h-town top earners

4 Houston celebrities land on rich list of world's highest-paid entertainers

Beyoncé actually tied with her husband Jay-Z on the list.

Photo courtesy of Live Nation

Houston has been landing on so many best-of lists of late that it’s starting to become commonplace. One recent report of Houston bragging rights comes courtesy of Forbes, which has released its annual ranking of top-grossing worldwide entertainers for 2019 and finds four celebs who either live in or are from Houston on the list.

Here are the lucky and loaded four who are the sole Texans on the Forbes Celebrity 100.

Beyoncé
Queen Bey actually ties with her hubby, Jay-Z, at No. 20 — Forbes estimates she earned a cool $81 million. Beyoncé’s and Jay-Z’s On the Run tour was a cash cow, earning $5 million a night for a total of more than $250 million. In April, Beyoncé launched a partnership with Adidas to relaunch her activewear line, Ivy Park—meaning even more green for the Ivy queen.

Travis Scott
The H-Town rapper and unabashed Astrodome fanboy comes in at No. 39, with $58 million in earnings. Scott’s Astroworld debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 100 chart, and his Astroworld: Wish You Were Here supporting tour (which boasted a Ferris wheel and working roller coaster) grossed more than $65 million. Scott is known for spreading the love; he donated merchandise profits from his Hangout Music Festival to Planned Parenthood.

Russell Westbrook
Soon-to-be Newstonian Westbrook, who was just traded to the Houston Rockets, scores at No. 52, with total earnings of $53.7 million. In 2017, Westbrook signed a five-year extension with the Oklahoma Thunder worth $205 million, the league's biggest-ever contract in terms of total value. Westbrook, who is gritty on the court and flashy off of it, is well known for his interest in fashion; his Honor the Gift clothing line benefits Los Angeles' Inner-City Arts charity.

James Harden
Houston’s reigning NBA superstar and fearless beard comes in at No. 64, with a total of $47.7 million in earnings. In 2017, Harden signed a four-year extension worth $171 million; it runs through 2022-23 and will pay $47 million in its final year.

Adidas made Harden one of the faces of its NBA campaign after signing him to a 13-year deal in 2015 that can be worth as much as $200 million. He partnered with Amazon to share his workout products, which include endorsement partners like Adidas and BodyArmor.

Honorable mention: Chris Paul
Interestingly, Paul, who was just traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Westbrook, comes in at No. 72, with a total of $43.8 million in earnings. Let the records show that it pays to play for the Houston Rockets.

To calculate the big winners, the Forbes global Celebrity 100 ranks "front-of-the-camera" stars around the globe using their pretax earnings from June 1, 2018 through June 1, 2019. (That’s, of course, before deducting fees for managers, lawyers, and agents. It all goes so fast — just ask CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler.)

Forbes figures are based on numbers from Nielsen Music, Pollstar, IMDB, NPD BookScan, and ComScore, and also interviews with industry experts and many of the stars themselves.

So who’s the No. 1 grossing entertainer of 2019? That honor goes to Taylor Swift; Tay-Tay raked in a whopping $185 million in earnings.

lists celebrities reports

taking it to the streets

Houston charity's gifts 66 wheelchair-accessible vans to needy families

Houston Mayor John Whitmire, Houston Children’s Charity President and CEO Laura S. Ward, and Texas First Lady Cecilia Abbott in front of a gifted wheelchair accessible vans.

Photo provided by Houston Children's Charity

A fleet of wheelchair accessible vans were handed out Tuesday at the Post Oak Hotel

More than 60 underprivileged children will now have wheelchair-accessible vans thanks to a nearly $4 million giveaway by the Houston Children's Charity on Tuesday.

“Our mission is to provide life-altering programs and support to underserved children across Houston,” said Laura S. Ward, Houston Children’s Charity President and CEO, “We are honored to be able to empower these families facing daunting challenges by providing them the transportation necessary to not only attend medical and physical therapy appointments but go on road trips, the parks, or on other adventures with their entire family.”

The 66 vans (known as Chariots), allow users to easily enter and exit the vehicles, making transportation much easier. Many families struggle to afford such vans, which can cost up to $80,000. Often, families resort to crowdfunding to acquire one. The vans can vastly improve the quality of life for wheelchair users, thanks to increased travel options.

The gift is the largest the Houston Children's Charity has ever coordinated. To date, they have handed out 438 Chariots. The Fant Foundation, a Houston-based organization founded in 1994 to improve living conditions for disadvantaged people, provided 30 of the vehicles.

The Gift of Mobility event featured a who's who of Texas political powerhouses, including Mayor John Whitmire, Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta, and Texas First Lady Cecilia Abbott, whose husband, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, is a wheelchair user himself.

Houston Children's Charity is one of the city's largest non-profits, serving 3.5 million children since it was founded in 1996. Its programs include A Better Night’s Sleep, which provides new beds and mattresses to children whose families cannot afford them; Back2School, a partnership with the Rod Ryan Show that distributes school supplies; and Family Emergency Fund at Texas Children’s Cancer Center. In 2023, they spent $5.1 million on their various outreach programs and charity work for children in Houston.

Families in need of a van are placed on a waiting list by the Houston Children's Charity until they become available. The next giveaway in 2026 will be funded at HCC’s 28th Annual Gala on October 18. Tickets can be purchased here.

houston children's charity celebrities charity nonprofits