Gene Chandler was born as Eugene Drake Dixon on 6 July 1937, in Chicago, Illinois USA, and is best known as a singer and songwriter. He is associated with talent scouting as well.
So just how rich is gene Chandler as of late 2017? Authoritative sources report that Chandler’s net worth is as high as $2 million, accumulated from his six decades long career in the music industry.
Gene Chandler Net Worth $2 million
Gene attended Englewood High School in the south side of Chicago. At the beginning of his career, he worked with the band The Gaytones, but left them and joined The Dukays as the lead singer, performing alongside Earl Edwards. He left the band to join to US Army, but returned in 1960 and continued making music with them. The Dukays signed a record contract with Nat Records followed by the release of ‘’The Girl Is a Devil’’, and shortly after ‘’Nite Owl’’ – the song was received positively and has five out of five stars on Discogs. Gene then released ‘’ Duke of Earl’’, published by the Vee-Jay records, and a million copies were sold in the first month, and was certified gold by the RIAA. Gene made a brief appearance in the 1962 movie ‘’ Don’t Knock the Twist’’ singing ‘’The Duke of Earl’’. His net worth was considerably boosted.
He left the Vee-Jay records in 1963 and started recording for the Chicago based company, Constellation Records. At that time, he had numerous hits including ‘’Just Be True’’ and ‘’Nothing Can Stop Me’’, created in collaboration with Curtis Mayfield. However, the company faced bankruptcy in 1966, and Chandler then worked with both Chess Records and Brunswick Records.
In the early ‘70s, Chandler became involved in music production, and established Bamboo and Mister Chand, his company and record brands, and produced ‘’Backfield in Motion’’, created for Mel & Tim and receiving positive reviews, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Chandler’s producing efforts were rewarded with Producer of the Year Award, in 1970. ‘’Groovy Situation’’ was produced by Gene in the same year and released by the Mercury Records, which also received a positive response from the critics and the audience, and peaked at number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In addition, ‘’Groovy Situation’’ took eighth place on the Billboard R&B chart.
Gene went on to collaborate with Curtis Mayfield once again in 1973, and the duo produced The Impressions, and Gene sang on a live album entitled ‘’Curtis in Chicago’’, and also on ‘’Knocking on Heaven’s Door’’, a 1974 album, joined by Eric Clapton – the song received mostly positive reviews and as of today holds four out of five stars on Discogs.
In the late ‘70s, Chandler turned to the genre of disco music, and created hits such as ’’Get Down’’ and later ’’When You’re #1’’. In addition, he was named the executive vice president of Chi Sound Records. As of the more recent past, ‘’Duke of Earl’’ has been covered several times, and the song was included on the soundtrack of ‘’Hairspray’’. Chandler still performs in the US and occasionally in Europe.
In his personal life, Gene was married to Lillie J. Kennard; his wife passed away in 2013. The couple had one son together.
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