Judy Collins Net Worth | Celebrity Net Worth

What is Judy Collins’s Net Worth?

Judy Collins, a renowned American singer-songwriter and musician, boasts a net worth of $6 million. Her illustrious career spans over seven decades, during which she has garnered acclaim for her iconic songs, including “In My Life,” “Both Sides, Now,” “Someday Soon,” “Chelsea Morning,” “Amazing Grace,” and “Send in the Clowns.” Additionally, Collins co-directed the Academy Award-nominated documentary film “Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman” in 1974.

Early Life

Born on May 1, 1939, in Seattle, Washington, Judy Collins is the oldest of five siblings. Her father, Chuck, was a blind singer, pianist, and radio show host. In 1949, the family relocated to Denver, Colorado, where Collins was steeped in the Irish folk music tradition that her father loved. She took classical piano lessons from Antonia Brico and, at the age of 13, made her public performance debut. Inspired by the folk music revival in the late 1950s, Collins also began to play the guitar.

Career Beginnings

Following her high school graduation, Collins showcased her talents as a folk artist at Michael’s Pub in Boulder, Colorado, and at Exodus in Denver. She also performed on the campus radio station at the University of Connecticut, where her husband Peter Taylor was a faculty member. In the early 1960s, Collins moved to Greenwich Village, continuing to play in local clubs. She soon signed with Elektra Records and released her debut album, “A Maid of Constant Sorrow,” in 1961, primarily covering traditional folk songs by artists like Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan.

Commercial Success, 1966-1979

Collins achieved significant commercial success in 1966 with her fifth studio album, “In My Life.” This album marked a shift from her usual guitar-driven folk style, featuring renditions of songs from the Beatles, Jacques Brel, and Randy Newman. It peaked at number 46 on the Billboard 200 and became the first Collins album to receive Gold certification from the RIAA. Her next album, “Wildflowers,” released in 1967, was even more successful, reaching number five on the Billboard 200 and including her Grammy Award-winning version of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides, Now.” It was on “Wildflowers” that Collins began to incorporate her own songs, like “Albatross.” The success continued with the 1968 album “Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” which peaked at number 29, followed by “Recollections” in 1969, which also reached number 29 and featured her take on Pete Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn!”

In 1970, Collins released her eighth studio album, “Whales & Nightingales,” featuring her popular rendition of “Amazing Grace,” which charted in multiple countries, including the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. She followed this with the live album “Living” in 1971 and the compilation “Colors of the Day: The Best of Judy Collins” in 1972. Her ninth studio album, “True Stories and Other Dreams,” came out in 1973, but her biggest commercial success arrived with her tenth album, “Judith,” in 1975, which included her most famous single, Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns.” In 1976’s “Bread and Roses,” Collins began to highlight political issues in her music. The subsequent compilation album “So Early in the Spring… The First 15 Years” was released in 1977, and she returned to a pop-driven style with her twelfth album, “Hard Times for Lovers,” in 1979.

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Further Recording Career

By the 1980s, Collins experienced a decline in commercial success. After releasing the less-successful albums “Running for My Life” (1980) and “Times of Our Lives” (1982), she departed from Elektra Records after 24 years. In 1985, she released “Amazing Grace” on the British label Telstar. Later in the decade, she produced the live album “Sanity and Grace” and the collaborative project “Innervoices” with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. Throughout the 1990s, her work included “Fires of Eden,” “Judy Sings Dylan… Just Like a Woman,” “Shameless,” and “Classing Broadway.”

In the 2000s, Collins released albums like “Portrait of an American Girl” and “Judy Collins Sings Lennon and McCartney.” In 2015, she made a comeback with “Strangers Again,” her first charting album in over twenty years, featuring collaborations with artists such as Willie Nelson, Glen Hansard, Jackson Browne, and Ari Hest. The following year, she worked with Hest again on “Silver Skies Blue,” which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Folk Album. Collins then partnered with Stephen Stills on “Everybody Knows” in 2017 and continued her collaborations with Norwegian musician Jonas Fjeld on the 2019 album “Winter Stories.” In 2022, she released “Spellbound,” her first album entirely comprising original material.

Other Works

Beyond music, Collins co-directed the 1974 documentary “Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman” alongside Jill Godmilow. This film, which focused on conductor and pianist Antonia Brico, who taught Collins classical piano, garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature.

Collins is also an accomplished author, having published several books, such as the novel “Shameless” and memoirs including “Trust Your Heart,” “Singing Lessons: A Memoir of Love, Loss, Hope and Healing,” and “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music.” Many of her memoirs address her battles with alcoholism, depression, and personal trauma.

Personal Life

Collins was married to her first husband, Peter Taylor, in 1958. They welcomed a son named Clark but divorced in 1965. Tragically, Clark passed away by suicide in 1992. Collins married again in 1996 to Louis Nelson, an industrial designer and her long-time partner.

Throughout her life, Collins faced challenges with alcoholism and depression, and she also dealt with bulimia nervosa after quitting smoking in the 1970s. She entered a rehabilitation program in Pennsylvania in 1978 and has remained sober since.