Born Cynthia R. Blackman on the 18th November 1959, in Yellow Springs, Ohio USA, Cindy is a rock and jazz drummer, best known to the world for her work with Lenny Kravitz, and for collaborating with numerous other musicians, including Sonny Simmons, Sam Rivers, Cassandra Wilson, Pharaoh Sanders, Buckethead and CarlosSantana, who has been her husband since 2010.
Have you ever wondered how rich Cindy Blackman is, as of late 2017? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Blackman’s wealth is as high as $10 million, an amount earned through her successful career in the music industry, which has been active since the early ‘80s.
Cindy Blackman Net Worth $10 Million
She grew up in a musical family; her mother was a classical musician, while her father was in love with jazz and passed on his passion for this music genre to young Cindy. She started playing drums when she was seven years old, and joined a school band soon after. When she turned 11 years old, the family moved to Bristol, Connecticut, where young Cindy enrolled at the Hartt School of Music, and like her father became a jazz fan. Three years later she got her first professional drum kit, and since then has only nurtured her talents. During her teenage years, she was greatly inspired by Tony Williams, whom she once saw perform at a local drum store. After finishing high school, she settled in Boston, where she enrolled at the Berklee College of Music, but left after only three semesters, as she landed a gig with the famous R&B and soul group The Drifters. She moved to New York and for a time was a street performer, but also got a chance to learn from such musicians as Art Blakey, who became one of her mentors, then Billy Higgins, Roy Haynes, and others.
She made her breakthrough in 1984 when she was featured on “Jazz Stars of the Future” with Ted Curson on WKCR-FM in New York, while three years later her talents were given wider exposure as several of her compositions were featured on the album “Verses”, by Wallace Roney. It wasn’t long until she received a contract offer from Muse Records, and her debut studio album came out in 1988, entitled “Arcane”. Her personnel comprised such musicians as Wallace Roney as a trumpet player, Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Kenny Garrett on alto saxophone, Clarence Seay as a bassist and Larry Willis on piano.
She then collaborated with Santi Debriano, Greg Osby, Jerry Gonzalez, and David Fiuczynski on the album “Trio + Two” released in 1991, followed by the album “Code Red” (1992), on which she worked with Kenny Barron, Lonnie Plaxico, Wallace Roney, and Steve Coleman, before joining Lenny Kravitz personnel.
Kravitz approached her in 1993 to audition for a drumming position in his band, and the two have worked together ever since, on the albums “Are You Gonna Go My Way” (1993), “Circus” (1995), “5” (1998), “Lenny” (2005), “It Is Time for a Love revolution” (1998), “Black and White America” (2011), and Strut” (2014), and also toured with him, which also added to her wealth.
She has also worked on her own music, releasing 11 more studio albums after “Code Red”, most notably “Telepathy” (1994), which she recorded with Antoine Roney, Jacky Terrasson, and Clarence Seay, then “Works on Canvas” (1999), alongside J. D. Allen III, Carlton Homes, and George Mitchell, “Music For the New Millennium” (2005), and “Another Lifetime” (2010), a tribute to Tony Williams which she recorded with and Doug Carn and Mike Stern with sveral guests. Most recently she recorded “Power of Peace” (2017), with her husband Carlos Santana and The Isley Brothers.
Regarding her personal life, Cindy has been married to Carlos Santana since 2010; after several tours together, the famous guitarist proposed to Cindy after she finished her drum solo during a concert at Tinley Park, Illinois.
She has been a part of the Bahá’í Faith since she was 18, though she attended a Baptist church in her teens. Furthermore, Cindy started studying Kabbalah in the 2000s, and has stated numerous times that the spirituality has helped her develop her musical talents.
