Inside Miles Davis's Fortune: Miles Davis's Total Wealth in Net Worth 2026: Career Earnings & Assets

As one of the most talked-about figures, Miles Davis has built a significant fortune. Our team analyzed the latest data to provide a clear picture of their income.

What Was Miles Davis' Net Worth?

Estate Value and Inheritance

According to his will, Miles left 20% of his estate to his daughter Cheryl, 40% to his son Erin, 10% to his nephew Vincent and 15% apiece to his brother Vernon and sister Dorothy. For reasons unknown, he cut out two sons; Gregory and Miles IV. He also cut out his half-brother, Joseph, and his three ex-wives, including actressCicely Tyson.

Davis' 1959 album "Kind of Blue" was certified 5x Platinum and sold more than four million copies in the United States. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives recognized and commemorated the album's 50th anniversary. Davis published the book "Miles: The Autobiography" in 1989, and he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 as "one of the key figures in the history of jazz."

Davis joined the marching band at East St. Louis Lincoln High School and entered music competitions, and he said that he experienced discrimination in the competitions because of his race. As a teenager, he began learning music theory and played at the Elks Club with his band. He joined the Rhumboogie Orchestra and later became the group's musical director. Miles graduated from high school in absentia in 1944, and a few weeks later, he began playing with Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, and Charlie Parker at Club Riviera. That September Davis enrolled at New York City's Institute of Musical Arts (now known as the Juilliard School) and studied music theory, dictation, and piano. By 1946, his parents had divorced and Miles Jr. had remarried; Davis had a half-brother, Joseph, from his father's second marriage.

Miles Davis was born Miles Dewey Davis III on May 26, 1926, in Alton, Illinois. He was the son of dentist Miles Dewey Davis Jr. and violinist/music teacher Cleota Mae Henry, and he had two siblings, Dorothy and Vernon. The family owned a 200-acre property in Arkansas that included a pig farm, and the children hunted, fished, and rode horses while visiting the estate. The Davis family relocated to East St. Louis, Illinois, in 1927 and lived in a commercial building in a predominantly white neighborhood. Miles attended John Robinson Elementary School and Crispus Attucks, and he excelled in music, math, and sports. In 1935, a friend of Davis' father gave Miles his first trumpet, and he took lessons from Elwood Buchanan, who he would later refer to as "the biggest influence on my life." Davis said of his early years, "By the age of 12, music had become the most important thing in my life." After his father gave him a new trumpet for his 13th birthday, Miles began playing with local bands and taking additional lessons from St. Louis Symphony Orchestra trumpeter Joseph Gustat.

Miles Davis was an American musician, bandleader, and composer who had a net worth of $19 million at the time of his death. During his career Miles Davis released dozens albums through the labels Prestige, Blue Note, Columbia, and Warner Bros. Miles also recorded albums as a sideman for Charlie Parker, Billy Eckstine, Charles Mingus, Sarah Vaughan,Sonny Rollins,Leonard Bernstein, Rene Urteger, Cannonball Adderley, Betty Davis,Chaka Khan,Quincy Jones,Dizzy Gillespie,Chick Corea, andLouis Armstrong.

Miles passed away in September 1991 at the age of 65.

New York does not require exact figures when the estate is valued at more than $1 million. According to our research, Davis' liquid assets and the present-day value (in 1991) of his future royalty stream, was $10 million. That's the same as around $19 million today.

Though it has been reported that Miles was worth just $1 million at the time of his death, that information is often misinterpreted. According to his last will and testament, as filed by his heirs in 1991, Davis' estate was "valued at more than $1 million." Many publications have since reported this as Miles being worth $1 million at the time of his death.

Ultimately, Miles Davis's financial journey is a testament to their success.

Disclaimer: All net worth figures are estimates based on public data.