Kim Thayil was born on the 4th September 1960, in Seattle, Washington USA, and is a Grammy Award- winning guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the rock band called Soundgarden.
Have you ever wondered how rich Kim Thayil is, as of mid- 2017? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Thayil’s net worth is as high as $30 million, an amount earned through his successful career as a musician, which started in 1980. In addition to playing guitar, Thayil also wrote numerous Soundgarden’s songs, and has collaborated with other bands, which has improved his wealth too.
Kim Thayil Net Worth $30 Million
Kim Thayil was born into an American Indian family, and grew up in the Chicago’s suburb Park Forest. Kim started playing guitar at an early age -his first band was named Zippy and His Vast Army of Pinheads, mostly performing cover songs of the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. He went to Rich East High School where he met Hiro Yamamoto, and the two of them decided to move to Olympia, Washington but were unable to find a job at first.
However, Thayil managed to get a job as a DJ on a local radio station, and then went on to earn a degree in philosophy at the University of Washington. While at college, Kim met Chris Cornell, and together with Yamamoto they founded the band called Soundgarden, the first Seattle grunge band to sign a deal with the major record company, Between 1984 and 1988, they released two EP’s, and later in 1988 their debut studio album entitled “Ultramega OK”, which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Metal Performance in 1990. In 1989. Soundgarden’s second studio album “Louder Than Love” came out, and it achieved the gold status in the US, reaching the 108 spot on the Billboard 200. It was the last album with Hiro Yamamoto as a bass player, as Ben Shepherd then took his place in 1990.
In 1991, their next release “Badmotorfinger” was a huge success, and was certified double platinum, and also earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Metal Performance in 1992. It peaked at the No. 39 on both the Billboard 200 and UK Albums charts, while singles “Jesus Christ Pose”, “Outshined”, and “Rusty Cage’ had a lot of success too, which helped the band members including Thayil to increase their net worth significantly.
Soundgarden’s fourth album “Superunknown” (1994) helped them to reach mainstream popularity thanks to over five million records sold in the US alone, achieving multi-platinum status. Once again, the release was nominated for a Grammy Award, while the singles “Spoonman”, and “Black Hole Sun” actually won Grammy’s. The album topped the Billboard 200 and reached No. 4 on the UK Albums charts; it’s the band’s most successful release to date.
Their fifth studio album entitled “Down on the Upside” came out in 1996, and achieved platinum status, additionally improving Kim Thayil’s net worth. It peaked at the No. 2 on Billboard 200 and No. 7 on UK Albums chart, while the songs “Pretty Noose”, “Burden in My Hand”, and “Blow Up the Outside World” were among the most popular at the time.
Following the breakup of Soundgarden in 1997, Thayil worked with such bands as Pigeonhed and Presidents of the United States of America, while he also formed a punk band called the No WTO Combo in 1999. In 2004, Kim joined Dave Grohl on his side project named Probot, while in 2010, Soundgarden members reunited and had their first concert for many years at The Vic Theatre in Chicago. In 2012, the band released their sixth studio album – first since 1996 – “King Animal” – which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and No. 21 on UK Albums charts. However, after Chris Cornell‘s death in May 2017, it is unknown whether Soundgarden will continue to play and work together again.
Regarding his personal life, Kim Thayil’s most intimate details such as marital status and the number of children are unknown as he successfully manages to keep them out of the public eye.
