Darryl “DMC” Matthews McDaniels was born on 31 May 1964, in Harlem, New York, USA, and is a musician, best known for being a founding member of the hip hop group Run-DMC. He is also acknowledged to be one of the founders of modern hip hop music and related culture. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Darryl McDaniels? As of mid-2016, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $45 million, mostly earned through a successful career in the music industry. Along with Run-DMC, he’s released numerous successful albums, and several hit songs. He also toured around the country, and all of these efforts have ensured the position of his wealth.
Darryl McDaniels Net Worth $45 million
When he was a baby, he was adopted by the McDaniels family. He attended Rice High School, and after matriculating would then go to St. John’s University. After listening to songs of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Darryl would find great interest in hip hop music. He initially tried his hand at being a DJ, using turntables and a mixer; during this time he adopted the DJ name “Grandmaster Get High”.
Later on, he would befriend Joseph “Run” Simmons, and Jam-Master Jay who was considered one of the best young DJs in their area. Run convinced Darryl that he should try his hand at rapping, and he would then adapt the nickname “Easy D”. In 1981, he changed his nickname to “DMcD” and later “DMC” – the nickname stood for either Darryl Mac or “Devastating Mic Controller”. In 1984, they would release their debut album entitled “Run-DMC”, and it would become highly successful. They continued to release more albums and their success peaked with their third album entitled “Raising Hell”, which would reach the sixth spot on the Billboard 200, and Run-DMC would become the top hip hop group of the time. In the late 1980s, he wrote “Christmas in Hollis” which was made into a music video, and contributed to his growing net worth.
In 1997, McDaniels started to become very depressed, after apparently suffering for years with an alcohol-related problem. He became dependent on alcohol even more along with prescription drugs. He was later diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, which is a vocal disorder that causes involuntary spams. He started to disagree with his group in Run-DMC, because he wanted to adopt a softer tone to their songs.
These differences caused him to be involved in only three songs of the album “Crown Royal”, which was released in 2001. He was apparently on the verge of suicide due to depression, but was eventually inspired by the song “Angel” by Sarah McLachlan. It was only during this time that he discovered his real birth mother, named Berncenia Lovelace.
In 2006, the documentary entitled “DMC: My Adoption Journey” was released, which led to him meeting with his mother at the end of the documentary. He thanked her, because giving him up for adoption eventually led to the formation of Run-DMC. The same year Darryl released a solo album entitled “Checks Thugs and Rock N Roll”, and would continue to give performances while working on his solo album. He was featured in the video game “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith” and would also perform in “The People Speak”. His net worth was continuing to grow.
A few of his recent endeavours include a comic book industry venture with Darryl Makes Comics. He’s also working with the band Generation Kill for a collaboration project.
For his personal life, he has been married to Zuri since 1992, and it is known that McDaniels currently resides in Wayne, New Jersey. In 2006, he was given a Congressional Angels in Adoption Award, thanks to his support for foster care and adoption. He founded a summer camp meant for foster children and is also part of the Board of Directors of Children’s Rights.
