Little Richard’s Net Worth: How Rich Was the “Architect of Rock and Roll?”

Little Richard was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter who had a net worth of 40 million dollars. He made his fortune through his successful music career spanning over 70 years. Little Richard began his music career in 1951, but he rose to stardom in 1955 with the release of Tutti Frutti. Little Richard made a huge contribution to the music industry and is considered the pioneer of rock ‘n roll. Over the 60’s and 70s, he was among the most sought-after music artists.

Music Career

From a young age, Little Richard loved singing and playing various instruments. He used to beat doors and pans, which usually annoyed the neighbors. In church, he used to sing in a loud voice and even change the key upwards, which made the church leaders chase him out of the church. Generally, he was a funny, troublesome who overly loved singing and playing various instruments.

He liked singing by himself, and one day, a sister overheard him singing, and she told him that he had a great singing voice. The sister invited Little Richard to a show where he performed and was given some money to motivate him. After this payment, Little Richard realized that he could make a living out of music. As such, he decided to venture into music.

By 1950, Little Richard was already a part of a band with which he made a few performances. Despite his zeal and determination, Little Richard did not achieve the success he was hoping for. He even looked for various odd jobs so that he could manage to pay his bills. He was frustrated but did not give up. In 1955, he started working on a song titled Tutti Frutti. After listening to it, Producer Blackwell loved it. As such, he looked for another musical artist and removed some dirty lines from the song. Upon its release, Tutti Frutti was an instant hit, propelling Little Richard to stardom.

Drug Abuse

In his early music career, Little Richard was a teetotaler and did not engage in the use of any drugs or alcohol. He even fined his bandmates who used alcohol or drugs. However, in the 1960s, he started drinking heavily and could not control himself. Transitioning to the 1970s, Little Richard had become addicted to several drugs, including cocaine. He even mentioned that, at the time, he thought of himself as “Lil Cocaine” because he was smoking a lot of it.

By the mid-1970s, Little Richard was addicted to several drugs, including cocaine, PCP, and heroin, and he would spend up to 1000 dollars a day to buy drugs. All these had a negative impact on his personal life and career. It destroyed his friendships; even his close ally, Larry Williams, had a feud with him over unpaid drug debt.

Real Estate

Little Richard did not invest as much in the real estate industry, but he owned a property in Tennessee. He spent most of his later years in that property but was listed for sale in 2020. Generally, Little Richard’s net worth is a result of the successful music career he had and his various drug addictions.