Rock Stars Who Are Surprisingly Poor

It's easy to assume that every single rock star out there is rolling in cash. After all, we've heard them on Spotify, seen them rock out on stage night after night, witnessed them grace the covers of magazines, and seen them dominate online celebrity news. Someone that visible and audible just has to have a pretty sizable fortune, right? 

Strangely, that's not always the case. While it's certainly true that many rock stars have earned hefty sums during their careers, they're also, well, rock stars. The sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll lifestyle does not always breed paragons of financial responsibility, and the music industry itself is volatile enough that anyone who's not keeping tabs on their cash flow can easily find themselves repeatedly drawing the short straw in matters of money. As such, many of the world's most recognizable musicians have significantly less money in their bank accounts than you might expect. Let's take a look at rock stars who are surprisingly poor.

Chan Marshall, who you might know better as Cat Power, is one of the premier indie music success stories of the late 1990s and early 2000s. By the time 2012 rolled around, she was a revered artist who managed to sell out venues wherever she went, and even had a Top-10 Billboard album. That's the kind of career that not only makes people assume financial security, but actually root for it. After all, isn't it nice that an indie musician can secure such a huge slice of the success pie? 

Imagine everyone's surprise, then, when Power canceled her upcoming 2012 European tour due to the fact that she had gone bankrupt. To be fair, Power had some understandable reasons for her unfortunate financial situation, including a history of addiction and mental health issues. Some of those led to hospitalization, which necessitated wallet-hurting tour and show cancellations. In 2012, she had spent most of her savings on producing her hit album, "Sun," when she was struck down by angioedema, a potentially life-threatening immune disorder that swells up the face, tongue, and throat. Fortunately, she recovered, and seems to be doing a lot better in recent years, with new tours and albums coming through.

Despite ending his monthly residency at Madison Square Garden in 2024, with scores of hit songs it's not like Billy Joel wallows in poverty. Still, even a wealthy entertainer feels it when someone embezzles him out of tens of millions of dollars. That was exactly what happened to Joel, courtesy of Frank Weber, his former manager. 

The ridiculous numbers involved were revealed in 1989, when Joel sued Weber for a whopping $90 million, $30 million of which was compensation for money that Weber had allegedly squandered, and the remaining $60 million was punitive damages for the multiple ways the manager had reportedly defrauded the singer-songwriter. According to the lawsuit, Weber had given huge loans to his own enterprises in Joel's name, lost over $10 million on various investments, and even mortgaged the artist's copyrights without bothering to mention it — all the while pulling strings to make the papers Joel received massively misleading. Oh, and while he was doing all this, the former manager was happily raking in $20 million of the singer's money in commissions.   

Joel's quest for comeuppance didn't exactly go well, as Weber cunningly filed for bankruptcy and the case was ultimately settled out of court. Oddly, this wasn't even the first time the Weber family had hurt the singer: In 1982, Billy Joel had a painful divorce from Frank Weber's sister Elizabeth, who ironically also used to manage Joel. "I hooked up with the Borgias!" the Piano Man would later exclaim to Fred Schruers, the author of "Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography" (via Page Six). 

It's probably fair to say that Ron Isley of the Isley Brothers (of "Twist and Shout" fame) isn't the greatest taxpayer on earth. The star was charged with five counts of tax evasion (and one "willful failure to file a tax return") in 2006, which netted him three years and one month behind bars, along with $3.1 million in back taxes. This was the last straw in a history of IRS troubles, to the point that the judge called him a "serial tax avoider" (via Billboard).

The singer's history with money — and the IRS in particular — is certainly less than exemplary. He first filed for bankruptcy in 1984. The second time came in 1997, when the IRS had enough with his antics and seized a bunch of his property, including cars and a yacht. In 2001, Isley was discharged from bankruptcy, but promptly failed to file his tax returns for those four years and cheated on his return for 2002. Fortunately, his 2006 prison sentence taught him his lesson and put him back on the straight and narrow ... that is, if one ignores that Isley was still fighting the IRS in 2013, and his earliest tax return troubles go all the way back to 1971. Hey, at least he's consistent.

Grizzly Bear broke through in 2006, and according to a 2012 interview with Vulture, they went from playing at diners for handfuls of people and "eating beef jerky from the gas station for protein" to opening for Radiohead, having their music featured in Super Bowl ads, and being praised by Jay-Z. Still, years of indie prestige, sold-out venues, and critical acclaim didn't make the band super-rich. In fact, according to singer Ed Droste, they didn't make it close to any kind of wealth at all. 

At the time of their 2012 interview, the band members still lived in the same places they did pre-fame, and some of them didn't even have health insurance. While Droste admitted they're getting by, he said that the fact that no one's buying records anymore makes "bands appear so much bigger than they are," and noted that even the seemingly lucrative act of licensing a song (for advertisements and suchlike) only brought the band members financial security at a "Yay, I don't have to pay rent for two months" level. 

Grizzly Bear generated most of their revenue by touring, but after agents, managers, tour staff, venues, and others have taken their share, the band members' bank accounts are apparently nothing to write songs about. To make things easier on their wallet, they managed to cut costs by only sleeping in hotels occasionally and generally treating the whole operation as a "risky small business." While the band has not officially split up as of late 2024, they haven't done much since 2019, although rumors of a reunion have swirled around.

You probably know several Sly & the Family Stone songs, even if you don't necessarily know their singer. Sly Stone and his group were a mainstay of the late 1960s and early 1970s music scene, and songs like "Dance to the Music" and "Everyday People" remain pop culture benchmarks. As the front man and primary songwriter of the group, it's easy to think that Stone would be rolling in the same kind of cash many other superstars of the era do. Instead, in 2011, he was rolling in his camper van ... that he also lived in. 

It appears that around 2007, Stone was still indeed living the kind of life you'd expect from a star of his caliber, with a huge house, a vineyard in Napa Valley, and multiple cars. However, it appears that the combination of hefty drug misuse issues and some financial difficulties, including a $50 million lawsuit against his former manager, eventually left him in a bad place. While Stone himself claimed to quite enjoy the transient van life, his situation was reportedly less than idyllic. Luckily, Stone's finances have somewhat improved from those days thanks to the Music Modernization Act, which dragged copyright law kicking and screaming to the modern age — and in the process netted Stone some no doubt welcome streaming royalties. 

Despite being one of country music's biggest and longest-tenured artists, Willie Nelson has surprisingly little to show for himself. To be fair, he is still a millionaire, but compared to the hundreds of millions — or even billionaire status — enjoyed by the richest artists, Nelson's relatively humble estimated wealth of $25 million is still a little surprising for such an established name.

A lot of Nelson's difficulties stem from his issues with the IRS, which once hit him with a ridiculous $16.6 million bill, and while Nelson's lawyer negotiated it down to a "mere" $6 million, it didn't make the sum any more affordable for the artist. Things eventually escalated to a point where the IRS confiscated basically everything Nelson owned in 1990, and the poor country star had to spend years in a tax-debt limbo. At one point, Nelson even released an album called "Who'll Buy My Memories? The IRS Tapes" in an effort to raise money to pay the Man.  

To be fair, Nelson's finances were somewhat rocky even without the IRS, as the country legend had a habit of keeping a huge entourage and distributing his cash readily to hangers-on, sometimes to the point where he himself had little left. 

Fronted by Richard Ashcroft, British rock band The Verve broke through in 1997 with their hit single "Bitter Sweet Symphony." The song utilized a brief snippet from an orchestral rendition of The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time," taken from a 1965 oddity "The Rolling Stones Songbook," an album full of easy-listening versions of Stones songs that was the brainchild of the band's then-manager, Andrew Loog Oldham. 

While it wasn't the band's only hit, it was their biggest. When "Bitter Sweet Symphony" rocketed up the charts, Ashcroft heard from Alan Klein, the Stones' fearsome one-time manager, who still held the rights to the band's early songs — including "The Last Time." Klein demanded 100% of the royalties; facing an expensive, uphill legal battle, the band felt there was no choice but to cave in, and Ashcroft was paid a mere $1,000. After Klein's 2009 death, his son took over ABKCO, the company that held the copyright for that song. "I'm coming for that money," Ashcroft said in a 2018 interview with Consequence of Sound's "Kyle Meredith With ..." podcast. "Someone stole god knows how many million dollars off me in 1997, and they've still got it." 

In 2019, more than 20 years after the song's release, Ashcroft took to social media to reveal that Richards and Jagger had made the "magnanimous gesture" of signing over their songwriting credits to him. Billboard estimated that Klein's shenanigans cost Ashcroft somewhere in the range of $5 million in royalties.

There are few rockers more emblematic of the one-hit-wonder phenomenon than Norman Greenbaum, whose 1969 hit "Spirit in the Sky" represented the zenith of his career. While he was hopeful of building upon that initial blush of success, no further hits followed. As the years passed, he struggled to maintain a career in the music biz. By 1980, he'd thrown in the towel completely, giving up music to work as a restaurant cook. "I was broke, what else could I do?" he recalled in a 2006 interview with The New York Times. 

Everything changed in 1987, when the song was licensed to appear in the movie "Maid to Order." Then, the song was front and center in the Tom Hanks-starring "Apollo 13," which led to "Spirit in the Sky" being utilized in dozens of films, TV shows, and commercial spots over the years. The royalty checks began pouring in, and Greenbaum was able to quit his job. "Well, it's not like it's made me rich, as you can see," he said, gesturing to the two-bedroom apartment he called home. "But because of 'Spirit in the Sky,' I don't have to work. So in that sense, it's a comfortable living."

As Greenbaum told Rolling Stone in 2020, he still enjoys hearing his song perk up a movie. "I'm blown away by the whole thing, really," he said. "Not because I know I'm going to make some money out of it. It's something as a performer you appreciate very much."

After exiting alt-country band Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams went solo with the critically acclaimed debut album "Heartbreaker." His success as a singer-songwriter grew, as did his fame — particularly when he married singer/actor Mandy Moore. A few years after he and Moore divorced, a 2019 exposé in The New York Times presented the stories of seven women — one of who was Moore — who characterized him as psychologically abusive. After that, Adams' once-promising career cratered.

By 2021, his career had slowed down so much that he issued an Instagram post (which he later deleted) begging for a record deal. "I know I'm damaged goods," he wrote, as reported by NME. "I'm months from losing my label, studio and my home/ I just really want a second chance to make some music ..." Continuing, Adams indicated that his financial situation had grown dire. "I'm 46 and scared I'm gonna be living in my sister's basement," he added. "If you are a label and interested please let me know." Shortly afterward, he admitted his fears to Los Angeles Magazine. "So I'm losing my life's work, and my dream of who I am, my ability to provide for myself," he said, admitting he'd contemplated selling his publishing so he wouldn't lose his rented home.

In 2024, Adams re-emerged with several new albums. He also embarked on a solo concert tour, attempting a comeback to regain the career he'd lost.

Mick Taylor was already a blues guitar wunderkind when he joined legendary rock group The Rolling Stones at age 20. Taking over lead guitar duties in 1969 after the firing and almost-immediate tragic death of Brian Jones, Taylor went on to appear in what are considered to be the band's best albums: "Let It Bleed," "Sticky Fingers," and "Exile on Main Street." He quit the Stones abruptly in 1974.

As a solo artist, Taylor never came close to matching the level of success he'd experienced with the Stones. In 2009, he gave an interview to the Daily Mail, griping about not being given songwriting credit for tracks in which he believed he'd made essential contributions. "Mick [Jagger] had promised to give me some credit for some of the songs — and he didn't," said Taylor, who claimed he hadn't received any money from the Stones since 1982; he was apparently living in a shabby home, and couldn't pay his bills.

However, Taylor's manager, Jeff Allen, Allen told NME that he'd experienced "shock, horror and disbelief" by the way the guitarist was falsely characterized. "The emphasis of the article was that Mick was some kind of run-down, down-and-out tramp living in Suffolk," he said, explaining that Taylor's home was in the midst of a reno. While details of Taylor's financial situation haven't been made public, it's a safe bet that he's not nearly as well off as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, each of whom are reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

As part of the original lineup of KISS, Ace Frehley was a founding member of the fire-breathing, face-painted foursome. Instrumental in the band's initial success, Frehley played guitar for KISS from 1973 until quitting in the early 1980s to pursue a solo career. Although his split from the band was fractious, he and bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley buried the hatchet and rejoined in 1996 for a reunion tour with the original lineup, including drummer Peter Criss. Frehley remained in KISS until parting ways in 2001, although he continued to perform with the band sporadically after that.

The years that followed were rough ones for Frehley. His solo work never came close to generating the same sort of success he'd achieved with KISS, and he experienced some severe money problems. In 2013, a report in the Journal News (via the Daily Mail) claimed that Frehley was losing his home to foreclosure, and hadn't made a mortgage payment in two years. In addition, he also owed close to $20,000 in unpaid taxes.

Looking back at his exit from KISS, Frehley wished he'd done things differently, and not quit the band that first time. "It was a stupid decision when I look back now cause I lost millions of dollars," Frehley admitted while appearing on the "Talk is Chris Jericho" podcast, as reported by Loudwire.

Bass player Glen Matlock was a founding member of the Sex Pistols. While he was there at the beginning, he didn't experience the band's greatest success and eventual flameout, due to being replaced in 1977 by doomed punk icon Sid Vicious. Interviewed by The Telegraph in 2014, Matlock observed that his exit from the Pistols came at a considerable cost to his finances. "Somewhere in the low millions," he estimated. 

While he received songwriting royalties for his work on the band's debut album, "Never Mind the Bollocks," that income did not go unnoticed by the tax authorities. "In 1983 the taxman came knocking for £35,000 to £40,000, which I didn't have," he said. "I had to remortgage my flat in the end." Looking back, Matlock regretted the decision to pay off his taxes in full, rather than waiting until he'd been able to amass some more money. "Then I wouldn't have had a massive mortgage on my shoulders at punitive interest rates when I wasn't working," he explained. At the time, he revealed what he hoped to achieve over the course of the next five to 10 years. "To pay off my mortgage," he said.

These days, Matlock remains a working musician. He joined Blondie in 2022, and since then has accompanied the band on tour.

Cass McCombs may not be a household name, but he's certainly well-known in indie rock circles. Since first making waves in the early 2000s, the singer-songwriter has released numerous albums, collaborated with the likes of DJ Khaled, and toured with bands such as The War on Drugs and Arcade Fire. His producer, Rob Schnapf, has worked with such artists as Elliot Smith and Beck.

Despite all that, McCombs is hardly living the kind of lifestyle one might associate with a rock star. "I don't really understand how any musician can afford to stay in one place. We don't make enough money to afford an apartment," he revealed in a candid interview with Vulture. 

In the modern era of music streaming, when artists such as McCombs earn a fraction of a penny per stream, money isn't exactly pouring in. "I know pretty much half of the musicians in existence have a side job of some sort," he added, admitting he was certainly not immune from that phenomenon. "I've done everything," he explained. "Worked in horse stables, rode a truck. Worked at bookstores, record stores, movie theaters. I was a projectionist. Worked in delicatessens. Did demolitions. Painting. I painted the Trump Tower one time. Folded and licked invitation envelopes."

Greg Graffin is legendary to punk fans as the front man of Bad Religion since its founding in the 1980s. He is also an evolutionary biologist with a Ph.D. from Cornell University. He's since gone on to juggle his role as punk icon with his other job as a professor at UCLA.

Thanks to his day job and the enduring popularity of Bad Religion, Graffin lives comfortably, albeit hardly lavishly. "I never purchased fancy sports cars, and so instead you go and you buy a house a little earlier than your peers," Graffin told Marketplace of the financial philosophy that's guided him throughout the years. "I was, I would say, somewhere between a well-paid professor and a university president in my values."

As Graffin mused in a "Punk Manifesto" posted on the Punx in Solidarity website, he's done reasonably well in the money department, albeit certainly not as well as people might assume. "Although I have made money from Punk, it is a modest amount when one considers the bounty that has been bestowed on the companies that promote Punk as some sort of a product to be ingested," he wrote. 

For anyone on the outside looking in, Mel B seemingly had it all. The erstwhile Scary Spice had parlayed her Spice Girls fame into TV celebrity, both in her native U.K. and in the U.S., the latter perhaps being most notably as a judge on "America's Got Talent." She also reaped the financial windfall of the Spice Girls' 2019 reunion tour. 

However, as she revealed in a 2024 interview with BBC, her divorce from her allegedly abusive ex-husband Stephen Belafonte had left her flat broke. All the money she made from that tour, she said, went to pay her ex, to whom she owed a $350,000 settlement, in addition to $5,000 each month in child support. "I wasn't just emotionally and physically abused, there was all the financial abuse too," she explained. "I didn't realize that I didn't have as much money as I thought I had. So I literally had to eat humble pie, live with my mum."

In addition to moving in with her mother, she was also forced into a lifestyle adjustment, one that required her to cut her spending significantly so she could save up enough money to move out and eventually get her own place. "But I just put my head down, worked and lived frugally and hence I've been able to buy my own house," she shared.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, is dealing with domestic abuse, or needs help with mental health issues, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

• The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

• The Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.