Jon Bon Jovi
Known for: Bon Jovi
Net worth: $410 million
Jon Bon Jovi, lead singer of the New Jersey rock band Bon Jovi, is a staple of the 1980s. Without his songs “Bad Medicine,” “Livin’ on a Prayer,” and “You Give Love a Bad Name” wafting through the airwaves, would the Eighties have been the Eighties? Well, let’s not get too philosophical. The band formed in 1983 and became a super-pop-sensation from the hard rock/metal genre. Their third album Slippery When Wet was a worldwide smash hit selling 20 million copies. In all, the band released 14 studio albums and have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame and the U.K. Music Hall of Fame.
Jon Bon Jovi branched out into a solo career and in movies and television shows. He made appearances in Sex and the City and The West Wing. Bon Jovi is also recognized for his charitable endeavors. With too many causes to list, he formed his own foundation, The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, and helps out with Habitat for Humanity, the Special Olympics, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and has raised money for Oprah’s charity.
Cicely Tyson
Known for: Sounder
Net worth: $10 million
Discovered as a fashion model, Cicely Tyson shot to the top of the modeling profession with her strikingly beautiful and unique look. She found her way to the stage by 1957. Tyson got her foot in the door appearing on television programs like the miniseries movie Roots which was a 1970s national sensation. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for her work in Roots. In 1972, Tyson was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her role in the critically acclaimed movie Sounder .
She also appeared in acclaimed films like Fried Green Tomatoes and The Help. Miles Davis fell in love with Cicely Tyson. The world-renowned jazz musician photographed Tyson for his album, Sorcerer. They were married in 1981.
Stevie Nicks
Known for: Fleetwood Mac and “Landslide”
Net worth: $75 million
“At the ripe and totally young age of 70,” as Ms. Nicks puts it, she became the first woman inducted twice into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This time the rock icon entered the reverent Hall as a soloist. Fleetwood Mac was enshrined in 1998. Between the two, Stevie Nicks and Mac have over 40 chart-topping singles. Stevie Nicks is one of the best-selling musical acts ever. Fleetwood Mac formed in 1967 and dominated the charts throughout the Seventies and Eighties.
She may be rock and roll royalty, but she looks just like an enchanted fairy goddess on stage. Ahead of long, flowing blonde locks frame her lovely face, waif-like. Donned in beguiling gowns that cascade around her, only the sound of her voice can compare. It’s hauntingly beautiful. Her 1975 “Landslide” song continues to be one of the most popularly covered songs in rock. Stevie wrote the song on the guitar while watching the snow falling in Aspen. It took her about five minutes.
Liza Minnelli
Known for: Cabaret
Net worth: $50 million
Born in Hollywood to Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli, Liza Minnelli befell a charmed life. She was fourteen months old when she debuted in the film on In the Good Old Summertime (1949). At sixteen, when she was trying to make it on her own in N.Y.C., she received some recognition for the play “Best Foot Forward.” But it was when her mother invited her to sing with her at a show at the London Palladium when serious recognition bumped her career. Shows sold out, audiences adored the mother/daughter duo, and it was announced to the world that Liza was coming-of-age with her own talents.
At nineteen, Liza won a Tony, and at 23 she was nominated for an Academy Award playing Pookie Adams in The Sterile Cuckoo. Her greatest performance was saved for Cabaret. Liza won an Oscar, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe for her performance as Sally Bowles. The Seventies were very busy for the pop star. Her stage duets with Frank Sinatra were well-loved. But it was in Scorsese’s, New York, New York where she so memorably shined with her signature song.
Elton John
Known for: “Rocket Man” Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, “Tiny Dancer,” “Candle in the WInd” and Lion King
Net worth: $500 million
The Seventies and Eighties unofficial mascot, Elton John, defined the era with his songs, by the clothes he wore and with his flamboyant array of eyeglasses. At age four he picked up piano. By the 1970s the pop music icon released seven consecutive No. 1 albums in the United States. It’s practically unprecedented. Sir Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin met through a weekly newspaper ad. They were 20 and 17 when they met, respectively, and their union of piano and lyric created almost 400 songs in the decades since. Before the serendipitously epic collaboration, John played in a band called Bluesology.
He’s won every major award: A Grammy, a Tony, an Academy and a Golden Globe. His song “Circle of Life” in The Lion King film won him an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The soundtrack included other sensational hits like “Hakuna Matata” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” making him a smash hit of the 1990s as well. He produced Gnomeo & Juliet, the precious animated kids' film featuring his tunes. Of all the iconic media the 1980s produced, one element of the decade stands out in a terrible contrast, the AIDS epidemic. People were dying, mysteriously at first. When the epidemic came into its full, terrifying light, the research was shocking. Having unprotected sex and other fluid transfer causes it, and there is no cure. The diagnosis was a death sentence. Elton John says he risked having unprotected sex in the ’80s and realizes now he is lucky to be alive. With friends dying around him, he lived to support the cause of AIDS eradication. After his friend Freddie Mercury died in 1991, John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation.