Tomás Enrique Araya Díaz, simply known as Tom Araya, is a famous Chilean-American singer, musician and bassist, as well as a songwriter. To the audience, Tom Araya is perhaps best known as a member of a famous thrash metal band called “Slayer”. Considered to be among the ranks of such thrash metal bands as “Megadeath” and “Metallica”, “Slayer” has been a huge influence on the music industry.
Tom Araya Net Worth $14 Million
Araya, who is not only a bassist and singer, but also a songwriter of the band, has been exploring a variety of controversial topics in his songs, including anti-religion, Satanism, serial killers and more, which resulted in many lawsuits and bans directed towards “Slayer”. Nevertheless, the band has so far released ten studio albums and produced several award-winning songs, such as “Eyes of the Insane” and “Final Six”, both of which received a Grammy Award.
A famous bassist and singer, how rich is Tom Araya? According to sources, Tom Araya’s net worth is estimated to be $14 million. Undoubtedly, the majority of Araya’s net worth and wealth comes from his involvement in the music industry.
Tom Araya was born in 1961, in Chile. Inspired by “Rolling Stones” and “The Beatles”, Araya picked up a guitar and began learning how to play it. However, Araya’s dreams of becoming a musician took a different turn when he signed up for a two-year program to become a respiratory therapist. When he finished the course, Araya received an offer from a guitarist, Kerry King, to join his band “Slayer”. Araya accepted the proposition and soon enough, in 1983, the band released it’s debut album entitled “Show No Mercy”. Araya financed the album from the savings he made while working as a respiratory therapist and soon after that the band launched a tour in order to support their debut work.
Together with their family and friends, the band was working hard in order to promote “Show No Mercy” and spread the word about their tour to as big an audience as possible. Initially, the album received a lot of criticism for the poor quality of production but it soon became the highest selling release on the “Metal Blade Records” label.
After the success of their debut album, the band went on to record ten more studio albums, four of which have been certified gold in the United States. During their career, the band has played at some of the most notable festivals and events, such as “Ozzfest” founded by Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne, “The Unholy Alliance Tour” and “Download Festival” to name a few. In addition to these accomplishments, “Slayer” has also won Kerrang! Awards, two Grammy Awards, as well as Metal Hammer Gold Gods Award. Tom Araya himself had been honored with the keys to the city of Viña del Mar in Chile where he was born. Even though “Slayer” is Araya’s main priority, he had been known to work with other bands as well and even made appearances on Alice in Chains’ album “Dirt”, Rollins Band’s “Rise Above” and Soulfly’s “Primitive” albums.
