William Hung has a net worth of $400 thousand. He is a well-known Hong Kong-born American singer and motivational speaker. Hung has accumulated most of his net worth through his career as a singer and motivational speaker.
William Hung Career
William Hung auditioned for American Idol in 2004 performing ‘She Bangs’ by Ricky Martin and after his performance, he signed a contract with Koch Entertainment. He released three albums one selling 200,000 copies, and was the number on the US Indie charts. His second album sold 7,000 copies.
He was still a student when he auditioned for the American Idol Singing Reality show during its third season. He went for the auditions, in 2003, in San Francisco, and when the episode was aired on January 2004 earning him a large following from the audience. The judges laughed at him during his audition and judge Simon Cowell dismissed him for having any talent. He always wanted to make a living out of music and this helped him remain positive. Judges Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul loved his stage positivity.
He gained massive support and set up a fan site by realtor Don Chin and together with his wife Laura, they had over four million hits within a week even on several radio stations.
Hung appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the radio show with Howard Stern, and the late show with David Letterman among others. Hung was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres in her show.
Hung released three albums on the Koch entertainment label after being offered a $25.000 advance in 2004. He performed the album at Golden State Warrior basketball game during halftime but it received very many negative reviews, however, it was number one on billboard’s top independent album chart. His two other albums sold less copies despite him making appearances on the Howard Stan show.
In 2006, Hung was crowned the Artichoke King at the Artichoke festival in Castroville, California.
William Hung retired in 2011. He went on to pursue a job as a technical crime analyst for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
What are the achievements of William Hung?
William Hung released his first Hong Kong comedy movie called ‘Where is Mama’s Boy’ in 2005. He played the role of a young kid who sold Chinese pancakes to settle his mother’s hospital bills.
Hung was in commercials for mobile phone service provider Cingular Wireless and search engine ask.com. In 2004 he sang Take Me Out of the Ballgame at the Rogers Center for Toronto Blue Jays.
Hung also appeared in films like Airline, Arrested Development, and George Lopez. He was featured in national magazines and newspapers on Mad TV, Celebrity Deathmatch, and Saturday Night Live.
Personal life
William Cheung Hung was born on 10th November 1982. He is a Hong Kong-born American. He grew up in the Shan Tin district of British Hong Kong and then moved with his family to Los Angeles, California at the age of 11. He joined the University of California, Berkeley to study civil engineering. He however left college and pursued his career in music. Hung went back to school and completed an MBA from Marist college and a degree in mathematics from California state college.
Hung has been married twice but he divorced his second wife in 2014 acknowledging that his gambling addiction contributed a lot to him losing his marriages.
