How much is John Mayer worth?
| Net Worth: | $75 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Singer |
| Date of Birth: | October 16, 1977 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 1.9 m |
About John Mayer
There’s no disputing John Mayer is a skilled musician, but his high-profile romances and outspoken behavior have made him more well-known (or infamous) than his bluesy guitar riffs. The former Jennifer Aniston lover who once called Jessica Simpson‘s ex-girlfriend “sexual napalm” came on the scene with his big guitar, but quickly became known for his bigger voice.
The total income for Mayer in 2015 was $4.7 million. For $13.5 million in 2018, Mayer acquired Adam Levine‘s 7,100 square foot Beverly Crest mansion.
Growing up in Bridgeport, Connecticut, John Clayton Mayer originally became fascinated with the guitar after watching Michael J. Fox rock out to ‘Johnny B. Goode’ in Back to the Future. His father, Richard Mayer, was a high-school principal, and his mother, Margaret (née Hoffman), was a middle-school English teacher. After persuading his parents, John began to take guitar lessons and soon became influenced by legends like Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix, and by the time he was 16 he was performing in blues bars.
After becoming a member of a band in high school, John considered skipping college altogether and directly pursuing a music career. However, after his skills awarded him an admission to the prestigious Berklee College of Music he decided to start there. He dropped out after two semesters and moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he started a band LoFi Masters with his friend Clay Cook. Together, they played at the local coffeehouse circuit and began co-writing pop/rock songs. Eventually, Mayer wanted to take a pop direction and split to go solo.
Mayer started to make a name for himself in 1999, after he released the independent EP Inside Wants Out. While it was only an eight-track album it was enough to land him a slot at SXSW in Austin, Texas, and in early 2000, he secured a deal with Aware Records and was eventually sent to Columbia Records after the two labels agreed to a joint partnership. Recording for his debut album started that same year, working with producer John Alagia, Room for Squares was more expansive than Mayer’s previous work with additional instrumentals as well as the original use of the acoustic guitar. Released in the 2001, the album was much bigger than expected. “No Such Thing” and “Your Body Is a Wonderland” both became Top 20 hits and the debut album went on to sell 4.5 million copies in the US alone, earning a 5× Platinum certification from the RIAA.
He almost immediately went on tour to support the release and record a Live Album. Room for Squares hit ‘Your Body is a Wonderland’ earned Mayer his first Grammy for “Best Pop Vocal Performance” in 2003. He wanted to capitalize on his new found fame and continued to tour releasing live album, Any Given Thursday that same year. He also released Heavier Things, a commercial success that debuted at number 1 on the Billboard charts. In 2005, Mayer was again nominated for the “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance” Grammy Award, as well as “Song of the Year” for “Daughters”. He won both nominations transforming him into a bona fide star.
Ironically, Mayer is quoted as admitting that he thought ‘Daughters’ was so sappy that he was sure it was going to ruin his career. After the success of Heavier Things he wanted to shake it up a bit and reinvent his image. Soon after trading in his emo acoustic look for a hip-hop swagger with collaborations with Kanye West and Common. He also returned to his blues roots, collaborated with his idols Buddy Guy, B.B. King and Clapton. He formed the blues-rock band, in 2005, and released Try! in November, which was nominated for a “Best Rock Album” Grammy. By the time he released his third solo studio album Continuum in 2006, Mayer was a huge star.
Continuum went to number 2 on the Billboard 200 and won him two more Grammy Awards for “Best Pop Vocal Album” and “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance”. While his record sales have not what they used to be, Mayer has managed to maintain more stable numbers than many of his contemporaries for eight years, between 2001 and 2009. Many consider this to be due to his evolution and the transformation of his sound from one album to the next. All the white retaining enough of a pop/rock foundation to keep his main fanbase content while continuing to recruit more listeners from different genres.
By the time Mayer released Continuum in 2006, he had gained enormous fame for both his music and his melodramatic personal life. His brief relationship with Jennifer Love Hewitt in 2002 led to widespread rumors that his song “Your Body is a Wonderland” was inspired by her.
But Mayer claimed that the song was actually composed for his high school girlfriend and published before the two had got to know one another.
He began a well recognized romance with Jessica Simpson, a fellow artist, in 2006. Even though their romance only lasted nine months, they were closely followed by the media up until their breakup in June 2007. Before his next, and possibly biggest, relationship—with megastar Jennifer Aniston in 2008—he had brief liaisons with Cameron Diaz and Minka Kelly. Every juicy detail of their relationship—including his excessive Twittering, their breakup in the fall of 2008, reunion, their appearance at the Academy Awards, and their ultimate breakup in March 2009—was devoured by the tabloids and the general public.
But he was getting into just as much problems with his weird behavior and tongue as he was with his…second brain. Mayer gained notoriety for giving in to his whims, which included a stint as a stand-up comedian, hosting a Caribbean cruise where he dressed up in the infamous Borat thong swimsuit and a tight sailor suit, hosting a segment on the gossip website TMZ, posting details about his personal life via his numerous blogs and Twitter, engaging in online “beef” with blogger Perez Hilton, and giving lengthy, rambling interviews where he discussed everything from
His 2010 Playboy interview, in which he discussed his breakup with Aniston in detail, compared sex with Simpson to “crack cocaine,” and included the N-word, got him into a lot of trouble.
John has consistently used his publicity-seeking antics to outshine his natural talent throughout his career, earning him the moniker “douchebag.” There is no disputing the star’s musical prowess, and with a now-defunct Twitter account, he may be taking steps to resurrect his music career.
“I’m not being trite. I’m not being a parody of myself, and in finding a new kind of color to adopt for myself, it’s not this or that: it’s singer-songwriter, but it’s also blues guitar player, it’s also comedian.”
