of the genre regard her as the "Queen of Country Pop". Fun fact: Twain is a long-time resident of Corseaux, Switzerland, and her only son was born there as well.
$6 million
For a 17-year-old, Billie Eilish's net worth is out of this world! So far this 5-time Grammy winner has been enjoying great commercial success as a singer and songwriter.
She's known for her unconventional sense of fashion, lucky for her, she a bank account that can sustain her lavish taste. Her estimated net worth is around $6 million with no sign of stopping.
$10 Million
At a time when most popular songwriters were busy talking about love and heartache, Chicago born, Curtis Mayfield was busy writing Civil Rights songs like 1964's "Keep on Pushing" or the 1965's "People Get Ready, " which Dr. Martin Luther King has cited as one of his favorites.
In 1994 Mayfield said "everything was a song," and beyond his solo hits or the ones, he wrote the Impressions, Mayfield's hand had no shortage of Top 10 songs to write. Gladys Knight and the Pips' "On and On", the Staple Singers' "Let's Do It Again", and Tony Orlando & Dawn's "He Don't Love You [Like I Love You]" are just a few of his classics, and more contemporary songs like En Vogue's "Giving Him Something He Can Feel."