Read about Herbie Hancock net worth, age, wife, children, height, family, parents, salary and music career as well as other information you need to know.
Introduction
Herbie Hancock is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd’s group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound.
Hancock experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro styles in the 1970s, utilizing a wide array of synthesizers and electronics. It was during this period that he released perhaps his best-known and most influential album, Head Hunters. His best-known compositions include “Cantaloupe Island”, “Watermelon Man”, “Maiden Voyage”, and “Chameleon”, all of which are jazz standards. During the 1980s, he enjoyed a hit single with the electronic instrumental “Rockit”, a collaboration with bassist/producer Bill Laswell.
He has won an Academy Award and 14 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for his 2007 Joni Mitchell tribute album River: The Joni Letters, becoming only the second jazz album to win the award after Getz/Gilberto in 1965. Since 2012, Hancock has served as a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he teaches at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He is also the chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz (formerly known as the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz until 2019).
Early life
| Name | Herbie Hancock |
| Net Worth | $12 million |
| Occupation | Jazz pianist, Keyboardist, Bandleader, Composer |
| Age | 82 years |
| Height | 1.75m |
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock was born on April 12, 1940 (age 82 years) in Chicago, United States. He is the son of Winnie Belle (née Griffin), a secretary, and Wayman Edward Hancock, a government meat inspector. His parents named him after the singer and actor Herb Jeffries. He attended Hyde Park High School. Like many jazz pianists, Hancock started with a classical education.
Career
Herbie Hancock started playing piano when he was seven years old, and his talent was recognized early. Considered a child prodigy, he played the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 26 in D Major, K. 537 (Coronation) at a young people’s concert on February 5, 1952, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (led by CSO assistant conductor George Schick) at age 11.
Hancock never had a jazz teacher throughout his teens; however, he developed his ear and sense of harmony by listening to the records of jazz pianists such as George Shearing, Erroll Garner, and Oscar Peterson. He was also influenced by records of the vocal group the Hi-Lo’s. In 1960, he heard Chris Anderson play just once and begged him to accept him as a student. Hancock often mentions Anderson as his harmonic guru.
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He graduated from Grinnell College in 1960 with degrees in electrical engineering and music. Hancock then moved to Chicago and began working with Donald Byrd and Coleman Hawkins. During this time he also took courses at Roosevelt University. Grinnell also awarded him an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1972. Byrd was attending the Manhattan School of Music in New York at the time and suggested that Hancock study composition with Vittorio Giannini (which he did for a short time in 1960). The pianist quickly earned a reputation and played subsequent sessions with Oliver Nelson and Phil Woods.
Herbie Hancock recorded his first solo album Takin’ Off for Blue Note Records in 1962. “Watermelon Man” (from Takin’ Off) was to provide Mongo Santamaría with a hit single, but more importantly for Hancock, Takin’ Off caught the attention of Miles Davis, who was at that time assembling a new band. Hancock was introduced to Davis by the young drummer Tony Williams, a member of the new band. In June 2010, Hancock released The Imagine Project.
On June 5, 2010, Herbie Hancock received an Alumni Award from his alma mater Grinnell College. On July 22, 2011, at a ceremony in Paris, he was named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of Intercultural Dialogue. In 2013, Hancock joined the University of California, Los Angeles faculty as a professor in the UCLA music department teaching jazz music.
In a June 2010 interview with Michael Gallant of Keyboard magazine, Hancock talks about his Fazioli giving him the inspiration to do things. On December 8, 2013, he was given the Kennedy Center Honors Award for achievement in the performing arts with artists like Snoop Dogg and Mixmaster Mike from the Beastie Boys performing his music. He appeared on the album You’re Dead! by Flying Lotus, released in October 2014.
Herbie Hancock was the 2014 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University. Holders of the chair deliver a series of six lectures on poetry, “The Norton Lectures”, poetry being “interpreted in the broadest sense, including all poetic expression in language, music, or fine arts”. Previous Norton lecturers include musicians Leonard Bernstein, Igor Stravinsky and John Cage. Hancock’s theme is “The Ethics of Jazz”.
Hancock’s next album is being produced by Terrace Martin and will feature a broad variety of jazz and hip-hop artists including Wayne Shorter, Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Lionel Loueke, Zakir Hussein and Snoop Dogg. On May 15, 2015, Hancock received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Washington University in St. Louis. On May 19, 2018, Hancock received an honorary degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
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On June 26, 2022, Herbie Hancock performed at the Glastonbury Festival. Hancock was featured on the track “MOON” by the jazz duo Domi and JD Beck on their debut album “NOT TiGHT”, released July 29, 2022. On Feb 4, 2023, Hancock performed at the Arise Fashion Week & Jazz Festival at Eko Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria. However, in 2013, Hancock’s dialogue with musician Wayne Shorter and Soka Gakkai International president Daisaku Ikeda on jazz, Buddhism and life was published in Japanese and English, then in French. In 2014, Hancock delivered a lecture at Harvard University titled “Buddhism and Creativity” as part of his Norton Lecture series.
Wife
Herbie Hancock is married to his lovely wife Gigi Hancock Meixner, they had their wedding on August 31, 1968. His wife is a private person and has a daughter named Jessica. Since 1972, Hancock has practiced Nichiren Buddhism as a member of the Buddhist association Soka Gakkai International. As part of Hancock’s spiritual practice, he recites the Buddhist chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo each day. As of February 2023, Herbie Hancock and his wife Gigi Hancock Meixner are still married and living a happy life together.
Herbie Hancock net worth
How much is Herbie Hancock worth? Herbie Hancock net worth is estimated at around $12 million. His main source of income is from his primary work as a jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Herbie Hancock’s salary per month and other career earnings are over $1.2 million dollars annually. His remarkable achievements have earned him some luxurious lifestyles and some fancy car trips. He is one of the richest and most influential jazz pianists in the United States. He stands at an appealing height of 1.75m and has a good body weight which suits his personality.