Two richest under-30s: mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins, 30, and moonlighting Girl Aloud Cheryl Cole, 27
❚ THE TEASE TASTERS HAVE BEGUN for this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, which publishes on May 8. Today the UK’s new pop millionaires were announced with the 30-year-old Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins (worth £13m – $21m) topping the richest ten, only two of whom are male. In descending order this year’s other rich kids are: Cheryl Cole, Leona Lewis and Katie Melua with £12m each; Joss Stone £9m; Charlotte Church, Craig David £8m; Paolo Nutini £7m; Adele (see video below), Lily Allen, Natasha Bedingfield, Duffy, Amy Winehouse £6m.
All these artists fall into the category of “Richest British and Irish music stars under 30”, which is of course a sideshow to the main list of music-industry big-hitters. The top ten music millionaires is always headed by boring impresarios (big leap by Simon Cowell this year), so down at No 4 Paul McCartney remains the richest performer with £495m of assets ($812m), way ahead of the other veterans Elton John £195m, Mick Jagger £190m, Sting £180m, and Keith Richards £175m — all of whom have longevity in their favour. Sudden additions to the Rich List music millionaires include Brian Johnson (£50m), the lead singer of the rock band AC/DC, and John McColgan and Moya Doherty (£70m), husband and wife co-founders of Riverdance.
Among stars from the Swinging 80s, only George Michael (£90m – $147m), Mick Hucknall and Kylie Minogue survive, with their fortunes consolidated now at £40m each.
❏ In the separate list of the UK’s richest people aged under 30, three filmstars lead the performing arts, Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe at No 4 (worth £48m – $79m), Robert “Twilight” Pattinson at No 8 (£32m), and Keira “Pirates” Knightley (£30m). Princes William and Harry limp in at No 10 with a fortune of £28m derived from land and inheritances from their mother, Diana, and the late Queen Mother. (The boys’ grannie, HM Queen Elizabeth, is herself only moderately wealthy by UK millionaire standards, sitting at No 257 in the main Rich List and valued at £300m – $491m. The richest man in Britain for the past seven years has been Lakshmi Mittal, boss of the world’s largest steel producer, whose family is today worth £17,514m – $28,677m, despite massive losses after the global financial crisis.)
➢ This Is Money lists the full Top 50 Music Millionaires for 2011 — Despite Sade’s comeback album which topped charts both sides of the Atlantic during 2010, the Essex-raised singer-songwriter, composer and producer failed to reach the top 50.
➢ The 2010 Rich List put George Michael top of the popstars from the un-lucrative 80s
➢➢ Shapers of the 80s ➣➣ 