10 Entertainers Who Have Collected Huge Paychecks For Private Performances

September 6, 2013 - 2:51 pm by Chris Yuscavage

Selling albums, merchandise, and concert tickets is nice. But if you're a singer or a rapper and you want to make some real money, then there's one really easy way to do it: Find a rich person willing to pay you lots and lots of cash to perform at a private function for them. There are plenty of them out there, and they're willing to spend hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars in exchange for private performances from top-notch entertainers.

Recently, Kanye West took advantage of it by performing at a wedding for the grandson of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev. His profit for doing it? A reported $3 million. Not bad, right? And he's far from the first performer to make major bank off a single set. Check out some of the other entertainers who have collected huge paychecks for putting on private performances.

The Entertainer: Jennifer Lopez What She Was Reportedly Paid: $1.5 million Who She Performed For: Earlier this summer, Jenny From the Block ran through a list of her hits for Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov. She caught a lot of flack for it, too, since Turkmenistan has a really bad record when it comes to human rights. Photo Credit: Telegraph

The Entertainer: Drake What He Was Reportedly Paid: $250,000 Who He Performed For: After Kanye West turned down the chance to make $250K for one night of work—he reportedly wanted at least $1 million—Drizzy agreed to perform at a bar mitzvah for the son of former NBC President/CEO Jeff Zucker in 2011. Photo Credit: JumpoffTV

The Entertainer: Mariah Carey What She Was Reportedly Paid: $1 million Who She Performed For: Unbeknownst to her, she was booked to perform for Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif at a New Year's Eve party on St. Barts in 2008. She later apologized for going forward with the performance once she discovered who she had performed for and promised to donate a portion of her future sales to charity. Photo Credit: The Guardian

The Entertainer: Beyonce What She Was Reportedly Paid: $1 million Who She Performed For: Mariah Carey wasn't the only singer who was paid by the Gaddafi family to perform. Beyonce also collected a million bucks in 2011 when she performed for members of Muammar Gadhafi's family. She later donated the proceeds to earthquake relief effort in Haiti. Photo Credit: Metro

The Entertainer: 50 Cent What He Was Reportedly Paid: $500,000 Who He Performed For: Back in 2005, Fif joined Aeromsith, Tom Petty, Kenny G, and the Eagles for a concert at a $10 million bat mitzvah thrown for the daughter of Point Blank Solutions Inc. CEO David Brooks. He performed just five songs before leaving the stage $500K richer. Photo Credit: Nah Right

The Entertainer: Christina Aguilera What She Was Reportedly Paid: $1 million Who She Performed For: Ms. Aguilera put in about an hour of work in 2010 during a Halloween party that was thrown by investment guru Charles Brandes. And she walked away with a cool mill after she was finished. Photo Credit: TMZ

The Entertainer: Usher What He Was Reportedly Paid: $250,000 Who He Performed For: Usher didn't even have to do an entire show to earn his huge paycheck. He was paid a quarter-million dollars simply to show up at a club in London in 2009 and sing "Happy Birthday" to a girl. Photo Credit: CNN

The Entertainer: Katy Perry What She Was Reportedly Paid: $1.9 million Who She Performed For: When model Holly Valance and real estate developer Nick Candy tied the knot last year, they had to have Perry there to perform her big singles. She obliged, but only because she was paid almost $2 million to sing for them. Photo Credit: Hello Magazine

The Entertainer: Jay-Z & Kanye West What They Were Reportedly Paid: $6 million Who They Performed For: Kanye West's private performance in Kazakhstan last weekend wasn't his first $3 million performance. He actually teamed up with Jay to make $6 million total back in 2011 when he performed at a birthday party for the sister of Manchester United owner Sheikh Mansour. Photo Credit: The Boombox

The Entertainer: Pia Toscano What She Was Reportedly Paid: $100,000 Who She Performed For: These days, you don't even have to be an accomplished singer to earn a huge paycheck for performing at a private party. The American Idol singer—who did not win when she appeared on the show—sang at a birthday party in 2011 for an anonymous couple. She actually tried to turn the gig down when she was initially offered $50K but reconsidered when the couple doubled their offer. Not bad, eh? Photo Credit: New York Daily News

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