Thursday Throwback is a great time to go down memory lane and identify with what was obtainable before. Today, we would be looking at famous musicians who went from being rich to starkly bankrupt. The good part is that it is not all of them that eventually remained broke for life.
Many of them bounced back even better. The moral of their story is that we are to make the best of every season we find ourselves and always stay prepared like the ‘boys scout’.
Let’s see if you can remember these 5 musicians who fall into this category:
1. Toni Braxton
Toni Braxton has sold over 67 million records and has won seven Grammys. Here’s another number – 2. That’s how many times she’s declared bankruptcy.
She first declared bankruptcy in 1998 from credit card bills and exorbitant monthly expenses. Luckily, two years later in 2000, she jump-started her career with her new album “The Heat.”
But, financial woes struck again. After agreeing to an extended run in Las Vegas, she suffered some health issues which forced her to cancel the rest of the Vegas dates. These cancellations made her financially liable and she had no recourse but to declare bankruptcy for the second time in 2010.
2. Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye had a generally tragic life – so it’s no surprise he couldn’t escape financial troubles. Because of an affair which led to ruined marriage, he was forced to pay child support and alimony. But, by this point, he was already too broke to make the payments.
He squandered his early wealth on drugs, cars, and property. Because of his obligation to make payments to his ex-wife, he had to file for bankruptcy. He made a deal to pay her royalties on his next album sale, but it ended up being a commercial failure.
3. MC Hammer
“Can’t Touch This!” This is what he said to the IRS when they wanted their $100,000 in back taxes.
He sold millions of albums in the early 90s, but he couldn’t manage the immediate influx of cash. He reportedly bought a $30 million mega-house where he employed a staff costing $500,000 each month.
He ended up nearly $14 million dollars in debt owing money not only to the IRS, but also to his lawyers, and Deion Sanders. In 1996 he finally admitted he was not too legit and declared himself bankrupt.
4. Michael Jackson
One of Michael Jackson’s best decisions of his career was perhaps the move to acquire ATV Music, the label who owned the rights to many popular Beatles songs.
The move made Jackson even richer than he already was by netting him millions in royalties.
However, with sexual molestation cases mounting against him and his habit of massive overspending on bizarre items, Jackson quickly became deeply in debt.
He began borrowing millions from wealthy friends to avoid bankruptcy. While he was spared the shame of filing for bankruptcy, unlike the others on this list, It is rumored he died with nearly $400-500 million dollars of debt making him most likely the #1 most broke musician of all time.
5. Meat loaf
Meat Loaf (Marvin Lee Aday) sold records. A lot of records. “Bat Out of Hell” sold approximately 43 million copies. So how did a dude who sold so many records go broke?
After finding success with “Bat Out Of Hell” he naturally decided to record a follow-up. But there was a little problem. He had lost his voice. At around the same time, his old producer Jim Steinman, along with others had decided to sue Meat Loaf. With over 40 lawsuits mounted against Marvin – his only recourse was filing chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Luckily, for Meat Loaf, he found success once more in 1993 with “Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell” which featured the famous song which still has people asking “won’t do what?!”