Kid Rock is a musician who isn’t afraid to mix genres or go against normal social behaviors.
This rapper, country singer, and rocker has always looked to stay true to what he believes and the way he was raised.
Kid Rock has never been one to remain quiet on any topic, whether it is his political beliefs or his opinion on the people he knows.
He has made a career out of being bold and unique to himself.
What Is Kid Rock’s Net Worth?
Kid Rock has a net worth of $150 million, which he has mostly earned from his music and tour sales.
Despite ensuring that his concerts are affordable for his fans and taking pay cuts to ensure the affordability of his shows, his tour dates sell out quickly and make him and his touring company plenty of money.
Although he is best known as Kid Rock, the musician’s actual name is Robert James Ritchie.
He grew up in the rural town of Romeo, Michigan on his father’s large property.
Despite being located in such a small town, his father made plenty of money from his car dealerships.
There wasn’t much to do in the rural town, other than pick apples on his father’s property and tend to the horses.
By the time Kid Rock was 10 years old, he had gotten into hip-hop and began teaching himself how to breakdance, DJ, and even rap.
As Rock got older, he focused his musical efforts on learning more instruments, so he could play the backtracks for his future songs.
Rock eventually reached his goal and became a one-man band thanks to his dedication to learning the many different sides of music.
Inspired by the Beastie Boys, Kid Rock looked to combine what he loved about rap and what he loved about hard rock to create the most rebellious music possible.
By 1988, Kid Rock had recorded his first demos and was able to land an opening gig with Boogie Down Productions.
His work with Boogie Down Productions allowed Kid Rock to be noticed by Jive Records.
With their help, Kid Rock would spring into the spotlight and act as a perfect representation of what the 1990s were.
The legacy he created early on allowed him to find continuous success in the music industry.
Working With Jive Records And Continuum Records
The first few years of Kid Rock’s musical career were a struggle for him, especially trying to figure out who he was going to be in the public eye.
During his early years, he would play at house parties along the east side of Detroit.
As he built up a local fanbase, he was able to play bigger and bigger gigs.
One of his first larger venues was the Ritz in Roseville, Michigan.
When young Kid Rock met with the venue owner, requesting a show and promising to fill the venue.
The venue manager at the time, Joe Nieporte, didn’t believe that Rock would be able to bring in enough people.
Much to Nieporte’s surprise, Kid Rock was able to bring in 1,200 attendees out of the 1,800 maximum that the venue could hold.
Even Nieporte was able to recognize the support that the small-town rapper had gained from the local youth.
By 1989, he had teamed up with Alvin Williams and Earl Blunt to form Top Dog Records, of which he owned 25%.
However, he wouldn’t produce any music until Jive Records signed him on at the recommendation of fellow rapper D-Nice.
In 1990, Kid Rock released his first album, Grit Sandwiches for Breakfast.
After releasing the album, Kid Rock would go to record stores to do in-store performances to promote his name and album.
While performing at Record Time at 10 Mile and Gratiot, a lanky blonde boy kept trying to entice Rock into a rap battle.
After the show, Kid Rock met with the young kid to find out this rapper’s name was Eminem.
By 1993, Kid Rock was a national hit and released his second album, The Polyfuze Method, with Continuum Records.
His time with the independent record label company was short.
Joining Atlantic Records
For his third album, Kid Rock decided to release the album himself.
He created a record label from his basement and sold 14,000 copies of Early Mornin’ Stoned Pimp.
While recording his third album, he took the time to find other musicians who appreciated their talent and got along well with them.
Rock was selling out shows all over Detroit when Jason Flom of Lava and Atlantic Records flew out to see the young rapper at the State Theater in Detroit.
Flom was amazed by the visual performance that Kid Rock gave and was equally amazed by the audience that he was able to bring in.
Nearly every type of person who liked rock, country, or rap was in the audience.
The ages of his audience began to vary vastly more than he did in his early years.
You could find every walk of life cheering and dancing at a Kid Rock concert.
Shortly after releasing the homegrown album, Kid Rock was picked up by Atlantic Records and given a check for $150,000.
Rock and some members of Atlantic Records went out to dinner one night, where Rock gave the Atlantic workers an idea of what he wanted for his breakout album with them.
Kid Rock began to describe his next album as a redneck rock ‘n’ roll rap group.
With Atlantic Records, Rock released Devil Without a Cause in 1998. This was the last of Kid Rock’s rap albums.
Instead, he leaned more heavily into the country and rock side of his music.
These rap-less albums would include Cocky, Kid Rock, Rock n Roll Jesus, Born Free, Rebel Soul, First Kiss, and Sweet Southern Sugar.
This switch from rap to country helped expand Kid Rock’s audience during the early 2000s, leaning more into his country roots.
Getting Into The Restaurant Business
Kid Rock got into the restaurant world with his own All-American restaurant called Made in Detroit.
Made In Detroit was located in the Little Caesars Arena from 2017 until 2019 when they decided to close permanently.
Before closing, the restaurant was known for its homestyle recipes and Southern-inspired food.
Some of the recipes used at the arena-side bar were actually handwritten by Kid Rock’s mother.
The walls were covered in Kid Rock memorabilia and the speakers would play the music being performed at the Little Caesars Arena.
You could still go to the bar even when there wasn’t a show going on, thanks to its streetside entrance.
Made In Detroit ended up closing because Ilitch Holdings, the co-owners of Made In Detroit, did not want to renew their contract with the Little Caesar Arena.
They came to this decision after a video was released of a drunken rant that Kid Rock gave onstage at his Nashville restaurant, Kid Rock’s Big A** Honky Tonk Rock & Roll Steakhouse.
During the incident, Kid Rock appeared on the stage inside his steakhouse to give a drunken speech about multiple famous women who the country rapper was not fond of.
Rock made vulgar comments about Oprah Winfrey, Joy Behar, and Kathie Lee Gifford.
The audience members who were there to witness the situation said that he was very clearly intoxicated, with some willing to go as far as to describe him as “blackout drunk”.
Although many people believe that Made in Detroit’s closing was solely due to the ending contract with Little Caesars Arena, the public outcry to have the restaurant removed didn’t help the situation.
With Made in Detroit closed, Kid Rock was able to focus his efforts on his steakhouse in Nashville.
Rock sold his properties in Michigan to move to Tennessee.
Starting His Own Nashville Restaurant
In October of 2018, Kid Rock opened up his own Nashville restaurant, Kid Rock’s Big A** Honky Tonk Rock n’ Roll Steakhouse.
The steakhouse is four stories tall and cost Kid Rock around $20 million to create.
The steakhouse has windows that start from the floor and go all the way up to the ceiling to offer a beautiful view of Nashville.
On the bottom floor and in the center of the building, there’s a raised stage for live bands to play on.
Each floor has its own bar and unique view of the stage, even the rooftop seating area.
In order to make his restaurant vision a reality, Kid Rock teamed up with the owners of Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, Rippy’s, and Honky Tonk Central.
Kid Rock claims that he is normally hesitant about putting his name on things, fearing they may taint the standard that comes with his name.
When it came to his steakhouse, he knew it was the perfect thing to slap his name on because he was assured that the restaurant was up to his standard.
When going through the menu, you can expect to find all of the American classics, such as sliders on King’s Hawaiian rolls and high-end steaks and salads.
While the restaurant never sees an empty night, it began running into problems in 2020.
During the pandemic, Nashville Mayor John Cooper ordered bars in Lower Broadway and Davidson County to close due to their high levels of Covid-19 patients.
However, Kid Rock and his partners refused to close the restaurant.
The restaurant partners publicly released the statement that they would not close their bars until all of Nashville’s restaurants and bars closed as well.
These actions resulted in the refusing bars and restaurants to temporarily lose their permits to sell alcohol.
Getting Into The World of Fashion
Made in Detroit is a Detroit-based brand of clothing that has been operating in the city for 30 years.
In 2005, the company was facing bankruptcy, much like the rest of Detroit.
Luckily, Kid Rock swooped and bought the company before it could close down.
The company was started by a friend of Rock’s, Robert Stanzler.
However, the two quickly found that they had different goals for the local brand.
In order to keep the brand alive, Kid Rock wanted to move Made in Detroit to Oakland County, which is a more suburban area.
However, Stanzler didn’t want to move any more jobs out of Detroit to the suburbs, which was leading to the deeper sinkhole Detroit had turned into at the time.
After Rock refused to sign a non-compete agreement with Stanzler and Made in Detroit, Stanzler left the company to create Detroit Manufacturing.
This has caused a feud between the two brands.
Made in Detroit has even begun requiring that retailers who sell their products need to quit selling Detroit Manufacturing products.
With Kid Rock’s brand being more recognizable and profitable, many retailers only sell Made in Detroit products.
Despite the decisions made by Kid Rock and Made in Detroit, Stanzler doesn’t bear any bad will towards them.
Instead, he is glad that the company left Detroit so Detroit Manufacturing could stay true to its roots.
Outside of the city of Detroit, Made in Detroit is an incredibly popular brand that can be found at many concerts and outdoor festivals all over Kid Rock’s home state.
Currently, Made in Detroit is looking to expand its brand to other major cities.
So far, the company has publicly considered starting operations in Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta, and even Las Vegas.
However, the brand hasn’t seen much growth on those developments yet.
The Kid Rock Foundation And His Other Philanthropic Efforts
The Kid Rock Foundation is a charity organization that Kid Rock funds that helps support causes concerning disadvantaged children, veterans, and those with different medical conditions.
He also helps multiple causes around the city of Detroit.
Kid Rock is an avid supporter of the Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit, Friends of Belle Isle, Youthville Detroit, and the Made In Detroit Endowed Scholarship Fund.
The Kid Rock Foundation has also raised money for The Rainbow Connection, the Boys & Girls Club of America, Not on Our Watch, EasterSeals, Operation Homefront, Habitat for Humanity, United Service Organization, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Stand Up to Cancer, and the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
In 2018, Kid Rock donated $25,000 to Feeding America West Michigan.
This was enough to pay for 100,000 meals for hungry families in need.
The holiday gift was only one of two gifts that Kid Rock gave during that holiday season.
He also gave an additional $25,000 to The Second Harvest Food Banks of Middle Tennessee.
Through his Foundation, Kid Rock has also been known to put on shows for troops and serve them food during the holidays.
When controversies began arising with Kid Rock in 2017, many of the charities that were close to Kid Rock were asked about their opinions on his recent outbursts.
While most chose to remain silent on the topic, some organizations made public statements against his actions.
That year, Kid Rock announced that he’d be pulling back support from organizations that had not supported him during the controversies.
After this point, Kid Rock decided to make his philanthropic efforts a quieter affair.
His Relationship With Pamela Anderson
Throughout his life, Kid Rock has always had a difficult time in the relationships he’s in.
It started with his middle school sweetheart cheating on him in the early 1990s.
Rock raised his son as a single father for years before getting back in the dating world in the early 2000s.
By 2001, the rapper was dating former Baywatch star and Playboy model Pamela Anderson.
The couple became engaged shortly thereafter, despite how Kid Rock’s parents felt about their potential marriage.
However, problems would quickly arise for the newsworthy celebrity couple.
Originally, Kid Rock wanted Pamela Anderson to sign a prenuptial agreement before the wedding.
Anderson wanted nothing to do with such an agreement and was willing to call off the engagement by 2003.
Rock and Anderson were two incredibly different people with nearly opposite opinions on every topic.
For example, Pamela Anderson was a vegan who strongly supported PETA, but Kid Rock was an avid hunter and loved to cook the meat he caught.
Nobody was expecting their relationship to last, but they got married in 2006.
Knowing that Pamela Anderson was against the fur trade and harming animals, Kid Rock’s mother wore a fur coat to their wedding on a yacht in St. Tropez, France.
The couple then had a second wedding at a wedding chapel that was located in a Beverly Hills courthouse.
They had a third wedding at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge in Nashville, which is one of the most famous honky tonks in Tennessee.
They had one final wedding ceremony at Clarkston Union Bar & Kitchen in Clarkston, Michigan.
This one was celebrated with all of Rock’s family and friends from Michigan.
One month later, Pamela Anderson suffered a miscarriage and filed for divorce.
The couple claimed that they had many irreconcilable differences which led to the divorce.
His Legal Troubles
Ever since his early career, Kid Rock has made a name for himself as a partier and someone who is always out looking for his next good time.
However, this behavior has landed him in trouble multiple times throughout his career.
Kid Rock was first arrested in March of 1991 for alcohol-related charges when he was only 20 years old.
He was arrested on alcohol-related charges again in September of 1993.
In 2005, Kid Rock was sued for $575,000 by Jerry Campos, a disc jockey he punched at an adult entertainment club in Tennessee.
Kid Rock pleaded no contest to the assault charges and was sentenced to nearly a year in jail.
During this time, he was also required to complete anger management classes and replace the disc jockey’s eyewear that he broke when he punched Campos in the left side of the face.
The fight was brought on after Rock believed that Campos had disrespected his friend and demanded that Campos apologize, which Campos refused to do.
However, Kid Rock’s most infamous fight was the one he got in with Mötley Crüe’s drummer, Tommy Lee. Before the fight, Tommy Lee and Kid Rock had barely even spoken to each other.
The only common ground they shared was their ex-wife, Pamela Anderson.
The fight was seen as out of the blue and shocking, even to Tommy Lee.
All onlookers saw Kid Rock walking over to where Tommy Lee was sitting and then Kid Rock slapped the drummer across the face.
Before Tommy Lee had time to react to what had just happened, Kid Rock punched Tommy Lee in the face.
Security guards were able to separate the two musicians before the fight escalated any further. Kid Rock says he hit Tommy Lee in order to shut him up, but no one knows what Tommy Lee said to make Kid Rock react that way.
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