Vanilla Ice Net Worth

Vanilla Ice is best known for his hit Ice Ice Baby, which was his first hip hop hit to reach #1 on the Billboard Chart. He’s a television host and actor in addition to being a rapper. Vanilla Ice has been on the Hollywood scene for years, but how much is the Ice Ice Baby rapper worth?

Vanilla Ice’s Net Worth

The Vanilla Ice net worth is $12 million. He made a lot of money off hits like Play That Funky Music featured on his debut album, but these only propelled him into fame. His popularity and the Vanilla Ice net worth continued to skyrocket after his hip-hop hits received rave reviews. However, he’s also made money from other business ventures, such as The Vanilla Ice Project. 

Early Life Vanilla Ice

Vanilla Ice, born Robert Matthew Van Winkle, was born on October 31, 1967, in Dallas, Texas. His mother was Camilla Beth Dickerson. Vanilla Ice never knew who his biological father was. The man his mother was married to when he was born was named William Basil Van Winkle, and so that’s whose last name Vanilla Ice had. 

However, the couple was only married for four short years before they divorced. Soon after, she remarried a car salesman. Robert Van Winkle found himself traveling back and forth between Dallas and Miami, which is where his stepfather worked. 

Vanilla Ice started getting into hip hop at the early age of 13 when he learned how to breakdance. He became known as Vanilla Ice because he was the only white person who was breakdancing then. The nickname stuck, even though Van Winkle didn’t care for it. 

After he became known for his moves on the dance floor, Ice started to rap at parties under the name MC Vanilla. He formed his own breakdancing group named The Vanilla Ice Posse in Texas. 

At 16, Vanilla Ice wrote the song that would send his career, and eventually net worth, skyrocketing, Ice Ice Baby. 

He graduated from high school in 1985 and began to think about his future career. 

Motocross

Vanilla Ice started competing in motocross after graduating. He won three championships and loved the sport. However, he broke his ankle during a race and found his way back into hip hop. As his ankle recovered, he perfected his dance moves and lyrical skills. 

City Lights

After his ankle healed, Vanilla Ice started performing as a street performer in malls and on the street. He became well-known and went to an open-mic night at a club called City Lights after his friend dared him to. 

Van Winkle was a huge hit with the crowd, which led to the manager asking him to come back regularly. While working at City Lights, Vanilla Ice opened for N.W.A., Tone Loc, Public Enemy, and more hit groups. 

In 1987, Vanilla Ice was stabbed five times in a fight outside the club. This helped inspire him to participate in the Stop The Violence Tour. During the tour, he was the opening act for Sir Mix A Lot, Ice T, and several other hit groups. 

Early Career Vanilla Ice

After the Stop The Violence Tour, Ice, and his manager began to work on his debut. His manager saw a lot of potential and worked hard to help make his debut a huge success. Ichiban Records and Ice released his hip hop single in 1989, with Ice Ice Baby on one side and Play That Funky Music on the other. At a radio station in Georgia, a DJ accidentally played Ice Ice Baby, which was an instant hit. 

However, Vanilla Ice wouldn’t retain the rights to that song forever. Suge Knight just so happened to be eating at the same restaurant at Vanilla Ice and sat at his table. No one knows what happened at the table, but the same rapper and bodyguards appeared at Van Winkle’s hotel room later that night. According to Vanilla Ice, they threatened to throw him over the balcony unless he signed the rights to Ice Ice Baby over. Ice signed over the rights, and Suge Knight finally had the financing he needed to start Death Row Records. 

Vanilla Ice Net Worth And Career Highlights

Even though Vanilla Ice no longer had the rights to his hit song, he continued to rise to the top of the hip-hop scene. He released five more albums: Mind Blowin’, Hard To Swallow, Bi-Polar, Platinum Underground, and W.T.F. (Wisdom, Tenacity, and Focus.) An album full of cover songs called Vanilla Ice Is Back was released in 2008. Some of the most notable, and interesting, moments of his career are: 

• His album To The Extreme was the fastest selling hip hop album of all time
• To The Extreme held the top spot on album charts for sixteen weeks
• Was on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Return Of The Ooze Soundtrack
• Earned $1 million to appear in Cool As Ice
• Appeared on season two of the reality television show The Surreal Life
• Stars in his own show The Vanilla Ice Project, which is about him flipping houses
• Ice attempted suicide in 1994 via heroin overdose, but his friends saved him
• He took a break from music in 1995 and focused on motocross and jet skiing. Within the year, he was the number six ranked sit-down jet ski racer and had earned a Kawasaki sponsorship

Personal Life Vanilla Ice

The Ice Ice Baby artist has had an interesting personal life. He dated Madonna for eight months. 

In 1997, Van Winkle married Laura Giaritta. Together, they had two daughters: Dusti Rain Van Winkle and KeeLee Breeze Van Winkle. However, Laura filed for divorce in 2018. This revealed a lot about the Vanilla Ice net worth, including his earnings of $800,000 per year, 15 sports cars, and an impressive real estate portfolio. 

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