What Is Perri "Pebbles" Reid's Net Worth?
Perri "Pebbles" Reid is a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and producer who has a net worth of $20 million. Perri "Pebbles" Reid has earned her net worth as a singer of pop and R&B as well as from the many songs she has written or produced through her production company, Pebbitone. She is also known as Sister Perri and has released a number of gospel hits outside of the pop world. Reid has released the studio albums "Pebbles" (1987), "Always" (1990), "Straight from My Heart" (1995), and "Prophetic Flows Vol I & II" (2008), and her singles "Girlfriend," "Mercedes Boy," and "Giving You the Benefit" were top 10 hits on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart.
Perri's company Pebbitone was responsible for discovering and developing the girl group TLC in the early '90s. TLC would eventually go on to become one of the best-selling girl groups of all time with an estimated 65 million albums sold worldwide. Unfortunately, tensions developed between TLC and Pebbles over accusations that she was mismanaging their money and had not been fair with their original record deal. TLC filed for bankruptcy in 1995 as a means to extricate themselves from their deal with Pebbitone. Reid produced the 2021 TV movie "Whitney Houston & Bobbi Kristina: Didn't We Almost Have It All," and she is an ordained minister who founded the Women of God Changing Lives Ministries.
Early Life
Perri Pebbles Reid was born Perri Arlette McKissack on August 29, 1964, in Oakland, California. Perri is the daughter of mixed African-American parents who divorced when she was a child, and she has three siblings. Reid's mother worked as a housekeeper and waitress while raising her four children. Perri is a cousin of R&B singer and songwriter Cherrelle, who is known for songs such as "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" and "Everything I Miss at Home." Cherrelle was featured on Perri's 1991 song "Always."
Early Career
In 1980, Reid began her music career at the age of 16, singing back-up for the band Con Funk Shun and the band leader/percussionist Bill Summers. She co-wrote the Con Funk Shun song 'Body Lovers." Perri entered into a production deal with a local musician, but the deal fell through when Reid became pregnant with her first child.
Solo Success
Perri met her second husband, George L. Smith, while working at a real estate office, and he gave her $80,000 to record a demo tape as well as a video for the song "Mercedes Boy." This led to a record deal with MCA. Reid released her debut album, "Pebbles," in 1987. The album was certified Platinum in the U.S., and it reached #14 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, #5 on the "Billboard" Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, #43 on the Canadian "RPM" chart, and #56 on the Dutch Album Top 100 chart and UK Albums Chart. "Pebbles" featured the singles "Love/Hate," "Girlfriend," "Mercedes Boy," "Take Your Time," and "Do Me Right," with "Girlfriend" and "Mercedes Boy" reaching #1 on the "Billboard" Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "Take Your Time" reached #3 on that chart, and "Girlfriend" and "Mercedes Boy" reached #5 and #2 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, respectively.
Reid's second album, 1990's "Always," went Platinum in the U.S., and it reached #37 on the "Billboard" 200 chart and #12 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The singles "Giving You the Benefit" and "Love Makes Things Happen" (with Babyface) topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and "Backyard" (with Salt-n-Pepa) reached #4. Perri's third album, "Straight from My Heart," was released in 1995, and it reached #43 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
(Photo by Prince Williams/FilmMagic)
TLC
In 1989, Reid formed the production company Pebbitone, which was based in Atlanta, and she founded the record label Savvy Records. In early 1991, the girl group TLC signed management, publishing, and production deals with Pebbitone, and Perri became the band's manager. TLC, which featured Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas and Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, signed with LaFace Records, which was owned by Perri's then-husband L.A. Reid.
When TLC filed for bankruptcy in the mid-1990s, they blamed Perri for mismanaging their money. The three band mates claimed that at the height of their success, after selling 11 million copies of their album "CrazySexyCool," they were each only paid a total of $50,000. The conflict damaged Perri and L.A.'s marriage. Pebbitone later filed a $10 million lawsuit against LaFace Records.
In 2013 VH1 aired a biopic about TLC called "CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story." Perry was not pleased with her portrayal in the biopic and at what point threatened to file a $40 million lawsuit against Viacom, which owns VH1 and produced the movie. In her suit she claimed the series falsely portrayed her "as a conniving and dishonest business woman who hoodwinked three innocent girls and exploited their talent for her own personal gain." The two sides settled for an undisclosed amount in late 2020.
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Later Career
Perri experienced a religious conversion in 1997 and began using the stage name "Sister Perri." She founded Women of God Changing Lives Ministries, which is described as a "ministry of deliverance, healing, teaching, and training that is led by God with His life changing, wonder-working power through weekly services." Reid became an ordained minister, and she released the book "Child of the Breakthrough," which is a "prophetic prayer proclamation." In 1998, she released the album "Prophetic Flows Vol I & II," and it reached #12 on the "Billboard" Gospel Album Chart. In 2011, Perri was announced as the host and executive producer of the talent competition "Essence & Pebbles present: R&B star."
Personal Life
Perri has been married five times. She welcomed daughter Ashley Victoria Winzer in early 1982, and her first marriage was to Ashley's father. The couple divorced in 1983, then Reid married contractor George L. Smith later that year. Perri and George divorced in 1987, and Reid wed record executive Antonio "L.A." Reid in 1989, who she had a son, Aaron, with in 1990. After Perri and L.A. divorced in 1995, she was married to Otis Nixon, a former MLB player, from 2000 to 2004. In 2012, Reid wed administrative law judge Excel Sharieff.
Award Nominations
Reid has earned two Grammy nominations for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, for "Girlfriend" in 1989 and "Giving You The Benefit" in 1991. "Girlfriend" also earned her an American Music Award nomination for Favorite Soul/R&B Song.
