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.”
$250 million
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.
$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.
$1 Million
Buddy Holly was a singer-songwriter from Lubbock, Texas, he was the classic all-American boy of that time. Although his commercial success lasted only about a year and a half before his tragic death, in that short amount of time he created famous hits like: "That'll Be the Day," "Rave On," "Everyday," "Oh Boy," and "Peggy Sue."
Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959, at the young age of 22 in an airplane crash which also claimed the lives of fellow musicians Ritchie Valens, J.P. Richardson, and the pilot, Roger Peterson. At the time of his death, Holly had a net worth of what is equal to $1 million today.
$275 million
Known by her stage name, Lady Gaga, this artist is a singer, songwriter, and actress. She is widely recognized for her wild fashion and provocative work. Getting her start performing in school plays and at open mics around NYC, Lady Gaga attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, before dropping out to pursue her music career full time. She got signed to Def Jam Recordings but they ultimately canceled the contract. After that, Gaga began writing songs for Sony/ATV Music Publishing. That is where Akon got her a deal with Interscope Records and his own label, KonLive Distribution. She became a household name the following year, with her album, The Fame.
She has sold over 27 million albums and 146 million singles, which makes lady Gaga one of the best-selling music artists of all time.