Chris Blackwell net worth: Chris Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman who has a net worth of $180 million. Chris Blackwell has earned his net worth as the founder of Island Records. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. Blackwell was born on June 22, 1937 in London, England. His Irish-born father Joseph, had some residual wealth and became a Major in the Jamaican Regiment. Blackwell's mother, a Costa-Rican-born Sephardic Jewish woman named, Blanche Lindo, was of Jamaican ancestry. She was also a member of one of the most powerful families on the island. Her family made its fortune in sugar and Appleton rum toward the end of slavery.
At the age of 22, in 1959, Blackwell was one of the first to record the Jamaican popular music, eventually known as ska. After moving back to Britain in 1962, he sold records to members of the Jamaican community from the back of his car. Blackwell is the single person most responsible for turning the world on to reggae music. He has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years. During his career, Chris helped to forge the careers of Bob Marley, Grace Jones and U2, just to name a few. He is the producer of many seminal albums, including Marley's "Catch A Fire" and "Uprising". He is well-known for his laid back attitude and approach to business. He produced a number one hit in Jamaican popular music in 1959, with Laurel Aiken's "Boogie in my Bones/Little Sheila". In the Rock and Roll music industry Blackwell is well-known for discovering such big names as; The Spencer Davis Group, featuring Steve Winwood, Traffic, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Cranberries, U2 and Jethro Tull.
