Forbes10/25/2006 12:00 AM ET
Top-earning dead celebrities? Cobain, Elvis
Thanks to a partial sale of his song catalog, Kurt Cobain has vaulted atop Forbes' annual Top-Earning Dead Celebrities list. Last year's king, Elvis Presley, is now No. 2.
A nail in the casket is hardly the end for some stars. Instead, their work, as well as their iconic images, continues to appeal to fans who remember them and to those born long after they died.
The 13 icons on Forbes' sixth annual Top-Earning Dead Celebrities list collectively earned $247 million in the past 12 months. Their estates continue to make money by inking deals involving both their work and the rights to use their name and likenesses on merchandise and marketing campaigns. To land on this year's list, a star needed to make at least $7 million between October 2005 and October 2006.
How does a posthumous star land, and stay, on the list? Solitary events -- a successful film release or an estate sale, for example -- won't necessarily do it over the long term. Staying power comes from a body of work or simply an iconic image with long-lasting appeal. Elvis Presley has both, which has kept the King at or near the top of the list every year. And last year, entertainment mogul Robert Sillerman's CKX (CKXE, news, msgs) paid $100 million for an 85% share of Presley's estate.
But a one-off event can catapult a star onto the list -- or, in the case of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, to the top. While his music continues to sell, his debut atop the list is largely due to his widow, Courtney Love, who sold a 25% stake in his song catalog to publishing company Primary Wave for a reported $50 million. Thanks to this deal, audiences will hear much more of the angst-ridden rocker as his library graces the big and small screens. And in a turn the rock star likely never imagined in his lifetime, his music may one day be used in advertising campaigns.
Other stars' fortunes fluctuate a bit depending on how active their handlers have been in the past year: Two albums by music legend Johnny Cash were released this year, and Bob Marley's team continues to find new ways to repackage his reggae catalog. Former Beatle John Lennon could see a significant increase in income in coming years: His widow, Yoko Ono, is involved in two lawsuits against record label EMI Group for unpaid royalties.
Looking ahead, the future looks bright for late-night legend Johnny Carson, whose personal library of 4,000-plus "Tonight Show" hours could make millions in the YouTube era. Sadly for his fans, and his estate's finances, fewer than 20 hours have been released thus far.
Of course with emerging technology, the public will likely get an opportunity to hear, and see, a lot more of many deceased stars, often as they've never been seen before. Already, voice modeling and computer-generated imaging can bring posthumous stars back to provide authentic performances for video games, films and advertisements. You need only flip on the television to see Audrey Hepburn dancing about in the Gap's skinny-black-pants advertising campaign.
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