What is Doc Severinsen's Net Worth?
Doc Severinsen is a retired jazz trumpeter who has a net worth of $10 million. Doc Severinsen is best known for leading the house band, the NBC Orchestra, on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." He also recorded numerous albums in various genres, including "The Tonight Show Band with Doc Severinsen," which won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band. Elsewhere, Severinsen served as a conductor for several American orchestras.
Early Life
Doc Severinsen was born as Carl Severinsen on July 7, 1927 in Arlington, Oregon to Carl Sr. and Minnie. He was nicknamed Doc due to his father, who was the only dentist in the city. Severinsen became involved with music from an early age, with his first instrument being the cornet. Thanks to his preternatural gift for playing the instrument, he made it into a high school band when he was only seven years old. At the age of nine, Severinsen won a state trumpet contest, and at 13 joined a multi-state all-star band.
Career Beginnings
Before graduating from high school, Severinsen went on the road with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra. He continued touring after his graduation, joining such bandleaders as Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, and Tommy Dorsey. After serving in the Army during World War II, Severinsen was a member of Sam Donahue's band for many years. He also played the trumpet on the Oregon radio station KODL.
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The Tonight Show
In 1949, Severinsen was hired as a studio musician at the television network NBC. He became known to audiences as a member of the original band on "Tonight Starring Steve Allen," the first version of what was eventually branded "The Tonight Show." He would return for the third iteration of the show, "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," in 1962. Originally the first-chair trumpeter for the Tonight Show Band – billed as the NBC Orchestra – Severinsen became the bandleader in 1967. Under his direction, the 17-piece band became arguably the best-known big band in the United States, and helped to introduce big band jazz to American audiences. In the process, Severinsen grew into one of the most popular bandleaders in the country. Appearing almost every night, he wore gaudy clothing and carried on a rapport with host Johnny Carson. Sometimes, Severinsen even filled in for Carson's sidekick Ed McMahon. He continued to serve as bandleader until Carson retired in 1992.
Other Television Appearances
From the 1970s to the 90s, Severinsen appeared on many other shows beyond "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." He made appearances on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," "Bonanza," "Cheers," and "The Larry Sanders Show," among other programs. Later, following the passing of Johnny Carson in early 2005, Severinsen appeared with Tommy Newsom and Ed Shaughnessy to pay tribute to Carson with a performance of "Here's That Rainy Day" on "The Late Show with David Letterman."
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Recording Career
Severinsen began recording albums in the early 1960s, starting with the big band albums "A String of Trumpets" and "Tempestuous Trumpet." He transitioned to instrumental pop music later in the decade with such albums as "Fever!," "Swinging & Singing," and "The Great Arrival." In the 1970s, Severinsen recorded jazz, funk, and disco albums, including "Brass Roots," "Doc," "Night Journey," and "Brand New Thing." He continued his prolific recording career in the 1980s with such albums as "London Sessions," "Ja-Da," "Facets," and "The Tonight Show Band with Doc Severinsen," the lattermost of which won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band. Severinsen also recorded an album with the jazz fusion group Xebron in 1985.
In the 1990s, Severinsen's albums included "Trumpet Spectacular," "Unforgettably Doc," "Good Medicine," "Two Sides of Doc Severinsen," and "Swingin' the Blues." After the lattermost album, which came out in 1999, he didn't release another album until 2009, when he collaborated with Gil Gutierrez and Pedro Cartas on "El Ritmo De La Vida." Severinsen reunited with Gutierrez and Cartas on the album "En Mi Corazon" in 2010. He went on to release his final two albums, "From the Archives" and "Oblivion," in 2012 and 2014, respectively.
Conducting and Teaching
Both during and after his time with the Tonight Show Band, Severinsen served as a conductor for several American orchestras, starting with the Phoenix Symphony in 1983. He went on to conduct for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Meanwhile, in the early 2000s, Severinsen was a distinguished visiting professor of music at Arizona State University. After retiring from conducting in 2007, he was named Pops Conductor Emeritus in Milwaukee and Pops Conductor Laureate in Minnesota.
Personal Life & Real Estate
Severinsen married his first wife, Jane Frazer, in 1949. They had four children before divorcing. In 1964, Severinsen wed his second wife, Evonne Nyman, with whom he had one child before divorcing in 1976. He went on to marry his third wife, television writer and producer Emily Marshall, in 1980. They divorced in 2006. Severinsen's children are Nancy, Cindy, Allen, Robin, and Judy.
In the early 1960s, Doc bought a 5,000-squre-foot home in the Hollywood Hills for an undisclosed amount. He sold this home in 1992, just before "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" was ending, for $1.5 million. In March 1992 Doc paid $1 million for a 10-acre ranch in California's Santa Ynez Valley, not far from Michael Jackson's infamous Neverland Ranch. He sold this ranch in 2015 for $2.2 million.
