Ronnie Wood - £55 million
Good thing the Rolling Stone has deep pockets: he was stung for a reported £6.5 million in his 2009 divorce, sank a fortune into his doomed Woody’s nightclub, blows a grand a week on flowers and £170k on chauffeured cars annually. “I’m a terrible businessman,” shrugs Ron, “but I do try.”
Mark Knopfler - £75 million
Since he packed in peanuts-paying early graft as a journalist and teacher, the Knopf has shifted over 120 million albums.
Admittedly, most of these were for Dire Straits’ yuppie benchmark Brothers In Arms, but last year’s solo effort Tracker still made it to No 3 in the charts - after all, what else is your dad going to listen to in the car?
David Gilmour - £100 million
Gilmour’s till rings every time someone buys a copy of Pink Floyd’s back catalogue, but he insists his stash is all relative:
“I am very well off. But there are probably thousands richer than me. I’m not up there with the Rockerfellers or some of the new Russian millionaires.”
Eric Clapton - £160 million
By the age of 23, Slowhand already knew that money wasn’t everything.
“I had everything a man could want,” he remembered. “I was a millionaire. I had cars. A solid-gold career. And yet, on a daily basis, I wanted to commit suicide. Materialistic acquisition is a funny thing…”
Keith Richards - £220 million
While bean-counting frontman Mick Jagger has been dubbed ‘Jumpin’ Jack Cash’, you sense Keef would be satisfied if all he had in life was a double vodka-and-orange and a dinged 50s Tele.
“I’ve never felt rich,” he says. “All I’m worried about is having enough to keep the show on the road. I make it and I spend it.”
Paul McCartney - £760 million
With a degree of inevitability, it’s Macca in pole position for the 25th consecutive year, sitting atop a nest-egg that makes his fellow rock A-listers look like skint students.
And if the former Beatle manages to claw back the publishing rights for his classic 60s material in 2018, he’ll be officially richer than God…
