What Is Mike McCready's Net Worth?
Mike McCready is an American musician who has a net worth of $70 million. McCready is best known for being a founding member of Pearl Jam alongside Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, and Jeff Ament. Mike has also been a member of the bands Temple of the Dog, Flight to Mars, The Rockfords, and Mad Season.
As of this writing, Pearl Jam has released 11 studio albums, including the Diamond (13x Platinum) "Ten" (1991), the 7× Platinum "Vs." (1993), and the 5× Platinum "Vitalogy" (1994), and the band is known for hit singles such as "Even Flow," "Jeremy," and "Daughter." McCready has also released self-titled albums with Temple of the Dog (1991) and The Rockfords (2000) and the album "Above" (1995) with Mad Season. In 2017, Pearl Jam was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mike was ranked #1 on "Ultimate Guitar's" 2014 "Top 20 Most Underrated Guitarists" list and #6 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's 2007 "The Twenty-Five Most Underrated Guitarists" list.
Early Life
Mike McCready was born Michael David McCready on April 5, 1966, in Pensacola, Florida. Mike's parents, Louise and Roy, moved the family to Seattle, Washington, when he was a baby, and at age 11, he bought a guitar and started taking lessons. He formed the band Warrior (later known as Shadow) in eighth grade, and after starting out as a cover band, the members began writing their own music. After graduating from high school, McCready took a job at a pizza restaurant where he became friends with musician Pete Droge. The band moved to Los Angeles in 1986, and Mike said of the experience, "Basically, we weren't that good of a band, and we didn't realize it until we got down there. I guess we lost our focus, got really bummed out and came back to Seattle." The band split up after returning to Seattle in 1988, and McCready worked at a video store while attending college. He had lost interest in playing music, but a Stevie Ray Vaughan concert inspired him to start playing guitar again. Mike joined the band Love Chile, and his childhood friend Stone Gossard saw one of their shows and asked McCready to play music with him. After a few months, Mike encouraged Stone to get in touch with his former Mother Love Bone bandmate Jeff Ament, and the trio began working on forming a band.
Career
In 1990, Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell asked McCready, Gossard, and Ament to take part in the project Temple of the Dog, a musical tribute to former Mother Love Bone vocalist Andrew Wood, who had recently died of a heroin overdose. Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron completed Temple of the Dog's line-up, and Eddie Vedder participated in the project after he flew to Seattle to audition for the band that would become Pearl Jam. In April 1991, A&M Records released the album "Temple of the Dog," and it went Platinum and reached #5 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. McCready, Gossard, Ament, Vedder, and drummer Dave Krusen formed Pearl Jam (originally called Mookie Blaylock) in 1990, and they signed with Epic Records in 1991. The band released its debut album, "Ten," on August 27, 1991, and it reached #2 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. The album was certified Diamond in 2009, and the singles "Even Flow" and "Jeremy" were top 10 hits on the "Billboard" Mainstream Rock chart. The band followed their successful debut with the #1 albums "Vs." in 1993, "Vitalogy" in 1994, and "No Code" in 1996. They had their first #1 hit with 1993's "Daughter," and they won a Grammy for 1994's "Spin the Black Circle."
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Pearl Jam's next two albums, 1998's "Yield" and 2000's "Binaural" reached #2 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, and the single "Given to Fly" from "Yield" topped the Mainstream Rock chart. Their 1998 cover of J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers' "Last Kiss" reached #2 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and was certified Gold. The band released the Gold album "Riot Act" in 2002, followed by 2006's "Pearl Jam," which reached #2 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. The band had two more #1 albums with 2009's "Backspacer" and 2013's "Lightning Bolt," and the 2009 single "Just Breathe / Got Some" went Platinum. In 2020, Pearl Jam released their 11th studio album, "Gigaton," which peaked at #5 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, and in 2021, they digitally released nearly 200 concerts for members of the Pearl Jam Ten Club. McCready has his own record label, HockeyTalkter Records, and in 2017, the label released music by his band The Levee Walkers, which features Duff McKagan, Jaz Coleman, and Barrett Martin.
Personal Life
Mike is married to Ashley O'Connor, and they have three children. McCready was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at age 21, and he endorsed President Barack Obama because of his Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. Mike made a video called "Life is a Pre-existing Condition" in 2012, and he performs annually at a benefit concert for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America's Northwest chapter. McCready has struggled with substance abuse during his life, particularly in 1994 after the death of Kurt Cobain and in 2000 while "going through some personal problems." In 2017, he took part in a charity tennis match for the Roger Federer Foundation to raise funds for Match for Africa, teaming up with John Isner to compete against Federer and Bill Gates, who won the match 6–4. Mike is an avid photographer, and in 2017, he published the book "Of Potato Heads and Polaroids: My Life Inside and Out of Pearl Jam," which documents "years of touring and travels" with the band. In 2018, McCready received the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award at the MusiCares Concert For Recovery "in recognition of his significant dedication to and support of MusiCares and his commitment to helping others in the addiction recovery process."
Awards and Nominations
Pearl Jam has earned 12 Grammy nominations, winning Best Hard Rock Performance for "Spin The Black Circle" in 1996. The band also received nominations for the albums "Vs.," "Vitalogy," and "Backspacer," the music video "Pearl Jam: Do the Evolution," and the songs "Jeremy," "Daughter," "Go," "Do The Evolution," and "Grievance." The band has been nominated for seven MTV Video Music Awards, with "Jeremy" winning Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Best Metal/Hard Rock Video, and Best Direction in 1993. Pearl Jam has earned American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist (1993), Favorite New Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist (1993), Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist (1996), and Favorite Alternative Artist (1996 and 1999), and the Esky Music Awards named them Best Live Act in 2006. For the song "Man of the Hour" from "Big Fish," the band received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song, an Online Film & Television Association Award nomination for Best Music, Original Song, and a World Soundtrack Award nomination for Best Original Song Written for Film. In 2016, McCready earned a Critics' Choice Documentary Award nomination for "Hoping and Healing" from "Gleason."
