Rock 'n' roll can bring you fame, but it can't always bring you fortune. Just ask these down-on-their-luck stars.
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00:00Rock and roll can bring you fame, but it can't always bring you fortune. Just ask these down-on-their-luck
00:05stars.
00:06From the outside looking in, Mel B seemed to have it all. The erstwhile Scary Spice
00:09had parlayed her Spice Girls fame into TV celebrity, both in her native U.K. and in
00:13the U.S. She also reaped the financial windfall of the Spice Girls' 2019 reunion tour. But
00:18as she revealed in a 2024 interview with the BBC, her divorce from her allegedly abusive
00:23ex-husband, Stephen Belafonte, had left her flat broke. She told the network that all
00:27the money she made from the reunion tour went to pay her ex. She owed a $350,000 settlement
00:32in addition to monthly child support payments of $5,000. She recalled,
00:35"'I didn't realize that I didn't have as much money as I thought I had, so I literally had
00:39to eat humble pie, live with my mum.'"
00:41"'No matter who you are, how much money you have, what color you are, what age you are,
00:47if an abuser wants to get you, they will.'"
00:49In addition to moving in with her mother, Mel B was also forced into a lifestyle adjustment.
00:53She had to cut her spending significantly just to save up enough money to move out and
00:57eventually get her own place.
00:59Ace Frehley was a founding member of the fire-breathing, face-painted foursome, KISS. Instrumental in
01:03the band's initial success, Frehley played guitar for KISS from 1973 until quitting in
01:07the early 1980s to pursue a solo career. Although his split from the band was complicated, he
01:12and bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley buried the hatchet and reunited for a 1996
01:17reunion tour with the original lineup.
01:18Frehley remained in KISS until parting ways again in 2001. Although he continued to perform
01:23with the band sporadically after that, the years that followed were rough for Frehley.
01:26His solo work never came close to generating the same sort of success he'd achieved with
01:30KISS, and he experienced some severe money problems. In 2013, reports in the journal
01:34News claimed that Frehley was losing his home to foreclosure and hadn't made a mortgage
01:38payment in two years. In addition, he also owed close to $20,000 in unpaid taxes.
01:44Looking back at his exit from KISS, Frehley wished he'd done things differently and not
01:47quit the band that first time. He discussed his departure on the Talk Is Jericho podcast,
01:51It was a stupid decision when I look back now because, you know, I lost millions of dollars.
01:58Fronted by Richard Ashcroft, British rock band The Verve broke through in 1997 with
02:02their hit single, Bittersweet Symphony. Unfortunately, the song utilized a brief
02:06snippet from an orchestral rendition of the Rolling Stones' The Last Time,
02:09taken from the instrumental album The Rolling Stones Songbook. While Bittersweet Symphony
02:14wasn't The Verve's only hit, it was their biggest. When it rocketed up the charts,
02:18Alan Klein, the Stones' former manager, took action. Klein still held the rights to The Last
02:22Time and the other early Stones songs, and demanded 100% of the royalties for Bittersweet
02:27Symphony. Facing an extensive uphill legal battle, the band felt there was no choice but to cave in,
02:32and Ashcroft was paid a mere $1,000. After Klein's 2009 death, his son took over Abko,
02:37a company that held the copyright for that song. Discussing this change,
02:40Ashcroft told Consequence of Sound's Kyle Meredith Wythe podcast,
02:44I'm coming for that money. Someone stole God-knows-how-many-million-dollars-off-me
02:47in 1997, and they've still got it.
02:50In 2019, more than 20 years after the song's release, Ashcroft took to Axe to reveal that
02:54Keith Richards and Mick Jagger generously signed over their songwriting credits on Bittersweet
02:58Symphony to him. Billboard estimated that Klein's shenanigans cost Ashcroft somewhere
03:02in the range of $5 million of royalties. Bass player Glenn Matlock was a founding
03:06member of the Sex Pistols. While he was there at the beginning, he didn't experience the band's
03:10greatest success and eventual flame-out, as he was replaced by doomed punk icon Sid Vicious in
03:151977. Interviewed by The Telegraph in 2014, Matlock estimated that his exit from the Pistols cost him
03:21somewhere in the low millions. While he received songwriting royalties for his work on the band's
03:25debut album Never Mind the Bollocks, that income did not go unnoticed by the tax authorities.
03:29He said,
03:30In 1983, the taxman came knocking for 35,000 to 40,000 pounds,
03:34which I didn't have. I had to remortgage my flat in the end.
03:37Looking back, Matlock regretted the decision to pay off his taxes in full instead of waiting
03:41until he'd been able to amass some more money. He explained,
03:44Then I wouldn't have had a massive mortgage on my shoulders at punitive interest rates when
03:47I wasn't working. At the time of the interview, Matlock said he hoped to pay off his mortgage
03:51within 10 years. These days, he remains a working musician. He joined Blondie in 2022 and has been
03:56accompanying the band on tours since then. So, if he hasn't paid off that mortgage by now,
04:00another few tours with the fellow rock icons will hopefully do the trick.
04:04There are few rockers more emblematic of the one-hit wonder phenomenon than Norman
04:08Greenbaum. The singer's 1969 hit, Spirit in the Sky, represented the zenith of his career.
04:13And while he was optimistic about building upon that initial blush of success,
04:16no further hits followed. As the years passed,
04:19Greenbaum struggled to maintain a career in the music industry. By 1980,
04:22he'd thrown in the towel completely and got a job as a restaurant cook.
04:25Speaking with The New York Times, he reflected,
04:27I was broke. What else could I do?
04:28Everything changed in 1987, when Spirit in the Sky was licensed to appear in the movie
04:33Made to Order. Then, the song was front and center in Apollo 13.
04:36In the following years, Spirit in the Sky was utilized in dozens of films,
04:40TV shows, and commercial spots. The royalty checks began pouring in,
04:43and Greenbaum was able to quit his job. Speaking from his two-bedroom apartment, he reflected,
04:47Well, it's not like it's made me rich, as you can see. But because of Spirit in the Sky,
04:51I don't have to work. So in that sense, it's a comfortable living.
04:54As Greenbaum told Rolling Stone in 2020, he still enjoys hearing his song perk up a movie. He
04:58reflected, I'm blown away by the whole thing, really. Not because I know I'm going to make
05:01some money out of it. It's something, as a performer, you appreciate very much.
05:05After exiting alt-country band Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams went solo with the critically acclaimed
05:10debut album Heartbreaker. His success as a singer-songwriter grew, as did his fame,
05:14particularly when he married singer and actor Mandy Moore. A few years after he and Moore
05:18divorced, the 2009 exposé in The New York Times presented the stories of seven women,
05:22one of whom was Moore, who characterized him as psychologically abusive. After that,
05:27Adams' once-promising career cratered.
05:29I do find it curious that someone would sort of do an interview about it without actually
05:34making amends privately.
05:35By 2021, his career had slowed down so much that he issued a since-deleted Instagram post begging
05:40for a record deal. He wrote,
05:42I know I'm damaged goods. I'm months from losing my label, studio, and my home. I just really want
05:46a second chance to make some music. The then-46-year-old went on to express his worry he'd
05:50wind up living in his sister's basement if he didn't receive an offer from a label soon.
05:54Shortly afterward, he told Los Angeles Magazine,
05:57So I'm losing my life's work and my dream of who I am, my ability to provide for myself.
06:01He even admitted he'd contemplated selling his publishing so he wouldn't lose his rent-a-home.
06:05In 2024, Adams re-emerged with several new albums. He also embarked on a solo concert tour,
06:10attempting a comeback to regain the career he'd lost.
06:13Mick Taylor was already a blues guitar wonderkind when he joined the Rolling Stones at age 20.
06:18Taking over lead guitar duties in 1969 after the firing and subsequent death of Brian Jones,
06:23Taylor went on to appear in what are considered to be the band's best albums,
06:27Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street. He quit the Stones abruptly in 1974.
06:32As a solo artist, Taylor never came close to matching the level of success he'd
06:36experienced with the Stones. In 2009, he gave an interview to the Daily Mail,
06:40complaining about not receiving songwriting credit Jagger promised him for tracks in which
06:43he believed he'd made essential contributions. Reportedly, Taylor hadn't received any money
06:47from the Stones since 1982, and he was living in a shabby home and couldn't pay his bills.
06:52Taylor's manager, Jeff Allen, told NME that he was stunned by the way the guitarist was
06:56falsely characterized in the Daily Mail. Allen explained,
06:59"[The emphasis of the article was that Mick was some kind of run-down,
07:02down-and-out tramp living in Suffolk. The reality is Mick's having the house done up."
07:05While details of Taylor's financial situation haven't been made public, it's a safe bet he's
07:09not nearly as well off as Jagger or Richards, each of whom are reportedly worth hundreds of
07:14millions of dollars.
07:15Cass McCombs may not be a household name, but he's certainly well-known in indie rock circles.
07:19Since first making waves in the early 2000s, the singer-songwriter has released numerous albums,
07:24collaborated with the likes of DJ Khaled, and toured with bands like The War on Drugs
07:28and Arcade Fire. Despite all that, McCombs is hardly living the kind of lifestyle one
07:32might associate with a rock star. Speaking with Vulture, he candidly observed,
07:36"[I don't really understand how any musician can afford to stay in one place.
07:39We don't make enough money to afford an apartment."
07:41In the modern era of music streaming, when artists such as McCombs earn a fraction of
07:45a penny per stream, money isn't exactly pouring in. He explained that a large portion of musicians
07:49out there have other jobs to support themselves. He reflected,
07:52"[I've done everything. Worked in horse stables,
07:54rode a truck, worked at bookstores, record stores, movie theaters. I was a projectionist.
07:58Worked in delicatessens, did demolitions, painting. I painted the Trump Tower one time,
08:03folded and licked invitation envelopes."