Jeffrey Allen Townes was born on 22 January 1965, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA. As DJ Jazzy Jeff, he is an R&B and hip hop disc jockey, record producer and actor who is probably still best known for his early career association with Will Smith as DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
So just how rich is DJ Jazzy Jeff? Authoritative sources estimate that the net worth of Jazz is over $8.5 million, as of mid-2016, accumulated in the entertainment industry during a career now spanning over 30 years.
DJ Jazzy Jeff Net Worth $8.5 Million
From the age of seven, Jeff had a paper route to help support his family, even before he attended the Philadelphia School of John Bartram High School. In his teens he quickly went on to become the school, and popular block party DJ for his neighborhood, so that his name has been enshrined on the school’s ‘Wall of Fame’.
His career kicked off when he adopted his stage name, and in the early part of his career, he won the World Championship of DJ in 1986 – Music Seminar DJ Battle. Then with Will Smith, they gained the reputation of being ‘the world’s greatest hip-hop duo’ as DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. In 1989 they won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance for “Parents Just Don’t Understand”, actually the culmination of several years of gold and platinum-selling albums and singles in the late 1980s, and continuing into the early 1990s. When Smith was cast as the lead in the TV sitcom, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, in 1990, DJ also appeared regularly in the show as a character named Jazz, which certainly helped his popularity to grow to a wider audience, as well as his net worth.
Jazz went on with his career as a DJ, and also founded A Touch of Jazz production company, become a record producer concentrating on soul and R&B. Along the way, Jazzy Jeff was involved in developing many artists, of whom Eminem, Jewel, Darius Rucker, Jill Scott, Talib Kweli, Rhymefest, The Roots and Musiq Soulchild are just a few.
Jeff is considered to be one among the richest DJs in the world today. After DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince broke up, DJ Jazzy Jeff performed with Smith at the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia on 2 July 2005, and in 2008 at the premier of Smith’s film “Hancock”. In 2013, they performed together on “The Graham Norton Show”, indicating their strong attachment to each other
In 2007, Jazz released “The Return of the Magnificent”, featuring collaborations with new school as well as old school artists including Peedi Peedi, Pos from De La Soul, CL Smooth, Big Daddy Kane and Method Man. The same year, Vinyl Destination was released by DJ Jazzy Jeff, a documentary web series of his more than a hundred DJ shows that he’s conducted around the world.
In his personal life, DJ Jazzy Jeff has been married to Lynette Jackson since 2010, and they currently reside in Wilmington, Delaware.
