| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
McCartney tops pop star rich list
LONDON, England -- Former Beatle Paul McCartney, whose wife Heather Mills gave birth to a baby girl this week, now has something else to celebrate. He has been named the highest-paid entertainer in Britain. McCartney, 61, who became a father for the fourth time Tuesday -- his first child with Mills -- saw his earnings top £40 million ($68 million) in 2003, up from £35 million a year earlier. He leads the latest Sunday Times Pay List of Britain's most affluent pop stars. McCartney, who along with the other members of the Fab Four recorded the song "Baby, You're a Rich Man," has prospered -- as have many other wrinkly rockers -- by touring the world and charging their old, affluent and nostalgic fans a fortune for concert tickets. McCartney's latest world tour -- which ended in his hometown of Liverpool in June -- proved a major money-spinner for the former mop top, who said he was "ecstatic" about his new daughter, named Beatrice Milly McCartney. (Full story) "Maybe a baby will make him feel young and stay in touch with modern trends in his dotage," list compiler Philip Beresford told Reuters. "He has suddenly taken up touring and found it is another avenue to make huge amounts of money. He has got on the Rolling Stones' bandwagon." The Top 10 reads like a roll call of veteran rockers -- it includes Sting, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Madonna was the top woman, in sixth equal place with Elton John. "These old rockers just keep going and going. Maybe they will still be performing on their zimmer frames," Beresford said. "Most of them have now conquered their booze and drug problems and can actually see their fans. Twenty to 30 years ago they were so spaced out," he said. "They keep their fan base who have grown old and rich with them and can use their credit cards to buy tickets to their ridiculously overpriced concerts." The changing face of pop was signaled by the meteoric rise of Simon Cowell, the blunt-spoken mastermind behind the "Pop Idol" talent show which has been a huge ratings winner on both sides of the Atlantic. His 2003 earnings soared to £33.5 million. Robbie Williams, whose 2003 tour and latest record deal earned him £26 million, carried the torch for the younger generation of pop stars by taking third place. He is the only male pop star under the age of 50 in the top 15 music earners.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
