check out If any Nigerian made the list.

10. Lionel Richie Net Worth $200
million.
Lionel Richie is one of the most
popular R&B and soul singers of our
time. Born and raised in Alabama in
1949, Richie originally had a knack
for playing tennis and would attend
college under a tennis scholarship. After having a difficult time figuring
out what he wanted to do with his
life, he went on to form The
Commodores, which ended up being
a very successful R&B band in the
1960s. With a unique sound and songs written by Richie himself, The
Commodores would go on to top
musical charts all around the world. Richie soon started to change his tune
and decided to start a solo career
where he would sing more romantic
ballads. This took Lionel’s popularity
to new heights, with offers to
collaborate with Michael Jackson and other iconic performers. As time went
on he would eventually fade out and
while he continued producing albums
they weren’t as successful as they
once were. These days Richie still
performs but he hasn’t made a record since 2012.


9.Will Smith Net Worth: $240
million
Will Smith was once the most
bankable actor in Hollywood but his
career didn’t launch because he was
an actor. Born in West Philadelphia in
1968, Smith is the middle child of four
other children. After he finished high school he would go on to create a rap
group under the name ‘The Fresh
Prince’ with his friend DJ Jazzy Jeff.
The duo would receive success in the
rap category with their humorous
songs and even won a Grammy. Even though his career was going
strong, Smith would soon get his
assets seized by the IRS and was close
to bankruptcy. But his financial
troubles would soon end as he got a
lead role in the highly praised sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show
would last for six seasons and raised
Will’s career to new heights, but Smith
wouldn’t become a Hollywood icon
until he started his movie career. Will
eventually landed roles in blockbusters like Independence Day
and I Am Legend, turning this once
sitcom actor into a legend himself. By
2010 he had 8 consecutive movies
make more than $100 million
domestically, something that no other actor has achieved. These days he is still very well-known
but his movies don’t seem to achieve
the same level of success they once
did. However that may soon change
as he has one of the leading roles in
the upcoming movie Suicide Squad, starring opposite Jared Leto and
Margot Robbie, set to release this
August.


8.Diana Ross Net Worth: $250
million.
Born in 1944, Diana Ross is widely
regarded as the most successful
female artist of all time. She rose to
fame in the early 1960s after her and
her three friends started a group
called The Supremes and would eventually rename themselves Diana
Ross and the Supremes for monetary
purposes. Born and raised in Detroit,
Ross’ original dream was to become a
successful fashion designer. When
she was 14 she began taking courses at a technical school for cosmetology
and modeling. But a year later she
would find herself joining a musical
group of female singers called The
Primettes, who would later on
become The Supremes. The Supremes would go on to
become so famous that their only
rivals were none other than The
Beatles themselves. Though her
group wouldn’t last forever as Diana
had decided to depart in 1970 and go on to launch her own solo career,
which proved to be the right choice
as since her departure she has gone
to make dozens of hit records. She
has also starred in a few movies and
even has performed live on Broadway. Not only has Diana Ross
had a very successful career but she
also has been a huge inspiration for
current female musicians, most
notably acts like Christina Aguilera
and Taylor Swift.


7. Prince Net Worth: $300 million
Most famous for his flamboyant
presence, Prince Rogers Nelson was
born in 1958 in Minnesota and has
been a very prominent figure for pop
music since the late 1970s. Named
after his father’s stage name, Prince became heavily involved in music at a
very young age due both his mothers
and fathers musical experience. His
father was once the lead singer of a
group called The Prince Rogers Trio
while his mother was a jazz singer. Prince began playing the piano at the
age of 7 where he would write his
first song. This is where his musical
genius began to mold as Prince is
widely known for his multi-
instrumental ability. When Prince was in school he
befriended someone named Andre
Anderson and the two wound up
joining a band called Grand Central.
But it wasn’t until Prince was 17 years
old that he started to become famous. Writing and performing music that
was a mixture of rock, pop, R&B, soul,
funk and disco, Prince then got a
record deal and went on to make hit
after hit with his band he dubbed The
Revolution. Though he would eventually depart from his band,
Prince still continued to make music
on his own, often times releasing
records only a few months apart.
Believe it or not, Prince continues to
make music to this day.

contd.
Did any Nigerian make the top 5?!

6. Master P Net worth: $350
million.
Percy Robert Miller, who is well-
known by his stage name Master P, is
not only a successful rapper but is
also a very prominent business man.
Born in New Orleans in 1967, Miller
and his two brothers would go on to form a rap group called TRU in the
early 1990s. They first started seeing
success in 1996 when they released
the single ‘Mr. Ice Cream Man’. They
would go on to sell millions of albums
in the late 1990s and continue to see success well into the 2000s. After dropping out of high school,
Miller decided to move to Richmond,
Ca. in hopes of making a name for
himself. He wound up receiving
$10,000 after his grandfather died
which allowed him to open up a record store. Though he did make
quite a bit of money from selling his
own albums, what really made Miller a
multi-millionaire was being a music
producer and building his own
franchise. He would go on to invest his millions into stocks, movies, retail
outlets, toy making and even phone
sex companies.


5.Beyoncé Knowles Net Worth:
$450 million.
Managed by her father, Beyoncé
would join a musical trio in 1990
called Destiny’s Child when she was
only 9 years old. They received
minimal success until 1996 when they
were picked up by a music label. Although it wasn’t until 1999 when
their single ‘Say My Name’ was
released that they saw worldwide
success. Afterwards they would go
on to release a few more hits, leading
them to become one of the most popular female group singers of all
time. The group took a break in 2003
and during their time off Beyoncé
would go on to release her debut
solo album. They would eventually
get back together but in 2005 they decided to call it quits and go their
separate ways. After the split was official, Beyoncé
went on to continue her career as a
solo music artist. She became hugely
popular post-2005 and began
releasing some of the most well-
known pop songs of the 2000s. Her success lead her to being nominated
for more awards than any female
music artist in history. She has also
had a moderately successful acting
career, starring in movies like Dream
Girls and Pink Panther.


4.Mariah Carey Net Worth: $500
million
Mariah Carey was born in New York in
1970. She is of mixed race which
caused people to bully her when she
was very young. Because of that and
because of her parents’ divorce and
her constant moving around, Carey described herself as a very emotional
child. This caused her to hide in her
room quite often and listen to the
radio as a means of escaping reality.
In doing so she would grow a
fondness for singing and writing poems although it was more of
something she kept to herself. By the time she reached high school
she had already become a very well-
rounded singer, mastering several
octave ranges including the whistle
register. She continued to write
poems and practiced singing opera music thanks to her mother. After
meeting some other music hopefuls in
school she decided to release a four
song demo tape but was very
unsuccessful. It wasn’t until she met
the head of Columbia Records (whom she later married) that she got signed
and went on to release a full record.
To no one’s surprise, Carey’s first four
singles reached #1 on the Billboard
Hot 100 and the album went on to sell
more than 15 million copies. Mariah Carey would go on to become
the most successful female singer of
the 1990s. She had several hits
throughout the decade although
between being overworked and
going through a messy divorce, Carey suffered an emotional breakdown
and took a break from music. She
would soon return and release a
below average selling album but
would rise to the top again in 2005
after she released her album The Emancipation of Mimi. Since then she
has had continued success, both in
music and in acting when she co-
starred in the movie Precious in 2009.
She would also join the list of judges
in American Idol in 2012 but it only lasted for a season. But that doesn’t
take anything away from the fact that
Mariah Carey has gone on to become
one of the most influential music icons
of our generation.


3.Jay Z Net Worth: $650 million.
Shawn Corey Carter was born in New
York in 1969. Early on in his life he
would constantly wake up his
siblings in the middle night when he
was imitating drum patterns. This lead
to his mother buying him a boom box for his birthday and his love for music
had begun. Growing up he would
listen to anything he believed had
soul. R&B, pop, jazz, it didn’t matter,
so long as the music had feeling
behind it. In his neighborhood, Shawn Carter had the nickname
“Jazzy” which he would alter to form
the stage name “Jay Z”. Growing up was difficult for Jay Z and
his family, as his father abandoned
them at a young age. He also lived in a
very dangerous neighborhood and
has been shot multiple times
throughout his life. Nevertheless, Jay Z persevered and would go on to
release some of the biggest records of
the 2000s and is one of the world’s
best-selling artists of all time, selling
more than 100 million total records.
He has also received more than 20 Grammys, as well as dozens of other
awards and nominations. And to top
it all off, he has 13 total number one
hits on the Billboard Top 100 – more
than any other solo artist in history. Not only is he talented musically but
he is also a prominent investor and
entrepreneur, owning dozens of
businesses around New York and is
even a sports agent where he
discovers potential professional athletes. But nothing is more
impressive than him being married to
Beyoncé Knowles. Like damn, can this
guy’s life be any more perfect?

finally the Top Two worth almost $1.5bn(450bn NGN).

2.Dr. Dre Net Worth: $700
million.
Andre Romelle Young was born in
Compton, Calif. in 1965. Music lived in
his family as his father had his own
amateur R&B singing group called
The Romelles. Growing up was very
difficult for Andre, as he was constantly changing schools due to
poor grades and being involved in
gang violence. He would find solace
in music and eventually invent his
own genre of rap music based on
street violence and crude lyrics. Before finding success he would DJ at
one of his friends’ night clubs where
he would dub himself ‘Dr. Dre’. Dre would go on to record tracks for
records and movie albums. He would
quickly become one of the best-
selling solo rap artists in the 1990s
but his real talent was finding other
artists. Dr. Dre has produced albums for many successful rap artists, most
famously Eminem. He also discovered
Snoop Dogg and produced his first
record, which debuted as #1 on the
Billboard Top 100 – something no
one else has ever done. Other acts include Kendrick Lamar, 50 cent and
The Game. For a while he worked
with 2pac but it was short lived as
2pac was murdered in a hit and run in
1994. Unfortunately for fans, Dr. Dre has
stated he is no longer making music.
Although who can blame him? He has
had a very successful life with music
and he is even an entrepreneur,
creating his own line of headphones called Beats by Dre.



1. Sean “P. Diddy” Combs Net
Worth: $735 million
He goes by many names. Sean John,
Puffy Daddy, Puffy, P. Diddy, Diddy.
Whatever he goes by now doesn’t
matter as he is worth more than half a
billion dollars and has worked his
way to become one of the most successful rap artists of this
generation. Born in Harlem and raised
in Mount Vernon, Sean Combs earned
the nickname “Puff” because as a
child because he would often get
angry and huff and puff around the house. As a child, Puffs father was the victim
of a gang-related shooting where he
would shortly die from his wounds.
This left a huge scar on his heart
considering his family was very close.
Growing up he was very talented in the sport of football but music ended
up being his true calling. After
dropping out of Howard University, P.
Diddy went on to intern at a record
company where he would soon
become talent director and helping out future stars like Mary J. Blige.
Afterwards he would go on to start
his own record label called Bad Boy
Records. Diddy would soon become
one of the most successful rap artists
of the ‘90s. He produced several records that topped the Billboard Top
100. Sean Combs is much more than just a
music artist. Like most high paid
artists, Puff Diddy also went on to
become a successful business man.
He launched his own clothing brand
called Sean John, which has won him several designer awards. It’s no
surprise that someone with this much
influence over the music and fashion
industry would top the charts of the
highest paid African-American
singers. And that concludes the list of the
richest African-American singers. One
thing you probably noticed about all
of these artists is how much they’ve
struggled with their lives. Even
though they are all worldly famous, they weren’t always that way. Some
of them had parents die, or they
experienced lots of hate and violence
growing up. Life had them down but
they all persevered through it. That is
something I hope you all take away from this article and hopefully you
can see their experience as
inspiration and apply it to your own
daily life.


Who is your favorite
artist?

top shots indeed

i thought russel simmons would be richer than jay z?