View source for Sacha Puttnam: Leaving The Band Bush Was My Big Mistake

Musician Sacha Puttnam's biggest money mistake was leaving rock band Bush before they made it big and sold 50million records. <br>The son of award-winning film producer Lord Puttnam was a teenager at boarding school when his father made Chariots Of Fire. After leaving Bush, he wrote and scored music for numerous prestigious films. <br>Sacha spoke to Donna Ferguson from his home in West London. His new album with the Classical Film Orchestra, Spirit Of The Cinema, is out now.<br>         Hope: Sacha Puttnam says royalties are his pension<br>What did your parents teach you about money?<br>That it is a lubricant. You use it to educate yourself and get more work. My father had a photography business before he became a film producer, so I grew up surrounded by models and photographers. <br>Mum looked after us children. She was only 17 and my dad was 20 when they had my sister - I think my parents had a shotgun marriage. Money was tight. We never went without a meal but were taught not to use the phone or the heating when we didn't need to. They were frugal.<br>   RELATED ARTICLES  [# Previous] [# 1] [# Next]     [/money/meandmymoney/article-9088953/Piers-Linney-sold-home-Brexit-vote.html  'I sold my home after the Brexit vote': Dragons' Den star...] [/money/meandmymoney/article-9070453/Sarah-Beeny-spent-70-000-land-camping-trip.html  Sarah Beeny tells ME AND MY MONEY how she spent £70,000 on...] [/money/meandmymoney/article-9046199/Michael-Xaviers-best-payday-Sunset-Boulevard.html  West End star Michael Xavier tells ME AND MY MONEY how he...] [/money/meandmymoney/article-8996075/ME-MONEY-Big-Brother-star-invests-property.html  ME AND MY MONEY: I was in the Big Brother house, now I've...]     Share this article Share      HOW THIS IS MONEY CAN HELP    [  What you need to know each week: Listen to the This is Money podcast]     When did their financial situation change?<br>It was around the time my father produced the film Midnight Express. My parents suddenly had different friends who advised I should be sent to boarding school at 13, which I hated. I also felt abandoned because I was in England and my parents were 5,000 miles away in Los Angeles. It changed me. It was a defining moment of my life.<br>By the time dad was producing Chariots Of Fire, we were living in Queen's Gate Place Mews in South Kensington where the average property today is worth around £3million. <br>My father is now in the House of Lords. He had a fantastic time making films so I think my mum probably misses the glamour of the film industry a little bit. <br>But he's a good lord and the position could not have gone to a better person - his wisdom is quite staggering. He attends debates as well - his record is superb. I think there's a lot of peers who don't turn up and I know that bugs him.<br>         Sacha Puttnam playing with band Bush in 2001<br>Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?<br>Yes - in the mid-1990s when I was in my early 30s. For years, I'd been working as a musician in a band with my best friend Gavin Rossdale.<br>We had managed to get a record deal when we were 19 and spent our early 20s touring the world. But there was a moment when it seemed we weren't getting anywhere. <br>So in 1988, I left the band and went to study music in America. That band went on to become Bush and sell 50million albums. Meanwhile, I found myself freelancing and struggling to make ends meet. I would get paid per bar of music I wrote and sometimes I'd earn just £100 per job.<br>Once, I had literally a fiver to last me all weekend. I went to Sainsbury's and picked out a tin of its own brand baked beans, a loaf of bread and a dozen eggs. And that saw me through until Monday.<br>Have you ever been paid silly money?<br>Absolutely not. I never earned silly money with Bush because I jumped ship too early. I did go on [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-chua-huong-dong-huong-tich-ha-noi-tour-du-lich-le-hoi-chua-huong-tu-ha-noi.html Tour Chùa Hương] with the band and played keyboards for about four years, but I was always a hired hand.<br>The silliest money I ever earned was for composing and producing some music for a French film. Two years later, I got an unexpected cheque for £5,000 on top of the fee I had been paid.<br>The film had been on general release and the Performing Rights Society had collected royalties on my behalf. I used them to pay down my overdraft.<br>What was the best year of your financial life?<br>It was 2003. For the first half of the year I toured with Bush and because they paid my hotel bills and I often ate with the band, I didn't have to pay for much myself. It meant I could save my 'per diems'. <br>Then, when I came back, I got commissioned to write and produce the music for a couple of big commercials. Finally, that was the year I got a record deal with EMI for an album called Remasterpiece.<br>         Sacha and his wife have a two-bedroom house in West London<br>The most expensive thing you bought for fun?<br>My piano. It's a Steck upright felt piano and cost about £3,000. It has this lovely soft sound which, when it's recorded, is very contemporary.<br>What is your biggest money mistake?<br>Leaving Bush in 1988. Obviously that was a terrible decision. By 1994, Bush was the number one band in America, Australia and South America. If I had stayed, I would have made millions. Instead, I started touring with them in 1999 for £900 a month.<br>The best money decision you have made?<br>Without a shadow of a doubt, marrying my wife. As soon as I married her, my income increased considerably. She's my agent and she's not scared of having difficult conversations about money.<br>Do you save into a pension?<br>No. My royalties will be my pension. What I try to do is make sure my work is good and the [http://www.savethestudent.org/?s=paperwork paperwork] is tied up tight so I get paid the royalties I'm owed. I agree with something my mother used to say to me: you've got to live your life like you're running from a hungry lion. I would rather enjoy the present than worry about getting old. Given everything that's going on now, I'm thankful I'm still alive.<br>Do you invest directly in the stock market?<br>No. I wouldn't know where to start. I don't understand it. It's not for me.<br>Do you own any property?<br>Yes, my wife and I have a lovely two-bedroom house in West London which I reckon is worth about £700,000. My wife bought it five years ago and I'd estimate it's gone up around £200,000 in value since then. There's a little studio in the garden which is where I record my music.<br>If you were Chancellor, what would you do?<br>I would increase funding in the arts to ensure everyone has access to music and  [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-chua-huong-dong-huong-tich-ha-noi-tour-du-lich-le-hoi-chua-huong-tu-ha-noi.html Chùa Hương] the creative arts. I would also funnel money into arts education, giving children - who are our future - the opportunity to participate, whatever their circumstances.<br>What is your number one financial priority?<br>To be happy and earn enough for me and my wife to live on. 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