Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

[Spearmint Rhino]

Inspired by the discussion of Paul Young over on the Least Collectable Albums thread...

Who are rock's Robbie Fowlers? Which rock stars, after a fairly brief but lucrative moment in the sun, invested their money in something completely unconnected to music and are doing quite nicely out of it?

I interviewed Greg Dulli out of The Afghan Whigs the other day. You wouldn't think being Greg Dulli out of The Afghan Whigs - extremely critically acclaimed, but never more than moderately popular with the great unwashed - would be amazingly financially rewarding, but he's clearly used his money wisely. He now owns something like three bars and hotels, and has homes in three different cities (Cincinatti, New Orleans and Los Angeles, I think). Smart guy.

[George]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Mike Nesmith is an obvious one.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

What's he done?

[steveeeeeeeee]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Nesmith more or less owns MTV, doesn't he?

Joey Ramone was supposedly a shrewd player on the financial markets. Stephen Pastel has developed a bit of a business empire in Glasgow, can't remember the name of his shop/venue/restaurant - Mono maybe?

Edit: another I've just recalled - didn't the singer from Thousand Yard Stare start quite a successful music marketing and distribution company?

[Spearmint Rhino]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Ah, right. Non-musical ones are more interesting, mind, I reckon... You expect retired rock stars to set up studios or labels or management companies.

[WOM]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Nesmith inherited a mint from his mother, who invented Liquid Paper.

I think Arnold Schwarzenegger is the standard bearer for this in the Entertainer But Not Musician category. He's been developing real estate - apartments and retail, mainly - in California since the late '70s.

But for musicians, tough to beat Thomas Dolby. Among other things, he invented/patented the protocol for the downloadable ringtone. Hundreds of millions are downloaded each year and apparently he makes a penny or two on each.

[George]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Nesmith created his own production company. I know a whole raft of chancers have done but his appears to have been a success. He inherited several million from his mothers liquid paper fortune but used it to build up his own business rather than live off it.

[Gangster Octopus]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Does he still wear a hat?

[WOM]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Not that it's his fault, but that profile would lead you to believe that their most significant source of revenue has been a lawsuit.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

He's always been a bit of a rumour-magnet, but a lot of people reckon John Lydon made a load of wedge off real estate. Anyone know if that's true?

[WOM]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Someone flash the MsD signal. She'd likely know that.

[MsD]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

That would make me really popular, discussing everyone's money.

But it's fairly well-known that he's OK and his wife is from money.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Craig/Ken from Bros got paid a hefty sum to leave and ended up doing very well for himself in the music industry. He was managing director at RCA according to his Wikipedia entry.

[linus]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Spearmint Rhino wrote:

Inspired by the discussion of Paul Young over on the Least Collectable Albums thread...

Who are rock's Robbie Fowlers? Which rock stars, after a fairly brief but lucrative moment in the sun, invested their money in something completely unconnected to music and are doing quite nicely out of it?

I interviewed Greg Dulli out of The Afghan Whigs the other day. You wouldn't think being Greg Dulli out of The Afghan Whigs - extremely critically acclaimed, but never more than moderately popular with the great unwashed - would be amazingly financially rewarding, but he's clearly used his money wisely. He now owns something like three bars and hotels, and has homes in three different cities (Cincinatti, New Orleans and Los Angeles, I think). Smart guy.

He probably lost money on those houses, unless he bought them over a decade ago. Bars and restaurants as well are, by and large, poor investments that many celebrities tend to favor.

The most astute investment by a pop star in the last few decades was Michael Jackson's 1985 purchase of the Beatles catalogue for $47M, which today is worth nearly a billion dollar. Unfortunately for MJ this prized possession might have been one of the reasons behind his ultimate demise.

[WOM]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

That or the Propofol.

[WOM]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

MsD wrote:

That would make me really popular, discussing everyone's money.

Money aside, was he (publicly) known to dabble in real estate or whatnot? His wife's family were publishers, weren't they?

[Andy C]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Dave Clark made a lot more money out of Time and other show production work than he did walloping those crazy Tottenham Sound monorhythms (although he did co-write Time, which may make it less of an investment and more of an oblique continuation of his career as a nusician).

[George]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Didn't Clark buy up the rights to Ready Steady Go! and then embark on some creative editing involving his former band and footage of screaming girls?

[meregreen]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Not exactly a brief moment in the sun, but I read recently that Bono bought 1 per cent of Facebook a few years ago for $90 million. That is reputedly worth about $1 billion now.

Still, I bet the poverty-eradicating, famine-ending, philanthropic do-gooder pays a shit load of tax on his investments.

[Auntie Beryl]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Not a musician, but a bit like Ken from Bros - Felix Howard, the young scrote from Madonna's Open Your Heart video...



...went on to be Head of A&R for EMI Music Publishing after co-writing Overload for the Sugababes.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Neil Young is the co-owner of Lionel Trains, but I think that's more of a hobby than a profit-making enterprise.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

his career as a nusician

That is a lovely typo. At last, a word for musicians we consider to be a nuisance!

[Stumpy Pepys]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Andy C wrote:

Dave Clark made a lot more money out of Time and other show production work than he did walloping those crazy Tottenham Sound monorhythms.

I think he's always been astute though. If I remember correctly, he self-financed all the Dave Clark 5 records and signed a deal with a record label for distribution. As a result, the DC5 were on a far better royalty rate than even The Beatles.

[WOM]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Amor de Cosmos wrote:

Neil Young is the co-owner of Lionel Trains, but I think that's more of a hobby than a profit-making enterprise.

According to the Wiki, various bankruptcies and reorgs have resulted in Young no longer being a part of Lionel. Apparently the Southern Rail don't need him around anyhow.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Rock Stars Who Invested Wisely

Lionel Trains sounds like an old-school Jewish theatrical agent.