6 Musicians Who Filed Bankruptcy

<p>I saw this on <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/finance/celebrity-money/6-music-legends-filed-bankruptcy.aspx">Bankrate.com</a>&nbsp;and thought it was kind of interesting.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><table border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tr><td><img src="http://www.brimg.net/images/6-music-legends-filed-bankruptcy-1-intro.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="200" /></td><td>Many music legends are known for crazy partying and wild living -- along with&nbsp; their compelling way with melody. What they have not always been known for --&nbsp; especially those from earlier generations -- is successfully navigating their&nbsp; financial lives. Here are a few musicians who have filled our lives with song&nbsp; while sometimes dealing with far emptier bank accounts.</td></tr><tr><td><img src="http://www.brimg.net/images/6-music-legends-filed-bankruptcy-2-lewis.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="200" /></td><td><p><span class="fcDarkBlue fB">Creative success:</span> Known as "The Killer,"&nbsp; the "Great Balls of Fire" singer was famous for wild theatrics, making "Whole&nbsp; Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" an understatement as he played his piano like a man&nbsp; possessed, kicking over benches and slamming the keys with his feet. And as wild&nbsp; as he was on stage, he was wilder off. He courted controversy as a 22-year-old&nbsp; by marrying his 13-year-old cousin.</p><p class="nobot"><span class="fcDarkBlue fB">Financial failure:</span> By the&nbsp; late '80s, Lewis, spurred on by trouble with the Internal Revenue Service and $3&nbsp; million in debt, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. His manager later told Fortune&nbsp; magazine this gave him a "new lease on life." Lewis, one of the subjects of the&nbsp; hit Broadway musical "Million Dollar Quartet," recovered quite nicely. He still&nbsp; tours, and his latest album, "Mean Old Man," was released in September 2010. It&nbsp; reached No. 30 on the Billboard album charts.</p></td></tr><tr><td><img src="http://www.brimg.net/images/6-music-legends-filed-bankruptcy-3-crosby.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="200" /></td><td><p><span class="fcDarkBlue fB">Creative success:</span> A legendary member of&nbsp; The Byrds and Crosby, Stills &amp; Nash -- and a member of the Rock &amp; Roll&nbsp; Hall of Fame with both bands -- Crosby wrote or cowrote classic songs including&nbsp; "Wooden Ships," "Eight Miles High," "Long Time Gone" and "Guinnevere."</p><p><span class="fcDarkBlue fB">Financial failure:</span> Back in 2003, Crosby&nbsp; estimated to Bankrate that he had earned -- and burned through -- around $25&nbsp; million over the course of his career. But by 1984, he was broke, in debt for&nbsp; hundreds of thousands of dollars, and on his way to prison for drug and weapons&nbsp; charges. He filed for bankruptcy in 1985. When he got out of jail, he lived in a&nbsp; friend's spare bedroom and wore his friend's old clothes. Crosby righted his&nbsp; financial ship by getting back to work. He's toured with Crosby, Stills &amp;&nbsp; Nash over the years and plays regularly these days with band mate Graham Nash.&nbsp; As political as ever, Crosby recently contributed to an album to support the&nbsp; Occupy Wall Street movement.</p></td></tr><tr><td><img src="http://www.brimg.net/images/6-music-legends-filed-bankruptcy-4-petty.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="200" /></td><td><p><span class="fcDarkBlue fB">Creative success:</span> How many music legends&nbsp; can inspire a major director, such as Peter Bogdanovich, to direct a documentary&nbsp; about them -- that's almost four hours long? Between solo albums, records with&nbsp; his band the Heartbreakers and the scratchy-voiced guitarist supergroup The&nbsp; Traveling Wilburys, Petty has sold more than 60 million albums with hits such as&nbsp; "Don't Come Around Here No More," "Runnin' Down a Dream" and "Free Fallin'."</p><p class="nobot"><span class="fcDarkBlue fB">Financial failure:</span> By 1979,&nbsp; Petty had several hits, including "American Girl," but not much money to show&nbsp; for it. When his record label was sold, Petty had a major problem with his&nbsp; contract simply being transferred from one label to another without his having&nbsp; any say in the matter. Not wanting to be "bought and sold like a piece of meat,"&nbsp; Petty self-financed his next album for around half a million dollars, then&nbsp; refused to let the label put it out. He declared bankruptcy to help get released&nbsp; from his contract, got his release, and then re-signed to the same label, MCA,&nbsp; for considerably better terms. In taking this shrewd tactic, he set an example&nbsp; many musicians have since followed.</p></td></tr><tr><td><img src="http://www.brimg.net/images/6-music-legends-filed-bankruptcy-5-newton.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="200" /></td><td><p><span class="fcDarkBlue fB">Creative success:</span> While a recording artist&nbsp; early in his career, Newton's real success came in his role as "Mr. Las Vegas."&nbsp; With regular headlining stints at various Vegas hotels over the years, Newton&nbsp; has earned as much as $25 million a year, with his net worth once estimated at&nbsp; around $100 million.</p><p class="nobot"><span class="fcDarkBlue fB">Financial failure:</span> Newton&nbsp; declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992 with an estimated $20 million in debt,&nbsp; including an IRS lien of more than $300,000. While he was in (much) better&nbsp; financial shape within several years, he was sued by the IRS in 2005. The agency&nbsp; alleged he and his wife owed around $1.8 million, partially for failing to&nbsp; report the sale of a horse. Since then, Newton has been sued several times,&nbsp; including a successful 2009 suit for back wages that earned a former pilot a&nbsp; judgment of more than $500,000 -- leading to the garnishment of Newton's wages&nbsp; -- and a 2010 suit for more than $3 million over a loan.</p></td></tr><tr><td><img src="http://www.brimg.net/images/6-music-legends-filed-bankruptcy-6-gaye.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="200" /></td><td><p><span class="fcDarkBlue fB">Creative success:</span> Known as one of the&nbsp; greatest rhythm-and-blues/soul singers of all time, Gaye's seductive impact on&nbsp; the music world came from such hits as "I Heard It Through The Grapevine,"&nbsp; "What's Going On" and "Let's Get It On." Gaye had 41 Top 40 singles including&nbsp; three No. 1 pop hits and 67 singles on the Billboard charts overall.</p><p class="nobot"><span class="fcDarkBlue fB">Financial failure:</span> The&nbsp; master of the sexy single was taken down financially by divorce. Gaye filed for&nbsp; bankruptcy in 1976 after failing to keep up with alimony payments, as he&nbsp; reportedly owed his ex-wife in the neighborhood of $600,000. To get out from&nbsp; under her thumb, he promised his ex the royalties to his next album -- which&nbsp; ironically dealt with his feelings about the divorce. Gaye continued performing,&nbsp; but he still faced financial troubles and a drug addiction. He seemed to be&nbsp; making a comeback from 1982's "Sexual Healing" until, following a heated&nbsp; argument, he was killed by his father in 1984, the day before turning 45.</p></td></tr><tr><td><img src="http://www.brimg.net/images/6-music-legends-filed-bankruptcy-7-fleetwood.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="200" /></td><td><p><span class="fcDarkBlue fB">Creative success:</span> When not hopping from&nbsp; bed to bed and enduring tumultuous breakups that would have even the "Jersey&nbsp; Shore" cast quaking in their tans, the members of Fleetwood Mac, including&nbsp; drummer and namesake Fleetwood, were creating some of the biggest hits of the&nbsp; '70s. Their 1977 album "Rumours" remains one of the best-selling albums of all&nbsp; time.</p><p class="nobot"><span class="fcDarkBlue fB">Financial failure:</span> While&nbsp; Fleetwood should have, by all rights, been a millionaire many times over&nbsp; throughout the '80s, he was done in by two oddly juxtaposed desires -- cocaine&nbsp; and real estate. His love for the former and bad judgment on the latter led him&nbsp; toward bankruptcy in the middle of the decade. By the '90s, though, he had&nbsp; reportedly turned his life around, including quitting drugs and developing a&nbsp; trusted team of financial advisers. He's toured and recorded in recent years&nbsp; with Fleetwood Mac and his own Mick Fleetwood Blues Band.</p></td></tr></table>