What is Jon Fishman's Net Worth?
Jon Fishman is an American drummer and musician who has a net worth of $60 million. Jon Fishman earned fortune and fame thanks to his work with the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983 and is partly named after him.
Early Life
Fishman was born on February 19, 1965 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Syracuse, New York. From a young age, he had a passion for music and drums in particular. He began playing when he was young and enjoyed emulating the drummer for Led Zeppelin, John Bonham, as well as the drummers of Yes and The Who. He attended Jamesville-Dewitt High School in Syracuse and, after graduating in 1983, attended the University of Vermont, where he studied engineering. While a student there, he met Mike Gordon and Trey Anastasio. Together, they founded the band Phish, partially named after Fishman, who sometimes went by the nickname Fish. He ultimately decided not to study engineering and transferred to Goddard College. The band soon added Page McConnell.
Phish
Phish began to perform in New England in 1983. They became known for their musical improvisation, extended jams, and blending of genres. Over the years, they developed a very devoted fan base. By the end of the 1980s, they began performing outside of New England and experienced a rise in popularity in the 1990s. Much of their early popularity can be attributed to the distribution of fan recordings of the band playing live shows, which they then uploaded to be viewed online for free. They were one of the first bands to use the internet to grow their fanbase. The band was signed to the major label Elektra Records from 1991 to 2005. They then formed their own independent label, JEMP Records, on which they released archival CD and DVD sets. In 1998, "Rolling Stone" described the band as one of the most influential bands of the 1990s. Their large festival events sparked the inspiration for the large Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee, which was first held in 2002.
Fishman has been the group's drummer and backup vocalist. He occasionally would also sing lead vocals when the band did cover songs, often in a humorous style. Some of these tracks include covers of "Purple Rain" by Prince, "Getting' Jiggy Wit It" by Will Smith, and "Cracklin' Rose" by Neil Diamond, among others. Fishman also sometimes contributed more serious vocals to Phish's catalog. He sings lead vocals on Phish tracks like "The Moma Dance," "Taste," and "Ghost."
The band performed regularly until October of 2000, after which they took a two-year hiatus. They then began performing again in December 2002, though they disbanded again in August of 2004. After a four-year break, Phish reunited in October of 2008 and has been performing together regularly ever since. They have developed an even larger following all over the world, but specifically in the United States, where they have sold over 8 million albums. Despite that fact, most of even their most popular tracks are likely unknown to the average music listener, as they never really broke into the mainstream music industry.
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Fishman is known for performing with Phish while wearing a blue muumuu dress with a doughnut pattern printed on it. In 2015, he applied for a trademark for the pattern on his dress, but the request was denied by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He is also well-known for performing solos on tour using an Electrolux vacuum cleaner.
During Phish's various hiatuses, Fishman worked on other musical projects. He was a member of the Vermont band Touchpants for a time. He also used to play drums in the rock band Pork Tornado and sometimes performed with the Jazz Mandolin Project for a few years. Fishman was also a member of two large musical collectives, The Everyone Orchestra and The Village. In 2007, during one of Phish's hiatuses, he performed a series of shows with the Yonder Mountain String Band. He played with the band during their set at the Rothbury Music Festival during the summer of 2008. He also joined the side project of Trey Anastasio, Ghosts of the Forest.
Personal Life
In 1997, Fishman married Pam Tengiris in Las Vegas, though they divorced not long after. He then married a woman named Briar. In 2006, they purchased a farm in Lincolnville, Maine, where they lived with their five children. The family appeared on a DIY Network home restoration series, "Maine Cabin Masters," in March of 2018 as they restored their home in Maine. In 2016, Fishman and his wife opened a general store in Lincolnville. Fishman has also hosted a local radio show in Belfast, Maine, since 2017. The show airs on Thursday evenings when Phish is not on tour and is called "The Errant Path."
Jon publicly endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in both the 2016 and 2020 democratic primaries. He also got involved in local politics himself in 2017 when he was voted a selectman in Lincolnville, a position that operates as part of the executive arm of governance in Maine.
He started the nonprofit organization, The Mimi Fishman Foundation, in order to raise money for organizations that benefit the visually impaired. He named the charity after his mother, as she was diagnosed with glaucoma.
Real Estate
In 2004, Jon bought an 18-acre property in an exclusive waterfront Vermont town called Quaker Smith Point. At one point, he submitted plans to erect a 150-foot-wide wind turbine on the property. After running into resistance from local residents and government bureaucrats, Fishman abandoned the plans and sold the property for a bit more than $3 million.
In 2013, Jon paid $1.1 million for a 126-acre property in Essex Junction, Vermont.
