Music millionaires suffer huge losses in Sunday Times Rich List
Simon Cowell, Andrew Lloyd Webber and the producer of the Mamma Mia musical are some of only a handful of music millionaires to have weathered the economic storm and protected their wealth this year.
While most performers and producers have seen their fortunes nosedive by more than ten per cent, a select handful have escaped the worst of the recession, figures from the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List show.
Poorly performing investments and the slump in property prices have led to huge estimated losses, with Sir Elton John’s value down 26 per cent, Sir Tom Jones down 24 per cent, and Simon Fuller, the music mogul behind Pop Idol down 33 per cent.
Of the top 50 music millionaires only seven have avoided losing a chunk of their wealth, with only three - Cowell, the Gallagher brothers, and Judy Craymer, the Mamma Mia producer - posting an increase.
Craymer, whose Abba stage show and film have grossed more than $2.5 billion worldwide, increased her fortune by 29 per cent to £75 million, according to the Rich List.
Mamma Mia, starring Meryl Streep, is the biggest grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom, ahead of Titanic and the Harry Potter series. The DVD was also the fastest selling this country has ever seen, with an estimated one in four households owning a copy.
Philip Beresford, the Rich List compiler, said: “Some people think she might be worth more than £100 million, but we’re a bit more conservative because she doesn’t own all of her production company. There is huge value in the Mamma Mia brand.”
The continuing success of Simon Cowell’s talent shows, X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, have earned him a seven per cent wealth increase.
As artists signed to his Syco record label, including Leona Lewis, have also dominated the charts, Cowell’s fortune is vlaued at £120 million, up from £112 million, ranking him equal 15th in the list of wealthiest music millionaires.
Noel and Liam Gallagher, whose band Oasis released their seventh studio album, Dig Out Your Soul, last year, are reckoned to have increased their worth 16 per cent from £45 million to £52 million.
The top three are unchanged from last year. Clive Calder, the founder of Zomba Records, once a home to Britney Spears, is rated the most wealthy music millionaire, with an unchanged wealth of £1.3 billion. In 2002 he sold his company for £1.24 billion.
Second is Lord Lloyd-Webber, with an unchanged fortune of £750 million. Sir Paul McCartney clings on to third place, despite losing an estimated £60 million, bringing his wealth to £440 million.
Among the young music millionaires, defined as those under 30, Amy Winehouse’s fortune is estimated to have dropped 50 per cent to £5 million after speculation about her personal life.
Cheryl Cole, the Girls Aloud singer and X Factor judge, and her footballer husband Ashley, are new entries on the young list, with an estimated wealth of £13 million.
Joining the couple as another new entry on the list is Duffy, the Brit Award winning singer, with an estimated wealth of £4 million.
Dhani Harrison, son of George, the former Beatle, and his family, is rated the wealthiest young music millionaire, with a total wealth of £140 million.
Mr Beresford said: “We’ve all got to be very sober this year. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to do a rich list in a severe recession, some say near-depression. The biggest surprise looking at the whole music sector is the absence of any seriously rich young rock artists.
“It’s just the same old wrinkly rockers, but their income has changed to coming from touring. I presume it’s because record companies have become wiser and sharper in recent years and don’t give the same deals they used to.”
The full 2009 Sunday Times Rich List will be released on Sunday. The 112-page magazine charts the value of the assets in the country’s wealthiest individuals.
THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST MUSIC MILLIONAIRES
01 Clive Calder £1,300m 02 Lord Lloyd-Webber £750m 03 Sir Paul McCartney £440m 04 Sir Cameron Mackintosh £350m 05 Simon Fuller £300m 06 Sir Mick Jagger £190m 07 Sting £180m 08 Sir Elton John £175m 08 Keith Richards £175m 10 Olivia and Dhani Harrison £140m 10 Sir Tim Rice £140m
Ask Liam, Join the Pretty Green community to ask Liam Gallagher anything you want!
Pretty Green is an up-front, straight talking, classic clothing range owned, founded and designed by Liam Gallagher. The clothing range, which is entirely 'limited edition', will include classic designs across footwear, denim, jackets, trench coats, parkas, t-shirts, knitwear, hats, scarves and accessories; all subject to Liam's final approval.
Noel Gallagher has suggested there may be no new Oasis album for at least five years, in an interview with Q.
The guitarist – who spoke to Q for the new edition on sale on April 28 – revealed that in the meantime he is planning a solo album when the band finish touring their current record, Dig Out Your Soul. Gallagher said he had built up a stockpile of tunes that date back to the Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants-era of the band in 2000.
“I’ve got a lot of songs lying around and some of them are really great,” says Gallagher. “But they’re not Oasis songs. They’re going to sit there and do nothing, so hopefully at the end of this tour I’m going to go and do something for myself.” Gallagher’s solo plans will result in an extended gap between Oasis albums.
“The last three albums have been three years in between,” he says, “but I see it as likely to be longer this time. We’ve arrived at the point I wanted to be at from when Gem [Archer] and Andy [Bell] joined the band. And the last time we did that was at the end of Be Here Now, and we rushed the next album [Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants]. There was no inspiration on it. Even before the end of making each Oasis album, I’ve always started writing the next one, and I haven’t this time. I don’t want to force it.”
He added: “By the time we make another record we’ll be five years older.”
Gallagher has performed solo in the past, most notably for a Teenage Cancer Trust show at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2007; a set that is now available for download from iTunes. He insists that the break will do Oasis good and hopes the other members will also work on their own side-projects.
“It’d be really interesting for fans of the band to see how each individual makes up the whole,” he says. “I don’t think it’ll affect what Oasis do. Liam, on the other hand, will f***ing freak out.”
Noel revealed that his relationship with his brother is still fractious – and that Liam has never met his nephew Donovan, Noel and his partner Sara MacDonald’s son. “He’s never seen my little lad, just pictures," Noel said. "To a stranger it sounds ludicrous, but you wouldn’t have him in the house if he spoke to you the way he speaks to me and my family.
“He’s rude, arrogant, intimidating and lazy. He’s the angriest man you’ll ever meet. He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup.”
Oasis will begin a UK tour on 4 June at Manchester’s Heaton Park, and have been announced as one of the V Festival headliners on 22 and 23 August (playing Staffordshire and Cheltenham respectively).
For the full interview, read the new edition of Q on sale on April 28. You will also be able to read extra material from the interview - and see behind the scenes photos and video from our photoshoot - at qthemusic.com from the same date.
Liam Gallagher has confirmed that he is not on good terms with his brother and bandmate Noel.
The singer was asked how he and Noel were getting on during an interview on the Asian leg of the band's Dig Out Your Soul tour.
Liam told Music Japan: "Not good. Not good. He likes Oasis and I like Oasis, so I'm not leaving and he's not leaving, so we gotta do it, but we don't get on, so I can't be ars*d, man.
"He's different and I'm different. We've done well, 15 years at it - 15 years of having problems together, we've done pretty well."
He added: "I think the minute we start getting happy and holding hands and being like other bands then I think it'll be over. This is the tension, it's like he wants to outdo me and I want to outdo him."
Noel recently claimed that his brother would "f**king freak out" when he and the other members of Oasis start to pursue their own solo careers.
You know that much hyped Oasis show that got canceled because of guitarist Noel Gallagher's opinion on Tibet? Well, in case you had any doubt, it seems like his opinion may have been a bit overstated.
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Noel admitted that he did indeed play a Free Tibet concert twelve years ago with the likes of U2, Radiohead, and the "f—ing Beastie Boys," but that beyond that he barely even remembers the show.
Furthermore when asked whether he has any strong feelings on the Tibet issue, Gallagher replied "No, not really, not one way or the other."
The lead guitarist for the self-proclaimed, greatest band in the world admits in the interview that while his music is "brilliant. It’s f—ing brilliant,” it rarely if ever touches on politics. Of course. Anyone who's listened to Oasis' music knows it rarely if ever touches on reality.
We're bummed that we didn't have the chance to sing along to "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova," and Noel sounds legitimately disappointed too, but its good to know that at least one band at least knows they're too strung out to care about politics. So thanks Oasis for just wanting to rock...and occasionally bicker with your siblings. At least you're not Bono.
Source: shanghaiist.com
Noel's TCT gig 'The Dreams We Have As Children (Live For Teenage Cancer Trust)’ is available to download now, click here for more details.
When Oasis played their sold-out Madison Square Gardens gig last December, photographer Josh Cheuse filmed Noel performing an exclusive acoustic version of 'Waiting For The Rapture' in an unusual backstage location. This performance will be available on 29th April exclusively through (RED)WIRE.
(RED)WIRE is a new digital magazine from Bono's (RED) organization that not only gives you great music, but also provides medicine for people who need it in Africa. For every five people that sign up, enough money is generated to keep one person living with HIV in Africa, so why not get your friends to sign up too.
TO SIGN-UP FOR THE (RED)WIRE MAGAZINE, VISIT www.redwire.com
Other artists involved with the charity include U2, Coldplay, Jay-Z, The Killers, Bob Dylan and REM. A preview of Noel's performance can be seen above.
Noel Gallagher has said that he is planning to release his own solo material and that his brother Liam would not be pleased at the prospect.
The Oasis guitarist told Q that he had written a number of songs that would not fit in with the style of the Liam-fronted band.
Gallagher said: "I've got a lot of songs lying around and some of them are really great. But they're not Oasis songs.
"They're going to sit there and do nothing, so hopefully at the end of this tour I'm going to go and do something for myself."
He added: "It would be really interesting for fans of the band to see how each individual makes up the whole. I don't think it'll affect what Oasis do. Liam, on the other hand, will f**king freak out."
Gallagher said that it would be more than three years until the release of the follow-up to Dig Out Your Soul because he did not want to "force" the writing of it.
There were many (myself included) who expressed suspicion when Oasis’ Liam Gallagher became the latest Twitter convert.
His arrival last month was timed conveniently with the press launch of his new fashion label, Pretty Green. Consequently, a majority of the singer’s (presuming it was him, not a PR imposter) tweets were about fashion. Yes, fashion. “Desert boots will be available this summer,” he wrote on March 19th. Thanks Liam, I’ll make a note of that.
More of the same, including an update about the arrival of a dodgy Parka sample that he wasn’t “100% happy” with, followed. (Well, at least we know he’s a perfectionist.)
But more recently, Gallagher seems to have changed his tune on Twitter. Like many celebrities, he’s starting to use the micro-blogging service the way most of us do (and should): as a platform to say what we’re actually doing. His posts are now far more personal as a result. Earlier this month, for example, he painted us a wonderful image that, one presumes, was conjured up as he sat next to the pool sipping a Pina Colada. “In South Africa starting to look a bit like Des O’Connor, need to get out of the sun. Gig tonight.”
Most refreshingly, in becoming more potent on Twitter, Gallagher has also found a new way to mock his brother, Noel. The results are proving hilarious. In the last 24 hours alone, he’s called Noel and comedian Russell Brand “a pair of old housewife’s” (yes, his grammar is not quite perfect – but I’ll blame Twitteriffic’s spell checker) and also responded to direct and cutting criticism from his brother.
After Noel told a music magazine Liam was “rude, arrogant, intimidating and lazy”, the singer hit back – on Twitter. “Is it that time of month again rkid?” he wrote.
He might not realise it, but Liam Gallagher is helping to bring old-fashioned band rivalry into the 21st century.
I’ve been watching this brewing for a while on Twitter – not just with Liam, but a host of other musicians and celebrities as well. In telling fans and followers just what they are up to, they're often – maybe subconsciously – revealing a lot more. And, increasingly, it's these updates that are focussed on just which celebrity they're currently hating.
Last month, for example, a war of words erupted on Twitter between Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and singer Chris Cornell. After Reznor wrote: “Heard Chris Cornell's record? Jesus”, the singer responded with a Tweet of his own.
”What do you think Jesus would twitter?" Cornell pondered into his laptop. "‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone’ or ‘Has anyone seen Judas? He was here a minute ago’.”
We’ve also seen public beef between Lily Allen and gossip blogger Perez Hilton, which, at one stage, ironically saw Allen write: "Oh, I'm sorry, we've already cast the jealous and bitter lonely old queen role.” And, speaking of the world of celebrity, there’s a nice Twitter bitching session going on right now between the recently separated Lindsay Lohan and Sam Ronson.
It all begs the question - do musicians and celebrities not realise we can all read their messages? Or, has it yet to dawn on them that once posted, their comments can’t be taken back? (Well, not without a groveling Twitter apology as well.)
In Gallagher’s case, it’s like the mid-90s again, when the singer spoke without abandon. Twitter appears to have finally given him free reign - and it’s fabulous to watch. I just wonder how long it will be until Noel joins?