Michael Jones was born on the 26th December 1959, in Harlem, New York City USA, and is a singer, songwriter and producer, who also plays several musical instruments. Though his work for other artists such as Whitney Houston was successful, he is also known under the name Kashif, which he adopted after he converted to Islam. Kashif has been active in the entertainment industry since 1974.
How much is the net worth of Kashif? Authoritative sources estimate that the overall size of his wealth is equal to $2 million, as of the data presented in the middle of 2016. Music is the main source of Kashif’s net worth.
Kashif Net Worth $2 Million
After a rough childhood in which his mother was jailed when he was a few months old, and his foster parents abused him, he found a talent for playing the flute while at school, and subsequently learnt to play several other instruments. Before Kashif pursued his solo career in 1983, he had already written and produced songs for artists like Tavares, Melba Moore, Evelyn King as well as Howard Johnson. He was a member of the funk band BT Express for 15 years from 1974. Between 1983 and 1990, he released a number hits which appeared on the Billboard R & B charts, mainly under the record company Arista. The singles “I Just Gotta Have You (Lover Turn Me on)” (1983), “Baby Do not Break Your Baby’s Heart” (1984) and “Personality (1989)” were all top 10 hits. In addition, there were duets, which also reached high places on music charts – “Love on the Rise” with Kenny G (1985), “Love the One I’m with (A Lot of Love)” with Melba Moore (1986) and “Love Changes” with Meli’sa Morgan (1987). The Top 20 hit entitled “Reservations for Two” with Dionne Warwick (1987), was only one of his singles which appeared on the Billboard Pop 100 (62nd place) and Billboard Adult Contemporary charts (7th place). His net worth was rising.
Noteworthy was his collaboration with Whitney Houston which has also increased the outright size of Kashif’s net worth. He arranged and produced the first two songs from the debut Whitney Houston album, followed by “Thinking About You” and “You Give Good Love” both released in 1985. Over 22 million copies of the debut album have been sold, which is considered Houston’s breakthrough in the USA market, and both singles reached the Billboard Top 10. Kashif has also contributed to the composition of the song “Thinking About You”. The two continued their collaboration, releasing the second album “Whitney” (1987), selling around 20 million copies. Kashif produced the song “Where You Are”, and Houston has also sung on Kashifs album “Love Changes” (1987) as the background voice in “Fifty Ways (to Fall in Love)”.
Kashif’s big time ended around 1990, probably because of changing trends, and New Jack Swing and Hip-Hop are more and more usual in the charts. However, he is still active in the music business and releases occasional albums; the last was “Music From My Mind (Brooklyn Boy)” in 2004.
Finally, in the personal life of the singer, songwriter and producer, he married the actress Tracey Ross in 1988, but they divorced in the ’90s; they did not have any children. Currently, Kashif resides in Venice, Los Angeles, USA.
