What Was George Jones' Net Worth?
George Jones was an American musician who had a net worth of $15 million at the time of his death in 2013. During his life, George Jones recorded more than 150 hit songs. He is recognized by many country artists as the greatest country singer ever. Even towards the end of his life, George was still releasing hit songs and performing at least 60 concerts a year. George Jones died on April 26, 2013, at the age of 81 in Nashville.
Country Gold Estate
In the early 1990s, George bought an 80-acre property in Franklin, Tennessee. In 1993, he completed construction on a 9,700-square-foot mansion. He dubbed the entire property the "Country Gold Estate." In 2011, two years before his death, Jones listed the entire property for sale for $15 million. He then offered the property at auction, but the top bid of $2 million did not meet his minimum. In 2013, just before his death, he sold 54 of the property's acres for $2.4 million. His widow, Nancy, sold the mansion and the other 25 acres in 2015 for $1.98 million. Here is a video tour of George Jones' Country Gold Estate from 2012 when it was still being offered for $15 million:
Early Life
George Glenn Jones was born on September 12, 1932, in Saratoga, Texas. He grew up in Colmesneil, Texas, with one brother and five sisters. His father, who was a musician in addition to working at the shipyard, bought George his first guitar at nine years old, and he learned his first chords and songs at church.
Jones's father was an alcoholic and was emotionally and physically abusive to his wife and children. His father's aggression worsened after the early death of George's sister Ethel. According to Jones, his father would come home drunk in the middle of the night, wake up George, and demand that he sing for the family "or else."
Country music historian Robert K. Oermann said on this topic, "You would think that it would make him not a singer because it was so abusively thrust on him. But the opposite happened; he became … someone who had to sing."
Jones moved away when he was just 16 years old to pursue a music career in Jasper, Texas. He played originals and covers on the KTXJ radio station with musician and friend Dalton Henderson. He soon transferred to the KRIC radio station, and during an afternoon show, he met his inspiration, Hank Williams.
In 1950, George married Dorothy Bonvillion. They divorced in 1951. Jones enlisted in the United States Marine Corps for one year and was discharged in 1953. George married Shirley Ann Corley in 1954, and his music career accelerated soon after.
Music Career
Jones' first record, "No Money in This Deal," was released in February 1954. This began his professional relationship with producer and mentor H.W. "Pappy" Daily. Jones rose to prominence with his first hit, "Why Baby Why," in 1955. That same year, George played shows with Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.
In 1957, Jones teamed up with singer Jeannette Hicks to put out a few duets. These were the first of many duets he put out with various partners over the course of his career. The two put out a Top 10 single called "Yearning." George had his first #1 hit on the "Billboard" Country chart with "White Lightnin'" in 1959. This song had a more "authentic rock and roll sound," therefore shaping Jones into a new type of musician.
In 1962, with a new sound and many hits under his belt, Jones signed with United Artists. Under new management, he immediately released one of the biggest hits of his career, "She Thinks I Still Care." His voice had grown deeper during this period, and he began developing his own singing style. For the rest of the 1960s, George released only one #1 song, "Walk Through This World With Me" (1967).
Alcoholism and Financial Losses
While on the road, Jones took up the bad habit of drinking heavily and dabbling in various drugs. By 1967, the many years of the party lifestyle, binge drinking, and using amphetamines most nights caught up to him, and he had to be admitted into a neurological hospital for his drinking problem.
In October 1970, shortly after the birth of his first child, Tamala Georgette, Jones was straitjacketed and placed in a padded cell at the Watson Clinic in Lakeland, Florida, due to a drunken bender. He was kept there for ten days. George managed to stay sober for his family for long periods, but as the decade went on, his drinking worsened, causing his family to split up in 1976.
In the late 1970s, Jones spiraled out of control. He had already been drinking nonstop. To add fuel to the fire, manager Shug Baggot introduced George to cocaine before one of his shows. One night, after many hours of binge drinking, Jones shot at, and very nearly hit, his friend Earl "Peanut" Montgomery.
Jones was often short on cash and admitted in his autobiography, "I Lived to Tell It All," that Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash would often lend him much-needed cash. George began missing shows, a mistake that soon turned into a bad habit, and lawsuits from promoters started piling up. In 1978, owing $36,000 in child support and claiming to be $1 million in debt, Jones filed for bankruptcy.
In his article "The Devil In George Jones," Nick Tosches states, "By February 1979, he was homeless, deranged, and destitute, living in his car and barely able to digest the junk food on which he subsisted. He weighed under a hundred pounds, and his condition was so bad that it took him more than two years to complete "My Very Special Guests," an album on which Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Elvis Costello, and other famous fans came to his vocal aid and support. Jones entered Hillcrest Psychiatric Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. Upon his release in January 1980, the first thing he did was pick up a six-pack."
Despite his chronic unreliability, George was still capable of putting on a riveting live show. On Independence Day, 1976, he played at Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic in front of 80,000 young fans. Despite feeling nervous, Jones went on to steal the show.
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Revival
By 1980, Jones hadn't put out a #1 single in six years, causing critics and fans to lose interest. However, he took the music industry by surprise when "He Stopped Loving Her Today" (1980) was released and made it to #1 on the country charts. The song stayed at #1 for 18 weeks. George was back on top and was soon the subject of the HBO television special "George Jones: With a Little Help from His Friends," which had him performing songs with Waylon Jennings, Elvis Costello, Tanya Tucker, and Tammy Wynette, among others.
Jones continued to drink and use cocaine, appearing at awards shows, in which he won accolades for "He Stopped Loving Her Today," obviously inebriated and slurring his words on stage. George was involved in multiple high-speed car chases with police due to his drunk driving. Many of these were reported on the national news with one arrest was filmed by a local TV crew.
In 1981, Jones met Nancy Sepulvado, whose positive impact on his life and career became well-known to the public. She helped him rebuild his finances, kept him away from his drug dealers (who reportedly kidnapped her daughter in retaliation), and managed his career. She has been granted complete credit (from both Jones and those close to him) for saving his life.
In March 1984, at the age of 52, Jones performed his first sober show since the early 1970s. He was mostly sober for the rest of the 1980s and kept himself occupied by releasing many albums with Billy Sherrill.
Decline and Death
On March 6, 1999, Jones crashed his car in front of his home. Two months later, he pleaded guilty to drunk-driving charges. This crash was a significant turning point. George openly said that it caused him to reevaluate his life choices. Because of how traumatic the experience was, it reportedly caused him to completely stop craving alcohol and drugs altogether. During remission, Jones released "The Gospel Collection" (2003). Billy Sherrill came out of retirement to produce this album with George.
In 2008, Jones received the Kennedy Center Honor along with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who, Barbra Streisand, Morgan Freeman, and Twyla Tharp. President George W. Bush disclosed that he saved many of Jones's songs on his iPod.
In March 2012, George was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection and had to be admitted to the hospital. Months later, on May 21st, Jones was hospitalized again for his infection. He was released five days later. On August 14, 2012, George announced his farewell tour, the "Grand Tour," which was scheduled to stop 60 cities in the United States.
His final concert was held in Knoxville on April 2, 2013. Jones was scheduled to perform his final concert at the Bridgestone Arena on November 22, 2013. Unfortunately, on April 18, 2013, George was taken to the hospital for a slight fever and irregular blood pressure. After six days in intensive care, Jones died of hypoxic respiratory failure on April 26, 2013, at age 81. He was laid to rest in Nashville's Woodlawn Cemetery.
