Contents
What is Chris Blackwell’s net worth?
Chris Blackwell is a British document producer and businessman who has a net worth of $350 million. Chris Blackwell earned his fortune because the founding father of Island Records, which helped popularize and unfold reggae music to the world. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. To date, Bob Marley and the Wailers alone have offered greater than 75 million albums worldwide.
Early Life
Blackwell was born on June 22, 1937, in Westminster, London, and was given the identify Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell. His father was Joseph Blackwell, a member of the family accountable for founding Cross & Blackwell, the British meals firm that started in 1706. His mom was Blanche Lindo Blackwell, a Jamaican heiress. After Blackwell was born, the family moved to Jamaica, the place his father joined the Jamaica Regiment and have become a significant. His mother and father divorced when he was 12 years outdated and Blackwell was despatched to London after spending his childhood in Jamaica with the intention to attend Harrow School, a prestigious boys preparatory boarding college.
After ending college, Blackwell determined to return to Jamaica fairly than attend college. He turned aide-de-camp to Sir Hugh Foot, Jamaica’s Governor. He then started pursuing various enterprise ventures in actual property in addition to in managing jukeboxes, which led to his preliminary contact with the Jamaican and Rastafarian music group. His love and appreciation for Rastafari tradition and life-style was furthered after a ship he was crusing on ran aground within the coral reef. He sought assist onshore and later collapsed, solely to be rescued by a Rasta fisherman. The expertise left a profound impression on Blackwell.
Henry S. Dziekan III /Getty Images
Island Records
In 1958, when Blackwell was 21, his mother and father offered him with a start-up funding of $10,000, with which he shaped Island Records. His mother and father additionally offered him an allowance of 2000 British kilos per thirty days in order that he may reside in his personal condominium and reinvest any revenue from the label into the enterprise. Island Record’s debut launch was by the Bermudian jazz pianist Lance Hayward. In 1951, Blackwell started specializing in recording in style Jamaican music and achieved a number-one hit with Laurel Aitken’s music, “Boogie in my Bones/Little Sheila.”
Blackwell additionally had early success within the movie trade after he acted as a location scout and manufacturing assistant for the 1962 James Bond movie, “Dr. No.” He was supplied a full-time place however in the end determined to proceed pursuing success together with his document label after visiting a psychic.
This proved to be the correct transfer, as Island Records continued to develop and develop into extra profitable. In 1962, Blackwell had launched 26 singles and two albums in Jamaica. He then returned to England with the intention to develop the area of interest market of Jamaican music there. His first main success there was in producing a canopy of the 1956 music by Barbie Gaye, “My Boy Lollypop,” sung by the Jamaican singer Millie Small. The music was one of many first recorded within the ska model, and it turned a large hit, promoting over six million data worldwide. It helped launch Island Records into the mainstream and is mostly acknowledged as the primary worldwide ska hit.
The label’s success continued into the approaching a long time, turning into one of the vital profitable unbiased labels of the Sixties, Nineteen Seventies, and Nineteen Eighties. They signed an eclectic mixture of artists, together with Cat Stevens, Jethro Tull, Roxy Music, Grace Jones, U2, and The Cranberries, amongst many others. The label developed a optimistic fame for having the ability to spot tendencies and expertise and nurture the artists they signed. Blackwell additionally put effort into the advertising of the label and packaging of the data themselves, as he felt the additional consideration to element was necessary to the patron’s general expertise. Island Records was additionally the primary distribution dwelling for various different document labels, together with Sue Records, which produced artists like Ike and Tina Turner.
Blackwell can be credited with serving to unfold reggae music to the world. He signed Toots and the Maytals to his document and produced the album “Funky Kingston,” which turned highly regarded and was positively reviewed. Additionally, he signed Bob Marley & The Wailers and helped them obtain worldwide recognition and fame, promoting 75 million albums worldwide thus far.
In 1977, Blackwell constructed Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, to function a recording dwelling studio for the acts on Island Records. He steered Island Records in direction of the movie trade and launched the movie “The Harder They Come” in 1972. This marked the primary time that Jamaican themes appeared in mainstream cinema. He additionally shaped Mango Records, which completely featured Jamaican and different Third World artists.
In 1989 Chris Blackwell sold Island Records to PolyGram $300 million. That’s the identical as round $650 million at the moment.
The firm quickly turned a part of the Universal Music Group conglomerate. Black stayed concerned, primarily taking care of the artists themselves earlier than formally resigning from the corporate in 1997. He then shaped Palm Pictures, a media leisure firm, which later merged with Rykodisc to type RykoPalm.
Blackwell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. He was cited as one of the vital influential figures within the final 50 years of the British music trade in 2009 by the UK journal, “Music Week.” He at the moment runs Island Outpost, which operates and markets elite resorts in Jamaica, together with Goldeneye, the earlier dwelling of Ian Fleming, the writer of the James Bond books.
Personal Life and Other Pursuits
Blackwell has been married twice. He first was married to Ada Blackwell till their divorce within the mid-Nineties. In 1998, he married Mary Vinson, an attire and residential items designer. They two remained married till Vinson died in 2009 of most cancers.
All internet worths are calculated utilizing information drawn from public sources. When offered, we additionally incorporate personal ideas and suggestions acquired from the celebrities or their representatives. While we work diligently to make sure that our numbers are as correct as doable, until in any other case indicated they’re solely estimates. We welcome all corrections and suggestions utilizing the button beneath.
