Big Freedia Net Worth (Updated 2023) – Bio Overview

 Big Freedia is an American rapper and musician from New Orleans, Louisiana, who has a net worth of $4 million as of 2023. Her real name is Freddie Ross better known by her stage names Big Freedia, Queen of Bounce, or The Queen Diva. 

Freedia came to popularity when she collaborated with high-profile single Beyonce to record her breakthrough single Formation which later won a Grammy Award. Freedia gained popularity for the popularizing bounce genre of hip-hop music which originally was introduced to the world in her own city of New Orleans in the 1990s.

She started her professional career back in 1999 and began mixing different genes including Alternative Hip Hop, Electro, Dance, Bounce, and EDM. In 2003 Big Freedia entered the music world with the release of her debut studio album Queen Diva. 

But the turning point of her career came in 2014 when she dropped her third studio album Just Be Free which peaked at #28 on the US Heat charts. In addition, she is also known for her appearance in the popular reality television show called Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce in which she was featured from 2013 to 2017.

Apart from having success in the music industry, Freedia also made a name for herself in the entertainment industry when her autobiography God Save the Queen Diva!  was released in July 2015. Big Freedia runs an interior design firm that earned her good fortune and then became the co-writer of the book.

Big Freedia Net Worth 2023:

Early Life:

Big Freedia was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on the 28th of January 1978 in a Christian household. Her father  Freddie Ross Sr. was a truck driver while her mother Vera Ross worked as a hairdresser. Freedia lost her mother in 2014 when she passed away due to cancer. 

She grew up with a younger brother Adam (d. 2018), and a sister named Crystal Ross. Freedia discovered her passion for music from an early age and while growing up she began performing in the choir. She even took piano lessons as a child and says that “music has been always a part of my life“. 

Freedia used to perform in the choir while attending Walter L. Cohen High School in New Orleans. Around the same time, she got an opportunity to work as the choir director. She also discovered her composing and producing skills at the same time. 

Music Career:

Freedia began her career as a background dancer and singer and performed in Katey Red’s show in early 1998. Red is a young drag queen who performed bounce music at a club near the Melpomene Projects which is Freedia’s hometown where she grew up. 

In 1999, Freedia eventually dropped her debut bounce hit single titled An Ha, Oh Yeah. Big Freedia decide to move to Texas for a couple of months in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

During her period in Texas, she also got a chance to raise awareness of the bounce genre and began performing at local events in different places in the city. After coming back to New Orleans Freedia started FEMA Fridays at a local club.

Around this time the rapper started getting recognition from the audience and started booking for local events, parties, nightclubs, strip clubs, and several other occasions. That was the time when Big was performing 24 to 30 times in a single month. 

Career Success:

In 2003, Big Freedia came up with the release of her debut album called  Queen Diva which led her to grab the attention of some high-profile artists such as Beyonce and Drake.

She rose to fame with the 2009 fest-closing event where she got an opportunity to perform with Katey Red and Sissy Nobby. Freedia gained national recognition with her performance at the Bingo Parlour Tent and the 2009 Voodoo Experience. 

Later in 2016, Freedia got an offer from Beyonce to be featured in her Grammy Award-winning breakthrough track called Formation. She then caught the attention of Canadian iconic rapper Drake who asked her to appear in his 2018 hit single Nice For What.

In 2010 Freedia released her Big Freedia Hitz Vol. 1 which was followed by her 3rd album Just Be Free in 2014. The latter album went all the way to number 28 on the US Heat charts. 

Freedia signed her first major deal with Asylum Records and then released her album Third Ward Bounce which earned her a lot of recognition all around the world. 

In 2020, it was announced that Big Freedia is ready to start her tour with Kesha but it was canceled after the world shut down due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

In the following year, she worked as a featured artist in the song Friday by Rebecca Black. In 2022, the singer Beyonce again contacted her to appear in her hit single titled Break My Soul. 

Acting Career:

After amassing good fortune and success in the music industry she was able to make a name for herself in the entertainment industry. So she launched her own show called Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce which started back in 2013 and it ran until 2017.

Her biggest breakthrough singles became the top-rated actual series in a docuseries on the lives of a choirboy-shifted Bounce artist. 

Freedia came with the launch of her own autobiography God Save the Queen Diva! which she co-wrote. That biography is all about her personal story and life and it was released on the 7th of July 2015.

Big made her first TV show appearance with the 2010s late-night show Last Call with Carson Daly. Since then she continued to appear in various reality shows and television series including a cameo in Treme, and then starred in Prince Paul’s Adventurous Musical Journey, and many others.

In 2012 she appeared in the American late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! and then starred in the 2013s show Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, and Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. 

In 2015 Freedia made her appearance in the third installment of the show Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood which earned her fame in the industry. She then continued to appear in more shows like Heart, Baby!, Last Call with Carson Daly, Ridiculousness, The Eric Andre Show, and The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

In 2021 Freedia launched the documentary film Freedia Got a Gun. That same year the reality competition show RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars announced that Freedia would be the guest judge of Season 6 for 2 episodes. She then appeared as a guest judge in Nailed It!

Freedia currently serves on the interior designing company with clientele that included the administration of Ray Nagin when he worked as the mayor of New Orleans. 

Awards & Nominations:

• Freedia earned two Queerty Awards nominations for Twerker of the Year in 2013 and Rising Diva in 2014. 
• In 2011 she received the 22nd GLAAD Media Awards.
• Her outstanding performance also led her to win the Best Hip Hop Artist Award. 

Personal Life:

Big Freedia is quite open and identified herself as a gay male. She had originally expressed that she did not care regarding what pronoun was used to refer to her. Yet, later, she said that her pronoun was “she“.

Freedia started dating Devon and the couple had been in a relationship for more than 14 years. Their relationship ended when Devon proposed to her for marriage but Freedia refused to begin a relationship and left him. 

Roumrs revealed that Big Freedia is a mother of a daughter when Freedia stated in the lyrics of her music that it’s her daughter’s birthday, but there is not any real report available about her child. 

Legal Conflict:

In 2016 Big Freedia was charged with larceny of government accounts after she failed to register her earning sources between the years 2010 and 2014 while still obtaining Section eight housing subsidies. 

At the end of that year, Freedia pled guilty to all charges and was sentenced to three years probation, 35 thousand dollars in preparation, and hundred hours of community service. 

Due to her acceptable behavior, the judge eventually approved her request in 2018 to finish her probation a year earlier. 

Big Freedia Net Worth:

As of 2023, Big Freedia Net Worth is estimated to be around $4 million which makes her one of the wealthiest as well as most recognized female rappers in the country. She rose to fame for popularizing the bounce genre of hip-hop music which actually started in her hometown back in the early 1990s. 

Freedia has collaborated with several popular artists throughout her career and some of the legendary artists Drake and Beyonce also teamed up with her for their tracks.

A large portion of her revenue comes from the music industry like record sales, live concerts, international tours, royalties, merchandising, live streams, and on top of that her appearance on reality shows. 

Some reports revealed that Freedia easily can earn more than $200k annually from her music profession. She has managed to earn a lot of popularity from live shows. Freedia’s per-show salary is between $20 thousand $30 thousand.

On 31st August 2011, she created her self-titled Youtube channel and began posting music videos. Over time she garnered a lot of views on her videos most of her videos have more than a million views.

She collaborated with Diplo and DJ Snake and released the music video which garnered over 7 million views. In addition to YouTube, Freedia is quite active on social media platforms and has more than 1 million fan followers on Instagram alone. 

Key Facts of Big Freedia:

• Freedia was selected by the Beat Awards for the 2011s Best Emerging Artist and Best Hip-Hop/Rap Artist.
• She began performing in the choir while she was still in high school.
• Freedia is known for using different genres such as Bounce, EDM, Electro, Dance, and Alternative Hip Hop. 
• She made a record deals with Asylum Records, Queen Diva, and East-West Records. 
• Freedia likes to dye her hair blonde, pink, platinum, and silver.
• Her Sexual Orientation is gay.
• The ice cream brand named Ben & Jerry’s launched their new flavor which is known as Big Freedia’s Bouncin’ Beignets.
• In 2022, the American Independent Venue Week announced that Big Freedia would be their newest brand ambassador.

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