What was Rod McKuen’s Internet Price?
Rod McKuen was an American poet, singer-songwriter, composer, musician, and actor who had a web price of $20 million on the time of his loss of life.
Along with being one of many best-selling poets in the US within the late Sixties, Rod McKuen composed well-liked and classical music in addition to movie scores. He was additionally identified for translating and popularizing the songs of Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel within the US.
McKuen offered greater than 100 million data and 60 million books worldwide. He wrote greater than 1,500 songs, which have been carried out by artists corresponding to Barbra Streisand, Perry Como, Waylon Jennings, Petula Clark, The Boston Pops, Johnny Cash, Chet Baker, Johnny Mathis, and Frank Sinatra. He was nominated for Academy Awards for composing the films “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” and “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.” Rod McKuen handed away on January 29, 2015, on the age of 81.
Early Life and Training
Rod McKuen was born on April 29, 1933 in a Salvation Military hostel in Oakland, California. He was raised by his mom Clarice and his stepfather, who was a violent alcoholic; he by no means knew his organic father. Sexually abused by his kinfolk, McKuen ultimately ran away from dwelling and took a variety of odd jobs alongside the West Coast, together with ranch hand, railroad employee, rodeo cowboy, and radio DJ. He stored a journal alongside the way in which by which he would write his first works of poetry and track lyrics. After dropping out of Oakland Technical Excessive Faculty, McKuen grew to become a newspaper columnist and propagandist through the Korean Struggle.

(through Getty)
Profession Beginnings in Leisure
In San Francisco, California within the Nineteen Fifties, McKuen learn his poetry in golf equipment alongside the favored Beat poets of the period. He additionally began singing people music on the Purple Onion cellar membership. McKuen started releasing albums within the latter half of the Nineteen Fifties, with titles together with “Songs for a Lazy Afternoon,” “Lonely Summer season,” and the spoken phrase albums “Time of Want” and “Beatsville.” He additionally did some performing, with roles within the musical comedies “Rock, Fairly Child” (1956) and “Summer season Love” (1958) and the Western “Wild Heritage” (1958). On the finish of the last decade, McKuen moved to New York Metropolis and composed and performed music for the tv anthology sequence “CBS Tv Workshop.”
Poetry and Prose
Within the second half of the Sixties, McKuen started publishing books of poetry. With such titles as “Stanyan Avenue & Different Sorrows,” “Take heed to the Heat,” and the Grammy Award-winning “Lonesome Cities,” he grew to become one of many best-selling poets in the US on the time. Whereas his romantic poetry and its themes of affection and spirituality had been well-liked with basic audiences, critics largely discovered McKuen’s writing saccharine and superficial. He stored on publishing poetry collections till the early twenty first century. McKuen additionally wrote some prose, together with the autobiographical “Discovering My Father.”
Songwriting and Composing
Whereas dwelling in France within the early Sixties, McKuen met Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel. He subsequently began translating Brel’s songs into English, ensuing within the hit songs “Seasons within the Solar” and “If You Go Away.” McKuen additionally translated songs by such French artists as Gilbert Bécaud, Pierre Delanoé, and Georges Moustaki. Venturing into classical music and movie scoring, McKuen collaborated with composers corresponding to Henry Mancini and John Williams. In 1969, he composed the music for the movies “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and “A Boy Named Charlie Brown,” and earned Academy Award nominations for each. McKuen later composed the scores for “Scandalous John,” “The Debtors,” and “Emily,” amongst different movies.
Throughout the peak of his recognition within the late Sixties, McKuen collaborated with Anita Kerr and the San Sebastian Strings on a sequence of albums, together with “The Sea,” “The Earth,” “The Sky,” and “For Lovers.” He additionally wrote all of the songs on Frank Sinatra’s 1969 album “A Man Alone,” together with the favored observe “Love’s Been Good to Me.” Within the spring of 1969, McKuen carried out on a half-hour tv particular on NBC. He continued to have success within the Nineteen Seventies, writing hit songs for such artists as Perry Como and Barbra Streisand. McKuen was significantly well-liked within the Netherlands, the place his songs “Troopers Who Wish to Be Heroes” and “And not using a Fear within the World” topped the charts. In the meantime, McKuen branched out into classical music with orchestral compositions that included concertos, suites, and symphonies.

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Late Profession
McKuen retired from performing dwell within the early Eighties. He continued publishing poetry and releasing albums, largely of the compilation selection, over the following years. McKuen additionally served as govt president of the American Guild of Selection Artists, along with his tenure lasting longer than some other’s within the group’s historical past.
Private Life and Dying
Though he by no means categorized his sexual orientation, McKuen was energetic within the LGBTQ rights motion and stated that he did not have a desire when it got here to selecting between the sexes. He steadily did profit performances for LGBTQ teams and AIDS analysis. McKuen lived in Beverly Hills, California along with his associate Edward Habib and 4 cats.
On January 29, 2015, McKuen handed away from respiratory arrest introduced on by pneumonia. He was 81 years of age.
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