Oftentimes no matter who we think are the ‘richest’ celebrities in the world, some of the actual richest people are almost always someone you would never expect.
Outside of the ever-annoying Elon Musk the majority of the Forbes rich list is made up of billionaires you’ve never heard of.
Add to that the fact that the richest actor in the world isn’t Timothee Chalamet, Leonardo Di Caprio or someone else you see in every other film, but a 90s film star who appeared in the original Twisters movie called Jami Gertz, and it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that one of the world’s richest musicians is someone you’ve probably never heard of.
What is perhaps surprising however is that Herb Alpert is worth even more than Beyonce and is amongst the top ten richest musicians in the world.
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Alpert came in eighth place on Esquire’s new music rich list which unsurprisingly saw music mogul Jay-Z come in at number one, with Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney coming in at number two.
Selena Gomez, Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, and Madonna take up the next four spots, making Alpert stick out like a sore thumb slightly considering you’ve probably never heard of him.
In the 1960s he led the band Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, and is widely often regarded as one of the best jazz musicians of all time.
He won nine Grammys for his music and the band’s most played song Ladyfingers has become a pretty viral tune that a lot of people would have heard on TikTok or Instagram.
Unfortunately for Alex Warren though, a single TikTok famous song is not how Alpert amassed his $1.3 billion fortune.
Alpert actually co-founded A&M Records in 1962 with Jerry Moss, growing the music label to the point where he was able to sell it in 1989 for close to $600 million, which would now be roughly $1.5 billion.
He also owns the Vibrato Jazz night club with his daughter Eden, located in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles.
Now, Alpert is living a life most of us would be pretty damn envious of: continuing to perform at the age of 90 and sculpting in his spare time.
Inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame back in 2006, he is the only musician ever to have hit the No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 as both a vocalist and an instrumentalist.
Ironically however he has spoken about how the height of fame was actually quite an unhappy time for him, telling The Independent: "I had the American dream. I was rich, I was famous and I was miserable."
Over the years he has donated hundreds of millions to support the arts, adding: "I’ve been compensated way beyond my imagination, and instead of buying a Van Gogh and sticking it on my wall, I try to help others who are struggling to follow their passion.
"We can use some honesty in this world, and I think artists do that 100 per cent. I don’t think you can be a great artist and be a bullsh*tter at the same time.”
Sounds like if anyone should have got the richest Alpert has been blessed with, it could've gone to worse blokes.
Michael Slavin