Rigdon Osmond Dees III was born on the 14th March 1950, in Jacksonville, Florida USA, and is a Golden Globe Award-nominated actor, comedian and radio personality, best known for his radio show “The Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Countdown” which has aired since 1983. Dees has also worked in such movies as “Saturday Night Fever” (1977) and “La Bamba” (1987). Rick was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1999, and the NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2007. His career started in 1976.
Have you ever wondered how rich Rick Dees is as of early 2017? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Dees’ net worth is as high as $35 million, an amount earned thanks to his successful career on the radio. In addition to being a host of popular radio shows, Dees also worked as an actor and appeared on television as well, which improved his wealth.
Rick Dees Net Worth $35 Million
Rick Dees grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he went to the Grimsley High School, and later graduated with a bachelor’s degree in motion pictures, TV, and radio from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Rick began working on radio while at high school, while in 1976, he recorded the song called “Disco Duck”, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart and achieved over six million sales. In 1977, Dees worked on the soundtrack of the Oscar-nominated movie “Saturday Night Fever” starring John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gorney, and Barry Miller, while in 1978, he had a role in “Record City”. He continued appearing in numerous series during the ‘80s, and from 1986 to 1988, Rick lent his voice to various characters in TV series“The Flintstone Kids”. In 1987, he had a minor part in the Golden Globe Award-nominated “La Bamba” starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, and Rosanna DeSoto, and more recently, he appeared in two episodes of “The Young and the Restless” in 2008.
Rick Dees also works as a host, including on 11 episodes of a Primetime Emmy Award-winning “Solid Gold” (1984-1985), and 20 episodes of Primetime Emmy Award-nominated “Into the Night” (1990-1991), among others. In addition to being a regular on radio, on which he has made most of his fortune, Dees has also released five albums: “The Original Disco Duck” (1976), “Hurt Me Baby, Make Me Write Bad Checks” (1983), “Put It Where the Moon Don’t Shine” (1984), “I’m Not Crazy” (1985), and “Spousal Arousal” (1996), adding to his net worth.
In 1984, Rick asked Marvin Fisher, the owner of the copyright to the music of the song “When Sunny Gets Blue”, to give him permission to use the sample of the song on his album “Put It Where the Moon Don’t Shine”. Fisher refused, but Dees decided to go with it and used the song, and Fisher later sued him for copyright infringement. The trial court concluded that Dees is not guilty of infringement as the song was used to “poke fun”.
Regarding his personal life, Rock Dees was married to Nancy Carmody from 1970 to 1976, and then married Julie McWhirter in 1978, with whom he has a child.
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