Charlie Burchill Net Worth

What Is Charlie Burchill's Net Worth?

Charlie Burchill is a Scottish musician and composer who has a net worth of $65 million. Charlie Burchill is best known for being the guitarist and a founding member of the band Simple Minds. The band formed in 1977, and Burchill has also played keyboards, saxophone, and violin for the band. Simple Minds has released more than 20 studio albums, including "New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84)" (1982), "Sparkle in the Rain" (1984), "Once Upon a Time" (1985), "Street Fighting Years" (1989), and "Real Life" (1991). The aforementioned albums were certified Platinum or higher in the U.K., and three of them reached #1 on the UK Albums Chart. The band has sold over 60 million albums, and they had a huge hit with "Don't You (Forget About Me)," which was featured on the 1985 soundtrack for "The Breakfast Club" and reached the top 10 on the charts in more than a dozen countries. The band is also known for singles such as "Glittering Prize," "Waterfront," "Speed Your Love to Me," "Alive and Kicking," "All the Things She Said," "Belfast Child," "Let There Be Love," and "She's a River."

Early Life

Charlie Burchill was born Charles Burchill on November 27, 1959, in Glasgow, Scotland. In a 2023 interview with "Guitar World," Charlie spoke about becoming interested in playing music during his youth, stating, "My very first guitar, my mother got me when I was maybe nine. It's a true story – she bought me this guitar with coupons from Embassy cigarette packets! I started playing when I was about 12. I had two older brothers: one of them, he fancied playing guitar and bought a semi-decent one that I eventually nicked off him. He gave up and I carried on." He also said in the interview that Led Zeppelin was the first band he saw in concert.

(Photo by Mariano Regidor/Redferns)

Career

In 1977, Charlie formed the punk rock band Johnny and the Self Abusers with his childhood friend Jim Kerr. Later that year the band changed its name to Simple Minds. They released their debut album, "Life in a Day," in April 1979, followed by "Real to Real Cacophony" in November of that year. Their 1980 album "Empires and Dance" reached #41 on the UK Albums Chart and#47 on the New Zealand Albums chart. Simple Minds released two studio albums in 1981, "Sons and Fascination" and "Sister Feelings Call." "Sons and Fascination" peaked at #4 on the Swedish Albums chart, #7 on the New Zealand Albums chart, and #11 on the UK Albums Chart, and it was certified Gold in the U.K. "Sister Feelings Call" also reached #11 on the UK Albums Chart and went Gold in the U.K. The band's next album, 1982's "New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84)" reached the top 10 on the charts in four countries and was certified Platinum in the U.K., the Netherlands, and New Zealand and Gold in Belgium, Canada, France, and Sweden. The album featured the top 10 singles "Promised You a Miracle" (Australia and New Zealand) and "Glittering Prize" (Australia, New Zealand, and Norway). Simple Minds had a #1 album with 1984's "Sparkle in the Rain," which topped the charts in New Zealand and the U.K. The album was certified Platinum in the U.K. and Gold in Canada, France, and New Zealand, and the single "Waterfront" reached #1 in New Zealand.

The band's next two albums, 1985's "Once Upon a Time" and 1989's "Street Fighting Years," both reached #1 on the charts in at least two countries. "Once Upon a Time" was certified 3× Platinum in the U.K., 2× Platinum in Canada, and Platinum in Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Norway, and "Street Fighting Years" went 2× Platinum in the U.K. and Platinum in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. All four singles from "Once Upon a Time" were top 10 hits in at least one country, and "Belfast Child" from "Street Fighting Years" reached #1 in Ireland, the Netherlands, and the U.K. In 1985, the song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" was featured on "The Breakfast Club" soundtrack, and it reached #1 in Canada, the Netherlands, and the U.S. and was certified 2× Platinum in the U.K. and Platinum in Canada and Italy.

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Simple Minds' first two albums of the '90s, 1991's "Real Life" and 1995's "Good News from the Next World," reached the top 10 in several countries, and "Real Life" went Platinum in Switzerland and the U.K. "Let There Be Love" from "Real Life" was a #1 hit in Italy. The 1998 album "Néapolis" reached #6 in Italy, #7 in Switzerland, and #9 in Germany, and the single "Glitterball" peaked at #3 in Italy. Next, the band released the albums "Neon Lights" (2001), "Cry" (2002) and "Our Secrets Are the Same" (2004). The 2005 album "Black & White 050505" was certified Gold in Italy and reached #6 in Germany and #7 in Italy. Their next album, 2009's "Graffiti Soul," reached the top 10 in Belgium, Scotland, Switzerland, and the U.K. The band then released 2014's "Big Music," 2016's "Acoustic," 2018's "Walk Between Worlds," and 2022's "Direction of the Heart." "Acoustic" was certified Gold in the U.K., and "Walk Between Worlds" and "Direction of the Heart" both reached the top 10 in at least five countries. In 2018, Jim Kerr told "Magnet Magazine" of Burchill, "Charlie has always been the type of guy who gets out of bed in the morning and starts writing songs. Could be he's at his piano with a cup of coffee or with his guitar twisting himself up. He's meditating—yes, he does that—and he's working on something. I do it, too—the daily writing—but not as diligently and dutifully as he."

Personal Life

In a 2017 interview with "Music Radar," Charlie was asked what was on the band's tour rider, and he responded, "Bottle of whiskey, Macallan, usually an 18. Fruit and nuts, because we're all super healthy these days, so nobody has blue Smarties or anything like that! It's just the whiskey for after the show."

Awards and Nominations

In 1985, Simple Minds earned MTV Video Music Award nominations for Best Direction and Best Art Direction for "Don't You (Forget About Me)." In 1986, the band received an American Music Award nomination for Favorite Pop/Rock Video Band/Duo/Group, a Brit Award nomination for Best British Group, and a Pollstar Concert Industry Award nomination for Next Major Arena Headliner. They won ASCAP Pop Music Awards for Most Performed Songs for "Don't You (Forget About Me)" in 1986 and "Alive and Kicking" in 1987, and in 1990, they earned a Brit Award nomination for Best British Single for "Belfast Child." At the Q Awards, the group won the Best Live Act award in 1991 and the Q Inspiration Award in 2014. They received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection in 2016, and in 2019, they earned "Classic Pop" Readers' Award nominations for Group of the Year and Live Act of the Year.