How Neil Young Achieved a Net Worth of $80 Million
For those who are unfamiliar, Neil Young is a Canadian-American musician whose career has seen him move from success to success. The proof can be seen in how Celebrity Net Worth estimates his current net worth to be around $80 million. Yes, this is an estimate and nothing but an estimate. However, this should be more than enough to provide interested individuals with a general understanding of the wealth that Young has managed to build up since the 1960s during his musician’s career.
How Did Neil Young Reach His Current Net Worth?
Young was born in Toronto, Canada. His father was Scott Alexander Young, a Canadian journalist who also wrote 45 books for adults as well as younger audiences over the course of his career. Meanwhile, it is interesting to note that Young’s mother Edna Blow Ragland Young was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution because she was a Canadian with some American ancestry. On the whole, Young’s youth was surprisingly eventful. For example, his family made a lot of moves for various reasons, with the result that he lived in multiple locations in both Canada and the United States. Similarly, Young was one of the individuals who caught polio during its last major outbreak in the province of Ontario. Fortunately, he survived with minimal symptoms, though he did have to relearn how to walk after returning home. Besides this, it should be mentioned that Young’s parents eventually got divorced because of his father’s extramarital affairs, which is how Young winded up in Winnipeg, Canada living with his mother while Young’s brother lived in Toronto with his father. In any case, Young became interested in popular music in much the same manner as a lot of other people from his times, which is to say, he heard it on the radio. Thanks to this, he became enamored with everything from rock ‘n roll to R&B and country, with the result that he became inspired by everyone from Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash to Little Richard and the Fleetwoods. Eventually, Young started playing music, though it is amusing to note that he spent a lot of time on ukeleles before moving on to the guitar that he is better-known for.
It was in Winnipeg, Canada where Young formed his first band. From there, he continued to grow as both a singer and a songwriter until by 1965, he was touring Canada as a solo artist. Soon enough, Young joined up with a Canadian R&B band called the Mynah Birds, which was fronted by Rick James. However, that fell through when Rick James was arrested for being AWOL, with the result that Young and one of the other band members decided to sell the musical equipment, rent a Pontiac hearse, and then move down to Los Angeles, CA. It is interesting to note that Young went southwards without official approval, meaning that he was an undocumented immigrant until he received a green card quite some time later in 1970. Regardless, Young started seeing true success in that time. For instance, a chance encounter resulted in the formation of Buffalo Springfield, which proved to be so influential that it is sometimes said to have contributed to the founding of both folk rock and country rock as genres in their own right. However, Buffalo Springfield lasted for no more than a short period of time, both because one of the band members had been deported and because the band members didn’t trust their management. As such, they managed to get a second album released, but even so, their relationships with one another were so strained that two of Young’s three contributions to the album were recorded on his own away from the rest of the band.
After Buffalo Springfield broke up, Young embarked on a solo career. He has stated that his initial album Neil Young was “overdubbed.” However, it contains songs that are still included in Young’s repetoire for his live shows. He continued making music on his own, but at the same time, he also continued making music with others. One excellent example would be his short time with Crosby, Stills & Nash, which is how it winded up being called Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young throughout that period. The band members’ relationships were contentious, but they nonetheless put out some of their best in this time, which provided Young’s solo career with a notable boost. Of course, Young’s career has seen both ups and downs. For instance, the 1980s were not the best of times for him. In part, this was because of personal issues. However, it should also be mentioned that this was something of an experimental period for him, which met with mixed results. Still, Young managed to reconfirm his status as a music legend by releasing “Rockin’ in the Free World” in 1989. Something that was followed by Young’s very visible influence on the grunge movement that rose to popularity in the 1990s. Even now, Young is still making music, which is rather remarkable considering that he is in his mid 70s.
Further Considerations
Based on this, interested individuals should have no problems guessing the source of Young’s wealth. After all, he isn’t one of those creative figures who are very influential on their medium but never managed to capitalize upon that influence. Instead, Young is someone who has been selling records in a very successful manner for decades and decades. Something that isn’t even mentioning the proceeds that he has made through his tours. Presumably, Young has also made money through investments as well as other channels such as his movies. However, there can be no doubt about the fact that the overwhelming majority of his current net worth can be traced to his music in either a direct sense or an indirect sense. Of course, the estimate of $80 million is produced using less than perfect information. As such, interested individuals should treat it as a very rough assessment of what Young is worth in a financial sense rather than something that it is not. Still, estimates can be useful, which is why people produce so many of them for such a wide range of contexts.