What is Ronnie Milsap's Net Worth?
Ronnie Milsap is an American country music singer and musician who has a net worth of $14 million. Among the most popular country artists of the 1970s and '80s, Ronnie Milsap released such hit singles as "It Was Almost Like a Song," "Smoky Mountain Rain," "(There's) No Gettin' Over Me," "Any Day Now," and "Stranger in My House." Among his many honors are six Grammy Awards and eight CMA Awards.
Early Life and Education
Ronnie Milsap was born Ronald Millsaps on January 16, 1943 in Robbinsville, North Carolina. Born almost completely blind, he was abandoned by his mother as an infant and was raised by his grandparents in material poverty. At the age of five, Milsap was sent to the North Carolina State School for the Blind and Deaf in Raleigh, North Carolina, later renamed Governor Morehead School. There, Milsap studied classical music while learning multiple instruments. Inspired by the rise to fame of Elvis Presley in 1956, he formed a rock band with some fellow students called the Apparitions. For his higher education, Milsap briefly attended Young Harris College in Georgia on a full scholarship. Meanwhile, he played in the popular local R&B band the Dimensions. Although he received a scholarship for law school, Milsap declined and left college to pursue his music career.
Career Beginnings
In 1963, Milsap got his break when he met Atlanta radio DJ Pat Hughes. He went on to record his first single, "Total Disaster/It Went to Your Head," which was a moderate success in the Atlanta area thanks to the radio promotion of Hughes. In 1965, Milsap signed with the New York-based label Scepter Records and had his first hit with the single "Never Had it So Good," written by Ashford & Simpson. Later in the decade, Milsap moved to Memphis, Tennessee and began working for producer Chips Moman, who helped him get session work on various recordings. In 1971, Milsap released his self-titled debut album on Warner Bros. Records. The next year, he moved to Nashville and began working with manager Jack D. Johnson.
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Peak of Fame in the 1970s and '80s
In 1973, Milsap signed to RCA Records and released the hit single "I Hate You"; it was included on his second album, "Where My Heart Is," which peaked at number five on the country albums chart. He followed that with two chart-topping country singles in 1974: "Pure Love" and "Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends." The latter earned Milsap his first Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. Both songs were included on his third studio album, "Pure Love." Milsap released two studio albums in 1975, "A Legend in My Time" and "Night Things," both of which were crossover hits and charted on the Billboard 200. The latter album spawned the number-one country hit "Daydreams About Night Things."
Milsap reached a new career peak between 1976 and 1978, when he had seven consecutive number-one country singles. These included the Grammy-winning "(I'm a) Stand by My Woman Man," "It Was Almost Like a Song," and "What a Difference You've Made in My Life." Milsap's biggest crossover hit was "It Was Almost Like a Song," from his album of the same name. Penned by Hal David and Archie Jordan, it reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number seven on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Milsap continued to enjoy crossover success in the first half of the 1980s with such hit singles as "Smoky Mountain Rain," "(There's) No Gettin' Over Me," "Any Day Now," "Stranger in My House," and "Lost in the Fifties Tonight." In the second half of the 1980s, he had a string of number-one singles on the country chart, including "She Keeps the Home Fires Burning," "In Love," "Where Do the Nights Go," and the Grammy-winning duet with Kenny Rogers, "Make No Mistake, She's Mine." Milsap's last number-one song on the country chart was "A Woman in Love," released in 1989.
Later Career
Although he wouldn't again achieve the commercial heights he experienced in the 1970s and '80s, Milsap continued to be a successful recording artist in the early 1990s. During this time, he released such popular singles as "Stranger Things Have Happened," "Are You Lovin' Me Like I'm Lovin' You," "Since I Don't Have You," "Turn That Radio On," and "All is Fair in Love and War." After 1993, Milsap's commercial fortunes started to wane, and he stepped away from the recording industry for a while. He returned to the charts in 2000 with his compilation album "40 #1 Hits," which was certified Gold. This precipitated a minor career resurgence for Milsap, who went on to release his first studio album in over a decade, "Just for a Thrill," in 2004. A collection of jazz and pop standards, the album peaked at number 11 on the Top Jazz Albums chart. Milsap's studio albums since then have included "My Life" (2006), "Then Sings My Soul" (2009), "Country Again" (2011), "Summer Number Seventeen" (2014), "The Duets" (2019), and "A Better Word for Love" (2021).
Personal Life
Milsap was married to Joyce Reeves from 1965 until her passing in 2021. They had a son, Todd, who passed away in early 2019.
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