James Russell Mercer was born on 26 December 1970, in Honolulu, Hawaii USA, and is a musician, guitarist, singer, and songwriter, best known to be the founder of the indie rock group The Shins, in which he is the lead singer, and now sole remaining original member of the group. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is James Mercer? As of mid-2017, sources estimate a net worth that is at $6 million, mostly earned through a successful career in the music industry. He also has a side project called Broken Bells which has released two albums. He has also done acting work, and as he continues his various endeavors, it is expected that his wealth will also continue to increase.
James Mercer Net Worth $6 million
James’ family travelled around since his father was in the US Air Force, so he attended high school in Germany and England. He started his music career in the early 1990s, becoming a part of the group Blues Roof Dinner. In 1992, he created the band Flake Music and they produced an album called “When You Land Here, It’s Time to Return” which found a bit of success. They toured with Modest Mouse and would then form the Shins in 1999. It was intended as a side project and the group explored conventional pop songs, but eventually the Shins rose in popularity, and led to Flake Music disbanding. They relocated to Portland, Oregon in 2002, with their net worth increasing significantly at this point.
As The Shins continued to create music, Mercer also continued with his various music endeavors. He joined Modest Mouse in their album “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank”, singing back-up vocals for the tracks “We’ve Got Everything”, “Missed the Boat” and “Florida”. He also played various instruments with The Shins, including ukulele, banjo, harmonium and MIDI programming. In 2005, he collaborated with Danger Mouse on the song “Insane Lullaby”, which was part of the album “Dark Knight of the Soul”. The two eventually announced a new side project called Broken Bells, and released an album in 2010 in the indie rock genre, since when they’ve released another album entitled “After the Disco” in 2014, with most of the album songs being written by him. All of these opportunities have continued to help in building his net worth.
Aside from music, James acted in the film “Some Days Are Better Than Others” in 2010, playing the no-hoper Eli, which was premiered at the 2010 SXSW Film and Music Festival. He also contributed music to the documentary “180 South” in the same year.
For his personal life, it is known that James married designer Marisa Kula in 2006; the two met while Kula was assigned to interview him for a story, and they now have three daughters together.
James has mentioned that some of his influences included The Cure, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and The Smiths. He plays a Gibson Les Paul Double cut faded guitar, but with the Broken Bells he uses a Vox Wildcat.
