With a net worth of $12 million, Herbie Hancock is an American pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer.
Herbie Hancock, who was considered a musical child prodigy, was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 12, 1940.
In May 1963, he became a member of Davis’s Second Great Quintet and played a significant role in redefining the post-bop jazz sound and redefining the genre.
He was among the pioneers of jazz musicians to embrace music synthesizers and funk music.
Hancock’s solo recordings, including “Cantaloupe Island”, “Watermelon Man”, “Maiden Voyage”, “Chameleon”, and the singles “I Thought It Was You” and “Rockit”, earned him the Academy Award for 1986 Original Soundtrack for “Round Midnight” in 1986.
He has been the recipient of 14 Grammy Awards.
Hancock’s 2007 tribute album, River: The Joni Letters, was the recipient of the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making it the second jazz album to receive the same recognition. In 2013, he became a professor in the UCLA music department and began teaching jazz music.
Hancock was appointed as the 2014 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University.
A series of six lectures on poetry are given by the chair’s holders.