Top 10 Musicians Who Went Broke

oh how the mighty fell welcome to watchmojo.com went seven million dollars and today how much you have nothing for this list we're looking at musical artists who accrued enormous wealth only to lose it all the artists in question can since have bounced back but they must have been in dire financial straits and/or gone bankrupt at some point in their lives number 10 t-pain in the mid to late 2000s it was impossible to turn on a radio and not hear the unmistakable sound of t-pain's auto-tune voice the Florida native was one of the hottest names in hip-hop at the time and even picked up a couple of Grammys at the height of his fame despite his success t-pain was not immune to making poor financial decisions many of which cost him dearly in a 20-19 radio interview the rapper quipped that he quote went from having 40 million dollars in the bank to having to borrow money to get his kids Burger King I almost lost the crib yeah I don't think I would have lost it but my accountant was panicking I'm like I'm gonna say mouth t-pain has since rebounded financially and claims that going from mega rich to super broke has taught him the true value of money number nine David Crosby David Crosby is as synonymous with rock and roll as the Fender Stratocaster he broke through as a member of the Byrds in the 1960s before becoming a full-fledged superstar as a member of Crosby Stills and Nash however like many of his contemporaries Crosby was an avid drug user in the 1980s he would enter into a downward spiral that included arrests for drug and weapons possession driving under the influence and hit and run by the mid 80s he was addicted to alcohol cocaine and heroin he later claimed to have spent millions on his drug habits all of which contributed to a decline in record sales I just want to try it once nobody ever managed to try it once man it doesn't work like that you try it once you'll try to Crosby eventually filed for bankruptcy and would struggle financially for many many years number 8 TLC this iconic 90s girl group landed atop the Billboard charts four times between 1994 and 1999 songs like creep and waterfalls made them household names and brought them untold amounts of fame success and wealth unfortunately that last one did not last very long from the outside TLC was on top of the world but upon further inspection it was revealed that costly medical bills insurance payments and bad business deals with their manager and record label had left them completely broke we're so broke we had to borrow money to go broke Lisa was dating Andre Rison still he had to give us body and a piece bankruptcy today the group filed for bankruptcy in 1995 with their debts clocking in at around 3.5 million dollars sadly this story does not have a happy ending as founding member Lisa left eye Lopes died in a car accident in 2002 at the age of 30 number 7 Toni Braxton one of the most successful R&B singers of all time Toni Braxton never met an award she didn't win the Maryland native took home her first Grammy in 1994 and her last in 2015 a testament to her resilience as an artist despite her continued success Braxton has experienced her fair share of financial troubles like many of the artists on this list Braxton's recording contract favored the record studio and she wasn't making enough off of royalties to sustain her lavish lifestyle tour doing I'm breaking my heart so it was like almost ten million from that one another ten from the first one so we're well over 20 million and you got $1,900 t I promise you less than $2,000 she filed for bankruptcy in 1998 but bounced back in 2000 thanks to the success of her third studio album the heat however Braxton filed for bankruptcy a second time in 2010 after health concerns forced her to cancel her Las Vegas residency number six Lil Kim since being discovered by the late rap legend the notorious b.i.g in the mid 90s Lil Kim has sold more than 15 million albums and is widely regarded as one of the most influential and important female rappers in history don't worry there's a but coming but she was also extremely frivolous with her money purchasing any number of extravagant items that she simply could not afford would you know I'm saying there was ups and downs financially there was ups and downs mentally there was ups and downs of my relationships and so you know in 2018 Lil Kim filed for bankruptcy and it was revealed that she owed the government close to two million dollars in back taxes and faced debts of up to four million dollars who knew that the royalties from songs like it's all about the Benjamins wouldn't be enough to pay the bills number five Kesha with a whopping ten top ten singles to her name including Tik Tok which was at one time the best-selling digital single ever Kesha knows a thing or two about success however her much-publicized lawsuit against her former producer dr. Luke decimated her bank account legal fees do not come cheap and at one point Kesha reportedly had to accept two hundred and fifty thousand dollars from Taylor Swift in order to cover her legal expenses but Kesha didn't lose her magic touch when it comes to topping the charts her self-funded third album rainbow peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America just four months after its release number four 50 cent we don't even know where to start when it comes to this rapper's financial troubles 50 cent who never failed to produce stacks of cash for his music videos filed for bankruptcy in 2015 with his debt listed at over 30 million dollars fifties financial woes can be attributed to a number of factors for starters he was reportedly spending over $100,000 a month on lifestyle expenses second he had recently been ordered to pale Estonia leviston five million dollars for illegally releasing a sex tape of her online attorney will take the case for free to go after someone that has deep pockets and contingent that they'd get a piece of whatever they get out of that person's pockets third he screwed over his ex business partner causing a federal judge to order him to pay 17 million dollars to him and you know it's bad when you file a lawsuit against your own lawyers for millions there's no way around it it's just a part of the price of business number 3 Marvin Gaye if this entry proves anything it's that you can be the most effortlessly cool and talented soul singer on the planet and still wind up behind the 8-ball Marvin Gaye's financial woes can be attributed to marital problems The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer went through a famously troubled divorce from his first wife and a Gordy in 1975 and quickly fell behind on his alimony payments filing for bankruptcy in 1976 with no money to speak of a judge ordered Gaye to pay his ex-wife with royalties from his next album the album entitled hear my dear did little to help his situation and Gaye was faced with the possibility that he would be sent to prison for big back taxes he owed the government number to Lauryn Hill the peak of Lauryn Hill's fame came in 1998 that was the year she released her seminal debut solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill the record was a massive critical and commercial success garnering Hill five Grammys including album of the year however a group of musicians called new Ark sued Hill on the grounds claiming that she used their songs and production skills but failed to properly credit them for the work it would take years for the lawsuit to be settled and in the end Hill was forced to pay New York around five million dollars ouch years later Hill would famously serve three months in prison for failing to pay her outstanding tax bills before we unveil our number one pick here are some honorable or dishonorable mentions Harry Nilsson [Music] mix Leawood [Music] Jerry Lee Lewis kalise before we continue be sure to subscribe to our Channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos it will have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them if you're on your phone make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications number one MC hammer the rise and fall of MC Hammer is a cautionary tale many entertainers would be wise to remember hammer started in the 80s but truly bursts onto the scene in the early 90s thanks to his album pls hammer don't hurt him which included the mega hit you can't touch this suddenly hammer was loaded and he quickly went to work blowing his 33 million dollar net worth on lavish items everybody knew that I had 200 employees it was no secret so what you think I was playing them in uh in the hamburgers he purchased a mansion and filled it with extravagant items and amenities kept a staff of two hundred people on his payroll mostly friends family and community members which to be fair is a nice impulse and found himself on the receiving end of multiple lawsuits when he finally filed for bankruptcy in 1996 he was at least ten million dollars in debt moral of the story don't treat your bank account like a bottomless pit of cash do you agree with our picks check out this other recent clip from WatchMojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos [Music] you

Channel: WatchMojo.com

Views: 124,642

Rating: 4.7857866 out of 5

Keywords: musicians who went broke, celebs who went broke, celebrities who went broke, musicians who went bankrupt, musicians, celebs, celebrities, bankrupt, broke, broke musicians, musicians who lost it all, rich celebs, wealthy, rich, poor, t-pain, david crosby, tlc, toni braxton, lil’ kim, kesha, 50 cent, marvin gaye, lauryn hill, mc hammer, mick fleetwood, kelis, jerry lee lewis, harry nilsson, watchmojo, mojo, list, top 10

Id: VZf1ZnxBHhE

Length: 10min 39sec (639 seconds)

Published: Sun May 17 2020