Rock Star Real Estate: Inside the Homes of Music Legends
A look at the homes of 10 famous musicians, including Slash, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi and Kid Rock.
Rock Star Real Estate: Inside the Homes and Properties of Famous Musicians
We’re used to seeing them strut on stage and smash guitars, and hearing about them trashing hotel rooms. But when the fog machines are off and the tour bus stops, rock stars have to settle down somewhere.
Some live in a 12,000-square-foot kingdom outfitted with lavish Renaissance-style furniture and paintings. Others have a beer pong table in the basement.
These 10 famous rock and roll musicians certainly know how to live. We’re taking an inside look into the homes of Billy Joel, Slash, Jon Bon Jovi, Kid Rock, Tommy Lee, Rod Stewart and other millionaire rock stars whose real estate offerings rival their on-stage performances in impressiveness.
Slash
Saul Hudson — better known as Slash — lives his gimmick. The 54-year-old Guns N’ Roses lead guitarist once spent six months renovating an 11,000-square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills, California, adding a nightclub in the basement and various other eccentric touches.
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Slash and his ex-wife, Perla Hudson, owned the home for six years, putting the house on the market in 2015, shortly after their separation. It initially had a listing price of $11 million but sat on the market for over two years until rapper Big Sean snatched it up for $8.7 million in 2017.
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The nightclub is the big draw for this house, although we assume it was also something that may have turned potential buyers away.
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The stripper pole, built-in leather seating, black wallpaper and gold trim are either benefits or a renovation waiting to happen, depending on taste.
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The bar is well stocked, as to be expected.
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Pictured here is a bedroom and a, ah, very specific chair. It’s a very expensive “Tally Ho” chair, also known as a spanking bench. Perla put some of their items up for sale at auction in 2019; this chair was valued at $12,000-$15,000, according to Julien’s Auctions (we’re not sure how much it sold for).
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The dining room is rocker chic.
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The entryway has pirate ship lights and a pirate woman statue. Perla put her up for auction, too.
Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi is living on more than a prayer. The 57-year-old singer lives in an enormous 18,000-square-foot mansion in Middletown, New Jersey.
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The French-inspired chateau sits on 15 acres with 750 feet of river frontage and features an elevator, heated outdoor pool, six bedrooms and seven full bathrooms.
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The mansion has been artfully decorated with vintage furniture and Renaissance-style paintings.
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The house is only 20 years old but looks much older. The interior was painted by Pierre Finkelstein, with 18th- and 19th- century patina, gilding and textured finishes that are smooth to the touch, according to the listing.
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The kitchen is all wood and features a brick barrel ceiling with hand-painted beams. The countertops are honed alabaster.
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Bon Jovi grew up 30 minutes away in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in a working-class family. He formed Bon Jovi when he was 21; after 35 years of live performances the band has grossed over $1.35 billion.
Lindsey Buckingham
Fleetwood Mac’s former lead guitarist and his wife, Kristen, poured some big love into their custom-built home in Los Angeles, California, which they lived in for 15 years. The mansion was built from the ground up and designed by Kristen, who works as an interior designer, according to realtor.com.
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The couple bought the lot for $6.4 million in 2004, built this 8,051-square foot manse, and then sold it for an astounding $28 million in 2019.
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Out back is a gorgeous pool and freestanding, vine-covered veranda.
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The foyer features a twisting staircase.
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The country-style kitchen features a huge kitchen island with butcher-block countertop and a stainless steel double stove.
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The master bathroom is elegant, with a soaking tub beneath a bay window.
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Buckingham can spend his time off here — and he now has more relaxation time than he expected. Fleetwood Mac fired him over a disagreement about an upcoming tour in 2018. Stevie Nicks says it was because Buckingham didn’t want to tour for a year, while Buckingham says she was “just looking for something” to “instigate a coup.”
Lars Ulrich
Metallica drummer and once-upon-a-time way-too-vocal anti-piracy advocate, Lars Ulrich, just sold a hillside Bay Area estate, which was privately listed for $12 million in 2019. It sold on January 22, 2020, for $10.3 million according to property records.
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The 9,753-square-foot mansion in Tiburon, California, includes a custom-made, built-in fish tank, seven bedrooms and six full bathrooms.
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It’s certainly no sanitarium. This home was custom designed with an art gallery. Ulrich, an avid art collector, sold a Basquiat painting for $13.5 million in 2008.
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The bar room features a coiled snake display and has sliding glass doors leading to the outdoor patios, which overlook the Tiburon area.
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According to Forbes, the mansion sits atop a private cul-de-sac on “Tiburon’s highest peak.”
Kid Rock
While Kid Rock might want you to think he grew up in a Detroit trailer, the rocker grew up in a 5,660-square-foot house in Bruce Township, Michigan. And although he claimed to live in a double-wide trailer in 2017, he doesn’t. Not really, anyway — the 49-year-old owns a mansion in Detroit.
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Rock bought the home for around $465,000 in 2012 and tried to sell the 6,000-square-foot mansion in 2019 for $2.2 million, although records indicate the house never found a buyer.
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The interior of the six-bedroom colonial has been outfitted with various patriotic and religious decorations.
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The bathroom has been tastefully decorated.
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To the surprise of no one, there’s a beer pong table in the basement.
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The backyard features a statue of Jesus.
Tommy Lee
Notorious Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee owns a sprawling six-bedroom spread in Calabasas, California.
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Records indicate Lee purchased this property in 2007 for $5.85 million; he has since tried to sell it several times but can’t find a buyer. The house is currently off the market.
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It’s sort of surprising, too. The 10,000-square-foot mansion is gorgeous.
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An in-house atrium holds a tree that stretches from the first to second floors.
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The glassed-in atrium features a koi pond and water features.
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The house has been outfitted in Lee’s somewhat eclectic but fashionable style. It’s quite Zen.
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The master bedroom, however, has a wild side. Decked out in all black, from the carpet to the walls to the piano, this place is unmistakably Tommy Lee’s.
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A 13-car garage has been converted into a recording studio; naturally, it’s kitted out with various types of equipment and instruments.
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The recording booth, with drum set. Lee’s third solo album, Trans Genres, is slated to release March 2020.
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A small dining area and kitchen are located on the main floor.
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The backyard has a custom piano-shaped pool and built-in barbecue area.
Billy Joel
Billy Joel might be a wiz at tickling the ivories, but whether or not he can play the real estate market just as well remains to be seen. The 70-year-old Piano Man has two multi-million-dollar mansions in Florida that he can’t seem to unload.
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His first house is an 8,706-square-foot oceanfront mansion in Manalapan. According to the Miami Herald, Joel bought the house for $11.8 million in 2014 and then re-listed it a year and a half later at $19.5 million. No one bought it.
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As the market cooled, he’s been lowering the price every year since. He relisted it again in 2018 for $16.9 million, then finally dropped it to $12.95 million in 2019. It comes fully furnished — and that includes his piano.
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It’s unclear if Joel renovated the property — the listing doesn’t indicate that he did — although there doesn’t seem like there’s much to fix. Pictured here is one of the home’s nine full bathrooms.
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The kitchen features marble countertops, barrel brickwork ceiling and an eat-in dining area with oceanfront views.
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Out back, the 2004-built house features a 40-foot swimming pool with a built-in BBQ area and summer kitchen. There are four waterfront balconies and a private dock, too.
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Billy Joel’s other house is right next door and on the same street, but technically is in the town of Lantana. This one is much bigger, and more than double the price.
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According to Palm Beach Daily News, Joel listed this 20,838-square-foot estate for $31.9 million in 2018. He purchased it for $22.1 million in early 2015.
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The 2010-built estate includes 11 full bathrooms, eight bedrooms and was crafted with Italian Palazzo influences.
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It’s stuffed with lavish touches, like the coffered ceiling with inlaid millwork and wrought iron indoor balconies.
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Joel couldn’t find a buyer, and after about one year — certainly not the longest time — he took the home off the market.
Dave Mustaine
Megadeth lead vocalist/guitarist David Mustaine owns an equestrian estate in Franklin, Tennessee, that he listed in September 2019.
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The 58-year-old guitar shredder revealed he had been diagnosed with throat cancer in May 2019; Megadeth subsequently cancelled its 2019 tour schedule. The good news is that Mustaine said his doctors feel that he has a 90-percent success rate after undergoing treatment. He and Megadeth also appeared for the first time in 15 months on January 21, 2020, for a performance in Helsinki, Finland. The band is back on tour, so it appears Mustaine is doing well.
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If peace sells, then Mustaine should be able to offload this estate sooner rather than later — if someone’s buying, of course. It’s currently listed for $2.5 million and includes nearly 11 acres of land, with riding trails and fenced-in pastures.
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The country-style kitchen features white distressed wood cabinets and hardwood flooring.
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Mustaine is a staunch born-again Christian and has decorated his home to represent his beliefs.
Joey Kramer
Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer isn’t without his troubles — he was recently barred from playing with Aerosmith during the 2020 Grammys — but at least he has an amazing pad In Boerne, Texas, to come home to.
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Kramer owns a 7,700-foot spread with four bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms, set on a 14.4-acre lot.
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The 69-year-old drummer is in the middle of a tiff with his longtime band and had filed a lawsuit against Aerosmith after its members wouldn’t allow Kramer to perform on stage with them at the 2020 Grammys. Kramer claimed he had “minor injuries” which led Steven Tyler and the rest of Aerosmith banning him from the stage. TMZ has video of two bodyguards denying Kramer entry into the band’s Grammy rehearsal.
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Just a few weeks after filing the lawsuit, Kramer lost the case. However, a statement by the band gives no indication that they’re firing Kramer.
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Even though Kramer didn’t want to miss a thing on stage the Grammys, he could dream on in this massive living room with soaring cathedral ceilings and walls lined with award-winning records.
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The master bedroom includes a roaring fireplace and is decked out with red and black accents.
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The master bathroom is bigger than most living rooms. It includes two long, marble-topped vanities, built-in wood cabinets, a walk-in shower and a copper soaking tub with a flat screen television mounted above it.
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Wearing out things that nobody wears is an easier thing to do when you have a closet like this. According to realtor.com, the Kramers expanded the closets to make room for their massive clothing collection.
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The couple listed the four-bedroom, four-and-a-half bathroom house in May 2018 after less than two years of ownership. They originally listed it for $3.995 million, then dropped the price to $3.8 million in the summer of 2019 before taking it off the market.
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Kramer and his wife, Linda, purchased the home 2016, when it was listed for $2.95 million (how much they ultimately paid is unlisted).
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While Kramer didn’t get to play with Aerosmith at the Grammys, he did show up to accept the 2020 MusiCares Person of the Year award with Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton and Brad Whitford. He had to awkwardly exit the stage before the band performed.
Rod Stewart
British singer Rod Stewart had to take some deep cuts on his mansion in Essex, England, when he sold it last year.
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The 75-year-old crooner lived in this sprawling 19th-century mansion for 30 years.
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The main house is 12,568 square feet with six bedrooms and six full bathrooms. A guest cottage and staff house also sit on the estate’s 25 lush acres, according to Mansion Global. Winston Churchill stayed in the mansion during the Blitz.
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Stewart put the estate up for sale in 2016 for about $9.84 million but couldn’t find a buyer. He slashed the price continually over the next three years, until it finally sold for £4.1 million — about $5.4 million—to footballer Andy Carroll in April 2019.
