Leon Russell Net Worth | Celebrity Net Worth

What Was Leon Russell’s Net Worth?

Leon Russell was an American songwriter and musician who had a net worth of $1.5 million at the time of his death. Leon Russell died on November 13, 2016, at the age of 74.

Russell began his musical career at the age of 14 in the nightclubs of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He and his group the Starlighters, which included J.J. Cale, Leo Feathers, Chuck Blackwell, and Johnny Williams, were instrumental in creating the style of music known as the Tulsa Sound. After settling in Los Angeles, Leon studied guitar with American Rock and Roll and Rockabilly Hall of Fame guitarist James Burton. In his early career, Russell was mostly known as a session musician, playing on tracks for artists such as Jan & Dean, Gary Lewis, George Harrison, Gram Parsons, Delaney Bramlett, Ringo Starr, Doris Day, Elton John, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, The Ventures, Willie Nelson, Badfinger, Tijuana Brass, Frank Sinatra, The Band, Bob Dylan, J.J. Cale, B.B. King, Dave Mason, Glen Campbell, and The Rolling Stones.

By 1970, Leon had graduated to a solo recording artist, although he still kept up his previous roles within the music industry. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 14, 2011. Russell’s band line-up included long-time bass player Jackie Wessel, Brandon Holder on drums, multi-instrumentalist Beau Charron, and grandson Payton Goodner on percussion. Pixies vocalist Black Francis credits Russell with influencing his vocal style, quoted as saying, “I realize there’s a certain kind of vocalizing I do that takes its cue from Leon Russell. He sang in a southern accent but it was very blown-out and exaggerated, very free and loose.”

Early Life

Leon Russell was born Claude Russell Bridges on April 2, 1942, in Lawton, Oklahoma. He was the son of Hester Bridges and John Griffith, and he had an older brother. Hester said that Leon began talking later than most children and that when he uttered his first words (“What’s the matter, little birdie — you cry?”), she was “shocked, because he never spoke.” Russell was born with cerebral palsy; an injury at birth damaged two of his vertebrae and caused a slight paralysis on one side of his body. This affected three fingers on his right hand and led to Leon using his left hand more often and developing the left-hand-dominant style he became known for when playing piano. This condition also caused him to walk with a limp. Russell’s parents both played upright piano, and he started taking piano lessons 38 miles away in Anadarko, Oklahoma, after Hester heard him attempt to play a church hymn at the age of four. Around this time, Leon also learned to play cornet and alto saxophone in his elementary school band, and he later learned to play the baritone horn. He impressed Maysville’s high school band director and was invited to join the band as a fifth grader.

Career Beginnings

Russell attended Tulsa’s Will Rogers High School, and at the age of 15, he performed on his first record, playing piano on the song “Jo-Baby,” which was written by his classmate David Gates. Russell and Gates were in the band the Fencemen after high school. After graduation, Leon chose to forego college to go on tour with Jerry Lee Lewis. While performing in bars and clubs as a teenager, he started using the name “Leon Russell” because it was on a fake ID he used to get into venues that didn’t allow anyone younger than 21. As a high school student, he performed with his band the Starlighters, which also included Leo Feathers, Chuck Blackwell, J.J. Cale, and Johnny Williams. Leon also backed bands in Tulsa such as Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, and he said of that time, “I worked six or seven nights a week till I left Tulsa at 17. I’d work 6 to 11 at a beer joint, then 1 to 5 at an after-hours club. It was a hard schedule to do when going to school. I slept in English a lot.” He later moved to Los Angeles, and during his early career, he worked as a session musician with artists such as George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Ray Charles, the Beach Boys, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, B.B. King, and the Rolling Stones.

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Success

Russell released more than 50 albums during his long career, including studio albums, live albums, and compilation albums. “Leon Russell and the Shelter People” (1971), “Carney” (1972), “Leon Live” (1973), “Will O’ the Wisp” (1975), and “One for the Road” (with Willie Nelson, 1979) were certified Gold in the U.S. “Carney” and “Leon Live” reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, and “One for the Road” topped Canada’s RPM Weekly Country Albums/CDs chart. He collaborated with Marc Benno on the albums “Look Inside the Asylum Choir” (1968) and “Asylum Choir II” (1971), with his first wife, Mary Russell on “Wedding Album” (1976) and “Make Love to the Music” (1977), and with Elton John on “The Union” (2010). Leon’s final album was 2017’s “On a Distant Shore,” which was released posthumously. He was known for singles such as “A Song for You” (1970), “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” (1971), “Tight Rope” (1972), “Lady Blue” (1975), and “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues” (1984). Russell released the singles “Heartbreak Hotel” (1979) and “Wabash Cannonball” (1984) with Willie Nelson and “If It Wasn’t for Bad” (2010) with Elton John. “Heartbreak Hotel” reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and the Canadian RPM Weekly Country Singles Chart. Leon and Barbra Streisand co-wrote the song “Lost Inside of You” for the 1976 film “A Star Is Born,” and the soundtrack earned Russell Grammy nominations for Best Album of Original Score for a Motion Picture or a Television Special and Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special. In 2011, Leon was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Personal Life and Death

Leon wed Mary McCreary on June 20, 1975, and they welcomed two children together before divorcing in 1980. Russell married Janet Lee Constantine on February 6, 1983, and they remained together until his death in November 2016. The couple had three daughters together, and Russell also had a daughter from a previous relationship with Carla McHenry. In 2010, Leon underwent surgery for cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhoea and treatment for heart failure. In July 2016, he underwent heart bypass surgery after suffering a heart attack. On November 13, 2016, Russell passed away in his sleep at his Mount Juliet home at the age of 74. His funeral was held five days later at Mount Juliet’s Victory Baptist Church, and a public memorial took place on November 20th at Tulsa’s Oral Roberts University Mabee Center. Leon was laid to rest at Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa.

Awards and Nominations

Russell earned eight Grammy nominations, winning for Album of the Year for “The Concert For Bangla Desh” (1973) and Best Country Instrumental Performance for “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” (2002). In 1978, he received a BAFTA Award nomination for the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music for “A Star Is Born,” and in 1979, he and Willie Nelson shared a CMA Award nomination for Album of the Year for “One for the Road.” Leon received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2006 Bare Bones International Film Festival, and he was honored with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s first Award for Musical Excellence in 2011. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame (2006), Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame (2011), Songwriters Hall of Fame (2011), and Oklahoma Hall of Fame (2022), and “A Song For You” was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2018.

Real Estate

At the time of Leon’s death, he and Janet lived in a 6,120-square-foot cottage in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. The Russells purchased the four-bedroom home for $900,000 in 2011, and Janet put it on the market for $1.437 million in July 2018. After several price reductions, it sold for $870,000 in August 2019. The home includes four full bathrooms as well as two half-baths, and Leon built a recording studio there.