What Was Metal Church Singer Mike Howe's Net Worth When He Died?

If you haven't heard yet, you're hearing it now. Mike Howe of Metal Church died on July 26, 2021, as was made clear by the band's "farewell" Facebook post for their now late lead singer. One of the first things everyone wants to know when a celebrity dies, next to cause of death, of course, is how much they were worth at the time of their demise. In order to know that, we really have to take a look at the frontman's history in the industry.

Howe had joined the band in 1988, as noted by the New York Daily News, and was a solid part of the group until he left during their unfortunate break up in 1996. Metal Church would reunite in 1998, but Howe had other plans with his life at that point and did not rejoin the band. He did, however, come back to Metal Church in 2015. Before joining the band in the first place, he played with two other groups, Snair and Heretic, but it was during his time with Metal Church that he made the largest impact on thrash metal as a genre. And any metal buff will tell you there was a definite impact there. With his contributions to the metal world, you'd expect Howe to have stockpiled a hefty sum by the end, right? Let's see if that's true.

Frontman Mike Howe might not have been with Metal Church from the beginning, but Loudwire says he contributed to five of their albums through his back-and-forth career: "Hanging in the Balance," "Blessing in Disguise," "XI," "Damned If You Do," and "The Human Factor." Only "Blessing in Disguise" and "XI" would reach the Billboard 100, so it's unlikely his cut from album sales would've made him the type of rich you'd expect with frontmen like Ozzy Osbourne or James Hatfield from Metallica, but that definitely doesn't mean he was poor.

In his nearly decade-long break from music, Howe pursued a career in carpentry while using his time away from touring to spend more time with his family, which is great. He must've been decent at the carpentry gig, too, since it took him so long to return to music. Through the two careers as his main source of income, Height Zone estimates the Metal Church frontman was worth roughly $1.5 million at the time of his death. Now, that might not be the most glorious chunk of change in a music industry filled with the biggest superstars to ever hold a mic, but it's better than the majority of people out there are doing. It can truly be said that no amount of money can reflect the monumental effect Howe had on the metal world though, and for that, we thank him.