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It’s a tale as old as rock n’ roll. Someone gets famous, makes a huge amount of money, then pukes it all away with over-the-top spending and bad financial planning. Even some of the most popular musicians in the world have run into financial difficulty from time to time including 50 Cent, Michael Jackson, even Lady Gaga.
Many stars can recover their losses and return to the ranks of the wealthy after negotiating their tax situation or after filing for bankruptcy. But many others are not so lucky. As of 2022, these stars were either known to be struggling or were alleged to still be in the red.
8/8 Aaron Carter
Carter tragically passed away in the fall of 2022, and his last few years were not his most comfortable. Carter made millions in the early 2000s as a teen pop idol, and by the time he was 18 he was a multi-millionaire just like his brother, Nick, of The Backstreet Boys. However, fame is a fickle mistress, more so than the IRS. A decline in his popularity led to a decline in his album sales and among a pile of personal issues, it created a toxic combination that perhaps led to his demise. Not long before his death, Carter was reported to be $2 million in debt.
7/8 TLC
TLC was one of the most iconic R&B girl groups of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Their hit “No Scrubs” remains one of the most popular songs of that era and still gets massive radio play. However, the group fell into financial hardship and all three members, T-Boz, Chilli & Left Eye, all filed for chapter 11. They continued to record and make music, but they never became quite as wealthy as they did when they first blew up. Reasons for their financial problems varied, but they included massive medical payments and insurance payments for an incident of arson. Tragedy struck the band once again when Lisa Lopes (Left Eye) died in 2002 in a car wreck.
6/8 Grizzly Bear
Okay, technically they are not penniless, but the band that broke through in 2006. They went from living in almost total poverty to being one of the more popular indie bands, even getting gigs doing Super Bowl ads and getting critical acclaim from Jay-Z. However, according to Grunge, the band is not exactly rolling in the big bucks. The ongoing decline in the popularity of indie music is probably not helping their situation either. But they still perform and sources say they make a respectable income through touring. Still, one would think that anyone doing Super Bowl ads would have a larger bank account.
5/8 Toni Braxton
Braxton filed for bankruptcy not once but twice. She filed for her second bought of bankruptcy in 2010, and she is still suffering the ramifications for it. Although she allegedly was able to recover some of her assets and get out of the red, she has since been accused of bankruptcy fraud per her 2010 filing. It seems the once best-selling singer can’t catch a break and will be battling it out with investigators and the IRS for some time to come. Rumors circulated in 2018 that she owed at least $50 million.
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4/8 Sigur Ros
No one in the U.S. wants to deal with the IRS, but Americans can only imagine what tax agencies in nations like Iceland are like, especially since the nation’s population is so small it is not exactly hard to track down tax cheats. The band was found to owe millions to the Icelandic government, which they claim was because of a mistake caused by their accountant. They were at first cleared of any wrongdoing in 2018, but they were charged with tax evasion once again in 2019. The four-person band owes Iceland $1.2 million each, and several of their properties and assets have already been seized. As of 2021, their situation had remained unchanged.
3/8 Sly Stone
Sly and The Family Stone were a rather innovative band for their combination of funk and rock. The band was also one of the few to have the privilege of performing at Woodstock. But Stone made a series of bad choices and eventually it was discovered that he had become so destitute that he was living in a van. Stone has since started making a modest income again thanks to streaming service royalties, minimal though they are.
2/8 Leif Garrett
Garrett was riding high as a teen idol, but he soon fell into the pit that many young stars do. He became addicted to drugs, alcohol, and hard partying. One night while partying he caused a near-fatal crash that crippled a man for life. Garrett’s career and finances never recovered from the incident. To this day, Garrett remains in financial ruin.
1/8 Suge Knight
Knight has basically lost everything since his conviction for manslaughter. Knight was already on a downward slope and had been for years. Death Row practically fell apart after Dre left, and by the end of the 90s, the album had lost most of its best talent, including Tupac Shakur. Allegedly, Knight only had $11 in his bank account in 2006. Along with all of this, Knight had some enormous legal fees and a mountain of civil suits against him to pay off.
