Fun Facts That Are

Billy Joel never sells front row tickets. He sends his crew to find real fans in the cheapest seats and moves them to the front row. He was tired of "bored, rich people" staring up at him.

Elvis wanted to record "I Will Always Love You." His manager Colonel Tom Parker called Dolly Parton and said there was one condition - hand over 50% of the publishing rights. Dolly said no. Years later, Whitney Houston covered it for The Bodyguard. Dolly earned over $10 million from that single cover. She later joked she made enough money to buy Graceland.

In 1965, French lawyer André-François Raffray agreed to pay 90-year-old Jeanne Calment a monthly fee for her apartment in Arles — he'd get it when she died. Calment lived to 122 years and 164 days, becoming the oldest verified person in history. Raffray died in 1995 at age 77, having paid more than double the apartment's value. His widow was legally required to keep paying until Calment finally died in 1997.

In 1996, Denise Rossi won $1.3 million in the California lottery. Eleven days later, she filed for divorce from her husband of 25 years to hide the money. Three years later, he found out by accident. A judge ruled she committed fraud and gave him 100% of the winnings. If she had just been honest, she would have kept at least half.

Alan Naiman was a Washington state social worker who earned $67,200 a year. He wore shoes held together with duct tape, bought his clothes at the grocery store, and bragged about going entire days without spending a cent. When he died at 63, his coworkers discovered he had quietly amassed nearly $11 million and left most of it to children's charities.

Red Bull settled a $13 million lawsuit after a customer argued it was no better than coffee. A can has 80mg of caffeine. A cup of coffee has 150mg. Red Bull offered $10 per person to anyone who bought one since 2002. So many people claimed it that the payout dropped to $4.25.

At his peak, T-Pain had $40 million in the bank. He bought a $1.7 million Bugatti. He let his manager invest in real estate properties that were, in his words, "complete dumps." Within a few years, he was so broke he had to borrow money to buy his children Burger King.

Alec Guinness thought so little of Star Wars that he called it "fairy-tale rubbish" and complained "none of the dialogue makes my character clear or even bearable." He negotiated 2.25% of the gross revenue. His roughly 20 minutes of screen time in the original film earned him an estimated $95 million over his lifetime. His estate is believed to still collect royalties.

Jesse Dimmick broke into a Kansas couple's home while fleeing a homicide, held them at knifepoint, then fell asleep. They escaped. He was convicted of kidnapping. Then he sued them for $235,000, claiming they'd made an oral contract to hide him from police. The judge threw it out.

Howard Schultz offered Shaq a Starbucks franchise deal in the late 1990s. Shaq told him: "Black people don't drink coffee, sir. I don't think it's gonna work." Magic Johnson took the deal instead, opened 105 Starbucks in underserved communities, and sold his stake for an estimated $100 million. Shaq calls it his biggest mistake.

In 2009, Wells Fargo held both the first and second mortgage on a Florida condo. When it needed to foreclose, Florida law required it to sue all lien holders, including itself. So Wells Fargo hired one law firm to file the lawsuit against Wells Fargo, and a second law firm to defend Wells Fargo against Wells Fargo.

George Lucas accepted $150,000 to direct Star Wars and waived a $500,000 raise. In exchange, he kept merchandising and sequel rights. Fox thought they were worthless after losing a fortune on Doctor Dolittle merch. Star Wars merchandise has made over $20 billion. Lucas sold to Disney for $4.05 billion.