What is Dee Snider's net worth?
Dee Snider is an American singer-songwriter, actor, radio personality, and screenwriter who has a net worth of $7 million. He became famous in the early 1980s as the lead singer of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister. Snider also wrote the 1998 slasher film "Strangeland," and has hosted and appeared on an array of television programs.
Early Life and Education
Daniel Snider was born in 1955 in Astoria, Queens, New York, and was raised nearby in Baldwin, Long Island. His mother, Marguerite, is a retired art teacher of Swiss descent, while his father, Bob, is a retired New York State Trooper from a Jewish family. However, Snider and his siblings were raised as Episcopalians. He attended Baldwin Senior High School, where he was part of the concert choir. Due to his vocal talents, which he also honed in a church choir, Snider was selected for the All-State Chorus.
Twisted Sister
n 1976, Snider joined the heavy metal band Twisted Sister, which was originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey; afterward, he became the band's sole songwriter. In 1982, the group released its debut studio album, "Under the Blade," and subsequently grew a following in the United Kingdom. The album was followed by "You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll," which spawned the singles "The Kids Are Back" and "I Am (I'm Me)." Twisted Sister released its third and most successful album in 1984: "Stay Hungry." This record featured the band's two biggest hits, "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock," and eventually went multi-platinum with sales in the United States surpassing 3,000,000 copies. Around this time, Snider established his signature persona of long curly blonde hair and metal-inspired makeup, including an abundance of eye shadow, rouge, and red lipstick.
In the mid-80s, MTV launched "Heavy Metal Mania," the first program on the network to entirely comprise heavy metal videos. Snider hosted the very first episode in June of 1985. That year, Twisted Sister came out with its fourth studio album, "Come Out and Play." Although less successful than "Stay Hungry," it still reached gold status after selling over 500,000 copies. Next, in 1987 came "Love Is for Suckers," which had originally been conceived as a solo project for Snider. The album was to become the band's final album before their breakup, and also their last to feature entirely new material.
After Twisted Sister
Following a truncated tour in 1987, Snider officially announced his departure from Twisted Sister. He ended up forming the band Desperado, which featured former Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr, bassist Marc Russel, and former Gillan guitarist Bernie Torme. The group recorded only one album, "Ace," but it was never officially released.
In 1991, after the demise of Desperado, Snider formed the band Widowmaker with Marc Russel, friend and drummer Joe Franco, and guitarist Al Pitrelli. Together, they recorded the albums "Stand By for Pain" and "Blood and Bullets," neither of which found great success in underground circles. Later on, in the latter half of the decade, Snider went on tour with a self-tribute band called Dee Snider's SMFs, with a lineup including Derek Tailer, Keith Alexander, Charlie Mills, and, on occasion, former Twisted Sister drummer A.J. Pero.
On the Radio
Snider took to the radio in 1997 when he became the host of "The House of Hair," a syndicated heavy metal radio show that broadcast on more than 200 stations throughout North America. Later, from 1999 to 2003, Snider served as the host of Dee Snider Radio, a morning radio show on Hartford, Connecticut's Clear Channel station. Fellow members of the program included Sean Robbins, Beth Lockwood, and Nick Lentino, while guests included Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne.
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Other Media Projects
Outside of music, Snider has been involved with video games, television, and movies. In 2001, he lent his voice to the PlayStation 2 game "Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy," portraying the main villain. He has also voiced characters in episodes of the Nickelodeon cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants" and the Cartoon Network show "Secret Mountain Fort Awesome." Also on television, Snider has hosted a number of shows and specials on VH1, and was a contestant on CMT's "Gone Country" in 2008. He hosts "Dead Art" on Gallery HD, and narrates a live show called "Van Helsing's Curse" that tours the United States around Halloween. Other appearances from Snider have been on reality shows such as "Growing Up Twisted," "Celebrity Wife Swap," and "The Celebrity Apprentice."
In movies, Snider had cameo appearances in "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" and "Private Parts." In 1998, he wrote the slasher film "Strangeland." Subsequent film credits have included documentaries such as "Warning: Parental Advisory," "Kiss Loves You," and "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey."
Congressional Testimony
In 1985, when the Parents Music Resource Center launched a Senate hearing to propose the introduction of a parental warning system for albums with offensive content, Snider, along with Frank Zappa and John Denver, showed up to testify against the measures. They were successful, as the system was never implemented; instead, a generic "Parental Advisory" label was used for albums deemed objectionable.
Personal Life
Since 1981, Snider has been married to costume designer Suzette; they have four children: Jesse, Shane, Cody, and Cheyenne, as well as four grandchildren. Their eldest son, Jesse, hosted "MTV2 Rock," and came in second place on the reality competition show "Rock the Cradle," on which Snider showed up as his mentor.
For a while, Snider lived in East Setauket, New York. In 2005, he was on "MTV Cribs" showing off his Long Island home. Later, he purchased a two-bedroom condo on the 36th floor of Turnberry Towers, a luxury complex near the Las Vegas Strip. During his stay, he added marble floors, accent walls, and designer tile. In 2020, he sold the space for $583,000.
