What Is Page McConnell's Net Worth?
Page McConnell is an American musician and songwriter who has a net worth of $55 million. Page McConnell is best known for being a keyboardist for the band Phish alongside guitarist Trey Anastasio, drummer Jon Fishman, and bassist Mike Gordon. Page has written many songs for the band, such as "Army of One," "Halfway to the Moon," "Windy City," and "I Always Wanted It This Way."
Phish has released 15 studio albums, including the Platinum "Junta" (1989) and the Gold "Lawn Boy" (1990), "A Picture of Nectar" (1992), "Rift" (1993), "Hoist" (1994), "Billy Breathes" (1996), and "Farmhouse" (2000). McConnell has also worked with Travis, Tenacious D, Phil Lesh and Friends, Spam Allstars, and Porter Batiste Stoltz. He has released the solo albums "Page McConnell" (2007), "Unsung Cities and Movies Never Made" (2013), and "Maybe We're the Visitors" (2021), and he collaborated with Phish bandmate Trey Anastasio on the albums "December" (2021) and "January" (2023). Page formed Vida Blue, an electronic jazz fusion band, with Oteil Burbridge and Russell Batiste in 2001, and they released the albums "Vida Blue" (2002), "The Illustrated Band" (2003), and "Crossing Lines" (2019). McConnell composed the score of the 1996 film "Only in America," and he and his fellow members of Phish lent their voices to the 2002 "Simpsons" episode "Weekend at Burnsie's."
Early Life
Page McConnell was born Page Samuel McConnell on May 17, 1963, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Mary Ellen Rhodes and Dr. Jack B. McConnell, and he has two siblings, Katherine and Steven. Jack passed away in 2018, and according to his obituary, "Dr. McConnell co-invented the tine test, used for the detection of tuberculosis, and participated in the early stages of the development of the polio vaccine. He then joined McNeil Laboratories where he directed the development of Tylenol tablets." Jack also worked at Johnson & Johnson, where he "directed the program for the first commercial MRI system in the United States," and after retiring, he founded the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic.
By the age of 4, Page had begun to learn how to play the piano, and after his family moved to Basking Ridge, New Jersey, he continued studying music. By the time he was in seventh grade, McConnell had started playing in bands with his friends. Page attended Gill St. Bernard's School, then he graduated from the Massachusetts boarding school Lawrence Academy.
He enrolled at Southern Methodist University in 1982, and there, he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order and took Donald Pasquella's "Imagination, Awareness, and Ideas" course. Page transferred to Goddard College in 1984, and in his senior study, "The Art of Improvisation," he referred to "Imagination, Awareness, and Ideas" as "the most important course I have ever taken." At Goddard, McConnell met saxophonist Karl Boyle, who became his mentor, and he graduated in 1987.
Phish
In 1985, Page joined Phish, which had formed two years earlier. Before signing with Elektra Records in 1991, the band released the albums "Junta" (1989) and "Lawn Boy" (1990), which went Platinum and Gold, respectively, after they were re-released in 1992.
Their first album with Elektra, 1992's "A Picture of Nectar," reached #110 on the "Billboard" 200 chart and was certified Gold. Phish's next three albums also went Gold, with "Rift" (1993) reaching #51 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, "Hoist" (1994) reaching #34, and "Billy Breathes" (1996) reaching #7. Their 1998 album "The Story of the Ghost" peaked at #8 on the "Billboard" 200 chart.
After releasing 1999's "The Siket Disc" (1999) and the 2000 Gold album "Farmhouse," the band went on hiatus until late 2002, then they released the albums "Round Room" (2002) and "Undermind" (2004). Phish disbanded after their summer 2004 tour, and McConnell released his debut self-titled solo album in 2007. He had previously released two albums with the band Vida Blue, 2002's "Vida Blue" and 2003's "The Illustrated Band." Phish reunited in 2008, and they released the albums "Joy" (2009), "Fuego" (2014), "Big Boat" (2016), and "Sigma Oasis" (2020). "Fuego" reached #7 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. The band has had four top 10 singles on the "Billboard" Adult Alternative Airplay chart: "Free" (#7), "Heavy Things" (#2), "The Connection" (#2), and "Backwards Down the Number Line" (#9). Page released his second solo album, "Unsung Cities and Movies Never Made," in 2013, followed by "Maybe We're the Visitors" in 2021. Vida Blue reunited in 2018 and released the album "Crossing Lines" the following year.
Personal Life
Page married Sofi Dillof in 1995, and they welcomed daughter Delia in 1999. After McConnell and Dillof divorced, Page married Heather Pearson. After Phish disbanded in 2004, McConnell retreated to his home studio in Vermont, where he created what would become his first solo album. In a 2007 interview with "The Music Box," Page said of the band's break-up, "I really enjoyed the camaraderie of it — just being out there. It was a lot of laughs. It really was — a lot of stupid inside jokes and that sort of thing. I'm still close with all those guys, which is great." In a 2020 "Rolling Stone" interview, McConnell spoke about life during the COVID-19 pandemic, stating, "I was teaching common denominators to my nine-year-old daughter. I've been the math instructor, and music appreciation." He added, "I don't go out much in real life anyway, so it's not such a radical change for me. I think about others a lot, and how it must be really hard for so many people right now."
Awards and Nominations
In 2008, Phish was honored with the Jammys Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, the band earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Rock Performance for "First Tube."