Robert Pollard Net Worth

What is Robert Pollard's Net Worth?

Robert Pollard is an American singer-songwriter and visual artist who has a net worth of $500 thousand. Robert Pollard is the frontman and only constant member of the indie rock band Guided by Voices, with which he has released over 40 studio albums since the 1980s. He has also released dozens of albums as a solo artist as well as many albums with his sundry side projects.

Early Life and Education

Robert Pollard Jr. was born on October 31, 1957 in Dayton, Ohio. He has a brother named Jim. Growing up, Pollard was very involved in sports. He was educated at Northridge High School before attending Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio. At the latter, Pollard played collegiate baseball and sang in rock bands. After graduating from Wright State, he worked as a schoolteacher for many years while pursuing his music career on the side.

Guided by Voices

After years of performing with local cover bands in Dayton, Pollard began playing original songs with fellow Northridge High School alumni Mitch Mitchell and Kevin Fennell. The trio recorded in Pollard's basement and performed under various names before becoming Guided by Voices in 1983. Over the years, many band members came and went, with Pollard being the only constant. Guided by Voices began its recording career with a string of self-financed releases, starting with the EP "Forever Since Breakfast" in 1986. The band's debut studio album, "Devil Between My Toes," came out the following year. Guided by Voice's subsequent albums were "Sandbox," "Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia," and "Same Place the Fly Got Smashed." The group gained wider recognition with its fifth studio album, "Propeller," which was released in 1992. After that, Pollard broke up Guided by Voices amid financial difficulties and a lack of support from family and friends.

Brought back together in 1993, Guided by Voices signed with Scat Records and played its first live show in close to six years. The band then released the album "Vampire on Titus." Numerous studio albums and EPs followed. In 2001, Guided by Voices had its first charting album on the Billboard 200 with "Isolation Drills." Its subsequent two studio albums, "Universal Truths and Cycles" and "Earthquake Glue," also charted. In 2004, Guided by Voices released what was supposed to be its final album, "Half Smiles of the Decomposed." However, nearly seven years later, the band released a new album entitled "Let's Go Eat the Factory." Many more albums followed, including "Class Clown Spots a UFO" and "Cool Planet." Guided by Voices disbanded again in 2014 before getting back together again in 2016. In 2024, the band released its 40th studio album, "Strut of Kings." That was followed in 2025 by "Universe Room" and "Thick, Rich & Delicious."

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Solo Career

Pollard began his solo recording career in 1996 with the album "Not in My Airforce." His subsequent albums were "Waved Out," "Kid Marine," "Motel of Fools," and "Fiction Man." In 2006, Pollard released "From a Compound Eye," his first solo album on Merge Records and his first to chart on the Billboard charts. He went on to release "Normal Happiness," "Standard Gargoyle Decisions," and "Coast to Coast Carpet of Love." In 2008, Pollard released "Superman Was a Rocker," his first album on his Happy Jack Rock Records label, and "Robert Pollard is Off to Business," his first album on his newly founded Guided by Voices label. He continued to be prolific as a solo artist over the ensuing years, and in 2013 released his 20th solo studio album, "Blazing Gentlemen." Also that year, Pollard released "Force Fields At Home," the first album from his solo project Teenage Guitar.

Other Projects and Collaborations

Pollard has been involved in myriad other musical projects during his career. With his Guided by Voices bandmate Doug Gillard, he recorded the 1999 album "Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department." This album was part of Pollard's prolific Fading Captain series, which consisted of self-financed and self-released projects under both Pollard's name and a variety of pseudonyms. Pollard's other major bands have included Airport 5, Circus Devils, the Keene Brothers, Lifeguards, Phantom Tollbooth, and Boston Spaceships. Among his many other projects, he wrote the music for Steven Soderbergh's 2005 film "Bubble" and released the 2005 live comedy album "Relaxation of the Asshole." Pollard has also done poetry and collage art, with his works published in the literary magazine EAT and the book "Town of Mirrors: The Reassembled Imagery of Robert Pollard."

Personal Life

Near the end of his senior year of college, Pollard married Kim Dowler, a teenage sweetheart he had been dating for seven years. Together, they had a daughter named Erika and a son named Bryan. The couple divorced in the mid-1990s. Pollard married his second wife, Sarah Zade, in 2007.

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