Jeffrey John Hanneman was born on 31 January 1964, in Oakland, California USA, of part-German descent. Jeffrey was a musician, best known for being a founding member of the metal band Slayer – he’s known to have contributed lyrics and music material for every Slayer album. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it was prior to his passing.
How rich was Jeff Hanneman? As of mid-2017, sources estimate a net worth that was at $14 million, mostly earned through a successful career in music. Some of the songs he wrote include “War Ensemble”, “Seasons in the Abyss”, and “Raining Blood”. He also owned his own signature guitar, and all of these achievements ensured the position of his wealth.
Jeff Hanneman Net Worth $14 million
Jeff grew up in Long Beach, California with a family which consisted of war veterans, so he grew up very interested in warfare and military history, painting tanks and plane models. The family often talked about warfare as a common conversation topic – his father was of German ancestry, but fought for the Allies during World War II. Later on, Jeff was introduced to heavy metal music by his older sister, listening to bands such as Black Sabbath. During high school, he then discovered hardcore punk, which would become a big influence to him musically.
After studies, Hanneman started working as a telemarketer, then in 1981 he would meet Kerry King, who was very interested in Hanneman’s taste for music, as he was playing a lot of songs from Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. They then decided to start their own band, and worked on improving their skills, plus starting to apply Hanneman’s influence of hardcore punk music, which led to Slayer’s aggressive style. In 1984, Jeff also started working on a side project called “Pap Smear”, however, he decided not to continue with it after being advised by producer Rick Rubin that it might break up their band, however, the songs he made with “Pap Smear” would later get re-recorded for Slayer.
In 1986, Slayer started rising to fame with their release “Reign in Blood”, and became one of the biggest thrash metal bands in the industry, so Jeff’s net worth increased significantly. The band became famous, and had hit songs alongside Anthrax, Metallica, and Megadeth, and released a total of twelve albums apart from their live albums and a cover album. They had four albums achieve gold certification, and won Grammy Awards for their song “Eyes of the Insane” and “Final Six”. They sold 4.9 million albums in the United States.
The band also proved to be very controversial, due to their choice of art and topics which included serial killers, necrophilia, genocide, etc. Despite that, the band was highly influential, becoming a significant influence on many other bands.
For his personal life, Hanneman married Kathryn, but she was known to have only joined Slayer’s tour twice in 20 years. He was previously a pill and cocaine abuser, but later reformed. He was very selective socially when away from the band and rarely gave interviews. In 2011, he contracted necrotizing fasciitis and the band performed without him. In May 2013 he passed away in Hemet, California, from liver failure, and the official cause of death was given as alcohol-related cirrhosis. Apparently the family wasn’t aware of the condition until immediately before his death.
