Raoul Jaime Orzabal de la Quintana was born on 22 August 1961 of French, Argentinian, Spanish-Basque and English ancestry, and is a musician and singer/songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the enigmatic New Wave duo “Tears for Fears”.
So just how rich is Ronald Orzabal? Sources estimate that Ronald’s net worth is over $20 million, accumulated during his career in the music industry which began in the early 1980s. His assets include a big estate in Durham, England with a recording studio inside, a house in Los Angeles California, as well as a respectable collection of vintage electric guitars.
Roland Orzabal Net Worth $20 million
Ronald was born in Havant, England, to parents Margaret and George Orzabal de la Quintana. He has 2 brothers, and they all moved to Bath shortly after his birth, where Ronald studied at the Culverhay School, and where he met future bandmate Curt Smith when they were 13 years old. They became close because they were the product of somewhat disjointed families, and would just often hang out together to get away from home.
Ronald’s music career started in the 1970s with the mod ska band, Graduate which he co-founded with Curt, but they met only moderate success, and with their bandmates busy on other projects, Graduate dissolved. In 1981, Ronald and Curt formed the New Wave band Tears for Fears releasing the highly popular hit song, “Mad World”. The first album reached commercial success and went #1 in the UK Albums Chart, also garnering Platinum in the UK and Gold in the US. This was where Ronald began establishing his net worth and assets.
Tears for Fears’ success continued with its next two albums, “Songs from the Big Chair” and “Seeds of Love.” They consistently charted # 1 in the UK and US, as well as Top 10 in European countries including Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden, and even in New Zealand. These albums spawned the hit singles “Shout” and “Everybody Wants to Rule The World”.
Ronald’s style of writing lyrics has also earned him two Ivor Novello awards for Songwriting, and he was also awarded the Songwriter of the Year award in 1986.
Although he has found most success in the music industry, Ronald’s net worth can be credited to many other sources. He is also a music producer, and co-produced Oleta Adams’ 1990 album “Circle of One” which reached #1 in the UK and #20 in the US. Ronald is also a novelist – he published a humor and satire e-book in 2014 entitled “Sex Drugs & Opera: There’s Life After Rock ‘n’ Roll” which is still on sale through Amazon today.
In his personal life, Ronald married Caroline Johnston in 1982, and they have two sons, Raoul and Pascal. As for charities, Ronald is actively involved in fund raisers and causes for children’s health and well-being. Together with Curt, the band played for the FCC Charity ball to raise funds for underprivileged children. They also performed at the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation’s 8th ‘Grand Slam for Children’ Fundraiser.
