Thom Yorke Net Worth - Pulptastic
Michael King What is Thom Yorke’s Net Worth?
Thom Yorke, the lead singer and primary songwriter for the band Radiohead, has a net worth of $45 million dollars. Radiohead has sold over 30 million records and is considered one of the biggest art-rock acts since Pink Floyd.
The band’s debut single “Creep” was turned into a teen-angst anthem by MTV, leading to global success. Radiohead has released nine studio albums, including the critically acclaimed “OK Computer” and “In Rainbows.”
Thom Yorke has also pursued solo projects, releasing three studio albums and working with Atoms for Peace. In 2019, Radiohead was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has won three Grammys.
Early Life
Thom Yorke was born in 1968 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England. His father was a nuclear physicist and chemical equipment salesman, and his younger brother, Andy, became a lead vocalist. Yorke’s left eye has been paralyzed since birth, and he underwent multiple surgeries by the age of 6. The family moved to Scotland when he was an infant, then to Oxfordshire when he was 7 years old. Yorke got his first guitar that year and made his own at age 10. He attended Abingdon public school, where he met future Radiohead bandmates.
On a Friday and Radiohead
Yorke and his bandmates formed On a Friday and were offered a recording contract with Island Records, but turned it down to attend university. Yorke enrolled at the University of Exeter to study Fine Arts and English and played with a band called Headless Chickens. On a Friday reunited in 1991, signed a record deal with Parlophone, and became known as Radiohead.
Radiohead’s Success and Thom Yorke’s Solo Career
In 1992, Radiohead released “Creep,” which became a top 10 hit in multiple countries. Their first three albums, “Pablo Honey,” “The Bends,” and “OK Computer,” achieved multi-platinum status in the UK. Following a mental breakdown, Yorke recorded his first solo album, “The Eraser,” in 2004 which went Gold and earned a Grammy nomination. He released two more solo albums, “Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes” and “Anima,” and formed the band Atoms for Peace with Flea, Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker, and Mauro Refosco in 2009.
Radiohead released their 2007 and 2011 albums, “In Rainbows” and “The King of Limbs,” independently. Their 2016 album, “A Moon Shaped Pool,” was critically acclaimed. Yorke’s second solo album was released in 2014 and his third in 2019 with an accompanying short film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Atoms for Peace toured in 2010 and released “Amok” in 2013.
Thom Yorke’s Personal Life and Activism
Thom Yorke had a 23-year relationship with artist Rachel Owen and they had two children together. They reportedly secretly married in 2003 and split up in 2015. Yorke later married actress Dajana Roncione in 2020. He is a vegetarian and vocal critic of the meat industry. Yorke supports animal rights and appeared in a film for Animal Aid in 2015.
Yorke celebrated Barack Obama’s election in 2008 by offering a free download of a “Harrowdown Hill” remix. He is a vocal critic of Donald Trump, stating that Trump and his supporters are “utterly bereft of moral authority.” Yorke is opposed to Brexit and participated in the People’s Vote march in 2019.
Yorke has been involved in activism against climate change since 2000 and is a supporter of Friends of the Earth. In 2006, he headlined the organization’s Big Ask Live benefit concert. Yorke attended the G8 summit in support of the Jubilee 2000 movement in 1999 and spoke at a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament rally in 2004.
Accolades
As a solo artist, Yorke won a UK Music Video Award for Best Choreography in a Video for “Anima” (2019) and received nominations from various awards like the Grammys, BRIT Awards, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards, and the Libera Awards.
Radiohead has won three Best Alternative Music Album Grammys, four Ivor Novello Awards, nine Denmark GAFFA Awards, 10 NME Awards, four Q Awards, an Antville Music Video Award, Ibiza Music Video Festival award, Libera Award, Meteor Music Award, MTV Video Music Award, MTV Asia Award, MVPA Award, and PLUG Independent Music Award. They have also been shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize five times.