QTheMusic.com

TOP 10: BIG SPENDERS

10. Simon Cowell
Turning pop into lolly
Whether it be a £750,000 Bugatti Veyron supercar, handmade French shoes at £1000 
a pair or black toilet paper costing £10 a roll, the talent show kingpin clearly enjoys the best of everything. Indeed, in 2009 The Mirror newspaper estimated that Cowell's running costs - factoring in Botox treatments, dental work and haircuts - averaged out at £1118 per day. However, despite his image as TV's vainglorious Mr Nasty, Cowell paid off the $162,000 mortgage of a couple caring for their seriously ill daughter while appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2008.

9. Mariah Carey
Her dog lives better than you do
Carey would fly her pet Jack Russell "Jack" (right, left in pic) first class from New York to LA until he got too big and had to be transported by chauffeur-driven Mercedes instead. No stranger to giving herself a little treat, the singer snapped up Marilyn Monroe's old piano at auction for $662,500. Amid competition from Jennifer Lopez (said to use Crème De La Mer moisturiser on her body at $1000 a pot) and Whitney Houston (while in Sheffield ordered a taxi to collect a Chinese meal from London), Carey established diva spendthrift supremacy in 2006 by insuring her legs for $1 billion.

8. Freddie Mercury
The 'tache with the cash
"Darlings, I couldn't spend another penny more," was how the Queen vocalist concluded an especially intense '70s shopping spree that had, as usual, commenced at Harrods. This was a rare admission of monetary fatigue from Mercury, who dedicated himself to stockpiling antiques and once dropped £5000 buying perfume for every woman he knew. The moustachioed frontman also amassed koi carp worth £1 million, though 11 years after their master passed away all but five of the 89 fish perished in a bizarre gardening accident when the power for their storage tank was accidentally switched off.

7. P. Diddy
Puff and stuff
His ever-present coterie includes a personal barber, though sadly valet Fonzworth Bentley is no longer on the payroll. Now better known for his high rolling ways than his musical career, Diddy celebrated his 40th birthday in 2009 by throwing a $3 million party and gave his son Justin a $360,000 sports car for turning 16 the following year. Once hired a yacht for $40,000 a day and picked up an £80,000 bar bill after a night on the tiles in London.

6. Sir Elton John
The Notorious W.I.G.
John infamously spent £293,000 on flowers between January 1996 and September 1997 but he does not just open his wallet for Interflora. 
"I could find a shop in the Sahara desert," says the pianist. Past expenditure has included the 1976 purchase of Watford FC and, while touring Australia during his '80s drug period, a £10,000 tram. The flamboyant performer also likes to indulge his fondness for whimsical jewellery, including a diamond earring shaped like a penis and a diamanté necklace bearing the message "fuck off".

5. Kanye West
Knows what time it is
Recently had an $180,000 watch (above) 
made featuring his portrait on the face 
depicted in diamonds. Similar impeccable taste shown 
last year when West revealed that he had replaced his bottom row of teeth with, yes, diamonds. Away from gemstone-based personal adornment, he paid $350,000 
to have a replica of Michelangelo's frescoes from the Sistine Chapel painted on his dining room ceiling and, 
in 2009, claimed to employ someone solely to maintain
his collection of 450 pairs of shoes.

4. MC Hammer
U Can't Afford This
The massive crossover success of 1990's U Can't Touch This single prompted the slack-trousered rapper to radically upgrade his lifestyle. Consequently he bought 17 cars, eschewed commercial air travel for the comfort of a private jet and constructed a lavish California mansion featuring a dishwasher in the master bedroom to handle the detritus of late-night snacking. On the personnel side of things, Hammer employed 200 people on a total monthly wage of $500,000 and typically "rolled" with a 40-strong entourage. He filed for bankruptcy in 1996.

3. Rick James
Taking high living to extremes
Extravagant even by the standards of funk, James owned a suit for every day of the year and once spent $28,000 "out of ego" on a single pair of boots and a mink-lined jacket that he only wore twice because it was too small. Generously treated his band to frequent fun trips away, including a Caribbean cruise where the fuel bill alone ran to $30,000. James really threw his money around when it came to narcotics, maintaining a $7000-a-week cocaine habit for five years. "Let's talk real. I was a dumb motherfucker," he said shortly before dying of heart failure in 2004.

2. Britney Spears
Kind to animals, children and waiters
Dining at an exclusive Las Vegas restaurant in 2004, Spears was nice enough to order a $180 steak for her pet Chihuahua, Bit Bit. Returning to the city in 2009, Spears spent $3000 on treats for her two sons at a sweet shop - the same amount charged for the hand-made Japanese scissors that she has her hair cut with. Pricey frivolities, certainly, but the flighty pop princess also creates wealth: in 2006 a quick-witted waiter got $520 on eBay for an egg sandwich that she had nibbled at.

1. Michael Jackson
Who's bad... with finance?
The King Of Pop died in 2009 with debts of $400 million due to poor investments, legal disputes and an attitude to money epitomised by a 1984 library fine for $1 million (waived on the condition that he sign the overdue books). Despite gossip to the contrary, he never acquired the skeleton of John "The Elephant Man" Merrick though did shell out $1.5 million on the 1939 Best Picture Oscar for Gone With The Wind. Even in hard times, Wacko paid good friend Marlon Brando $1 million to appear at his 2001 30th anniversary concert, at which the actor made a rambling speech about unfortunate children being "hacked to death with a machete".

WORST SPENDER
Rod Stewart
Da ya think I'm thrifty?
Described by Ronnie Wood as "tighter than two coats of paint", Stewart is renowned for being extremely careful with money. To avoid buying a round of drinks as a younger man he would "politely" hold pub doors open for friends, tactically guaranteeing his late arrival at the bar. In 1974 Rod's close friend Elton John generously gave him a Rembrandt for Christmas. Rod's gift to Elton was a fridge.

4:34 PM | 23/02/2011