Amy Ray Net Worth

What Is Amy Ray's Net Worth?

Amy Ray is an American singer-songwriter who has a net worth of $3 million. Amy Ray is best known for being a member of the folk duo Indigo Girls, which she formed with Emily Saliers in 1985. Indigo Girls have released more than a dozen studio albums, including "Strange Fire" (1987), "Indigo Girls" (1989), "Rites of Passage" (1992), "Swamp Ophelia" (1994), "All That We Let In" (2004), and "Look Long" (2020). Ray has also released the solo studio albums "Stag" (2001), "Prom" (2005), "Didn't It Feel Kinder" (2008), "Lung of Love" (2012), "Goodnight Tender" (2014), "Holler" (2018), and "If It All Goes South" (2022). She plays acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, and mandolin, and she founded the record company Daemon Records as well as a nonprofit organization that supports independent musicians. Amy identifies as a lesbian and is active in environmental and political causes.

Early Life

Amy Ray was born Amy Elizabeth Ray on April 12, 1964, in Decatur, Georgia. She met her Indigo Girls bandmate Emily Saliers in elementary school. They eventually started performing together, and in 1981, they recorded a demo. After graduating from high school, Ray attended Vanderbilt University, while Saliers enrolled at Tulane University. By 1985, both women had transferred to Atlanta's Emory University, and they subsequently formed Indigo Girls. Amy majored in English and Religion at Emory, and she graduated in 1986.

Career

Indigo Girls released their debut album, "Strange Fire," in 1987, and it reached #159 on the "Billboard" 200 chart and was certified Gold. In 1989, they released a self-titled album, which reached #22 on the "Billboard" 200 chart and #64 on the Australian ARIA Charts. The album was certified 2× Platinum in the U.S., and the single "Closer to Fine" did well on the "Billboard" charts, peaking at #52 on the Hot 100 chart, #26 on the Alternative Airplay chart, and #48 on the Adult Contemporary and Mainstream Rock charts. In 1990, Indigo Girls released the album "Nomads Indians Saints," which went Gold and reached #43 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. Their next two albums, 1992's "Rites of Passage" and 1994's "Swamp Ophelia," were certified Platinum and reached #21 and #9, respectively, on the "Billboard" 200 chart. Both albums also charted in Australia, and "Swamp Ophelia" charted in the U.K. as well. The single "Galileo" from "Rites of Passage" reached #89 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and #10 on the "Billboard" Modern Rock Tracks chart. In 1997, they released the Gold album "Shaming of the Sun," which reached #7 on the "Billboard" 200 chart and peaked at #81 in the U.K. and #83 in Australia. Their next three albums, 1999's "Come on Now Social," 2002's "Become You," and 2004's "All That We Let In," reached the top 40 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. In 2006, Indigo Girls were featured on the Pink single "Dear Mr. President," which was a top 10 hit in six countries and was certified 3× Platinum in Australia and Platinum in Austria and Germany.

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The duo's tenth studio album, 2006's "Despite Our Differences," reached #47 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, and 2009's "Poseidon and the Bitter Bug" peaked at #29 on that chart. Their 2010 holiday album, "Holly Happy Days," reached #4 on the "Billboard" Folk Albums chart and #20 on the "Billboard" Independent Albums chart. In 2011, they released "Beauty Queen Sister," which reached #36 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, #2 on the Folk Albums chart, #9 on the Independent Albums chart, and #14 on the Top Rock Albums chart. The 2015 album "One Lost Day" reached the top 10 on the "Billboard" Top Rock Albums, Independent Albums, and Folk Albums charts, and 2020's "Look Long" reached #2 on the Folk Albums chart and #7 on the UK Americana Albums chart. Ray has also released the solo studio albums "Stag" (2001), "Prom" (2005), "Didn't It Feel Kinder" (2008), "Lung of Love" (2012), "Goodnight Tender" (2014), "Holler" (2018), and "If It All Goes South" (2022) and the live albums "Live from Knoxville" (2006), "MVP Live" (2010), and "The Tender Hour: Amy Ray Live from Seattle" (2015).

Personal Life

Amy is a lesbian, and she has a daughter, Ozilline Graydon, with her partner, Carrie Schrader. The family lives in the foothills of North Georgia. During a 2021 appearance on the podcast "LGBTQ&A," Ray spoke about identifying as genderqueer and having gender dysphoria. In a 2022 interview with "Holler," Amy said of religion, "I'm religious, but there are so many different forms of being religious and being Christian. I'm kind of a 'Pagan Christian', I was raised Christian and I went to church a lot, four or five days a week sometimes, for youth group and Bible school, choir and all the different activities. So that cosmos becomes your cosmos. It's a social construct and you live your life that way, even if you don't agree with the patriarchy, some of the language or even some of the rules." In 1993, Ray, Emily Saliers, and Winona LaDuke co-founded the nonprofit organization Honor the Earth, which is dedicated to "protecting the lifeways and sovereignty of our Indigenous Relatives across Mother Earth … by investing in our communities and a new generation of organizers through campaigns, research, training, reclaiming our narrative, and providing capacity support in service of all land and life."

Awards and Nominations

Indigo Girls have earned seven Grammy nominations, winning for Best Contemporary Folk Recording for their self-titled album in 1990. They were also nominated for Best New Artist that year, and their other nominations were for Best Contemporary Folk Recording for "Hammer and a Nail" (1991) and Best Contemporary Folk Album for "Back on the Bus, Y'all" (1992), "Rites of Passage" (1993), "Swamp Ophelia" (1995), and "Shaming of the Sun" (1998). In 2003, they received a GLAAD Media Award nomination for Outstanding Music Album for "Become You," and in 2019, they won a Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. In 2022, the duo was honored with a Spirit of Americana/Free Speech Award at the Americana Music Honors & Awards, and they were inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame.

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