Robert Fripp Net Worth

What is Robert Fripp's Net Worth?

Robert Fripp is an English musician, composer, and record producer who has a net worth of $10 million. Robert Fripp is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, and only constant member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has also collaborated with a plethora of other musical artists throughout the decades, including Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Talking Heads, and Blondie.

Early Life and Education

Robert Fripp was born on May 16, 1946 in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England to Edith and Arthur. He began playing the guitar after his parents gave him the instrument as a Christmas gift when he was 11. Fripp later got into jazz, being inspired by jazz legends Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus. At the age of 15, he joined his first band, the Ravens. After they split up, Fripp joined his father's estate agent firm as a junior negotiator. Although he intended at this point to take over his father's business, Fripp ultimately decided to become a professional musician instead. He joined the jazz group the Douglas Ward Trio and then played with the rock band the League of Gentlemen. In 1965, Fripp enrolled at Bournemouth College. Over the subsequent years, he played light jazz with the orchestra at Bournemouth's Majestic Hotel.

King Crimson

In 1967, Fripp answered an advertisement placed by brothers Peter and Michael Giles looking for a singing organist. Despite not fitting the description, he auditioned and was accepted into their ranks. The trio then moved to London and formed the group Giles, Giles and Fripp. In 1968, they released their only studio album, "The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp." The group then disbanded. Almost immediately after that, Fripp, Michael Giles, and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald formed the band King Crimson. The lineup was filled out by lead singer and bassist Greg Lake and lyricist Peter Sinfield. King Crimson had instant success with its debut album, "In the Court of the Crimson King," released in late 1969. Combining elements of rock, jazz, and European classical music, it later became regarded as the first major progressive rock album. King Crimson went on to release its second album, "In the Wake of Poseidon," amid group tensions in 1970. During the recording of the album, Lake left the group to form Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Fripp and Sinfield remained the only constant members of King Crimson for two years as the lineup repeatedly changed. The band's third album, "Lizard," came out in late 1970, and its fourth, "Islands," came a year later. After 1971, Fripp was the only constant in the band.

With King Crimson's fifth album, "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" (1973), the band began moving increasingly toward a more experimental sound. This direction continued in 1974 with "Starless and Bible Black" and culminated with "Red." Fripp then disbanded the group. After years of working on various other musical projects, he formed a new King Crimson lineup in 1981 with former King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford and new members Tony Levin and Adrian Belew. This lineup released three albums — "Discipline" (1981), "Beat" (1982), and "Three of a Perfect Pair" (1984) — before disbanding. King Crimson returned a decade later with two additional members, Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto. Releases from this lineup were the EP "VROOOM" (1994) and the studio album "THRAK" (1995). Subsequently, King Crimson broke off into five experimental instrumental spinoff groups collectively known as the ProjeKcts. These groups lasted from 1997 to 1999. King Crimson reunited again in 2000, this time as a four-member group, and released the industrial metal-inflected album "The Construkction of Light." That was followed by "The Power to Believe" in 2003. Further incarnations of King Crimson were launched in 2008 and 2013.

(Photo by Steve Morley/Redferns)

Musical Collaborations and Contributions

During his time with King Crimson and especially during the band's many hiatuses, Fripp collaborated with a surfeit of other musical artists. In the 1970s, he contributed to such albums as Centipede's "Septober Energy" and "Ovary Lodge"; Van der Graaf Generator's "H to He, Who Am the Only One" and "Pawn Hearts"; Brian Eno's "(No Pussyfooting)," "Evening Star," "Here Come the Warm Jets," and "Another Green World"; Peter Gabriel's first two studio albums; and early albums by Blondie, Talking Heads, and the Roches. Fripp's collaborations in the 1980s included work with Andy Summers on the albums "I Advance Masked" and "Bewitched." In the 1990s, he contributed to albums by David Sylvian, the Future Sound of London, the Orb, No-Man, the Beloved, and Iona, among other artists. Among his myriad collaborators in the 21st century are Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Porcupine Tree, Theo Travis, Judy Dyble, Jakko Jakszyk, and Mel Collins.

Solo Career

Fripp began his solo recording career in 1979 with the album "Exposure." The next year, he released "God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manners." Fripp released his third solo album, "Let the Power Fall: An Album of Frippertronics," in 1981. After a long gap, he released his fourth solo album, the ambient soundscape album "The Gates of Paradise," in 1998.

Other Ventures

In other notable ventures, Fripp began teaching at the American Society for Continuous Education in Charles Town, West Virginia in the 1980s. He offered a series of guitar and personal-development classes called Guitar Craft, in which he introduced his innovative process of new standard tuning. In 1992, Fripp co-founded the independent record label Discipline Global Mobile with David Singleton. He went on to become the patron of the Guitar Circle of Europe, the Seattle Circle Guitar School, and the Shallal Dance Theatre. Fripp also collaborated with Tucker Martine and Steve Ball to compose the startup sound for Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system.

Personal Life

On his 40th birthday in 1986, Fripp married singer-songwriter and actress Toyah Willcox. The couple resided at Reddish House in Broad Chalke, Wiltshire for about 12 years before moving to Evershot Old Mansion. Fripp and Willcox then moved to Pershore, Worcestershire. They have no children, and frequently collaborate musically.

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