To the tune of $5.7 mil

Music makes the world go round -- including the world of real estate. Some big transactions of late have involved those in the music industry.

All she might want for Christmas now is a closet the size of a two-bedroom apartment, since Ashlee Simpson recently parted with the humongous one she had in her Encino home. The 700-square-foot closet, and the house that came with it, went for $5.7 million.

The 22-year-old singing sister of pop star Jessica Simpson, 26, made a tidy profit when she sold the 1991 house she bought in 2005 for $4.5 million, records show.

The buyer is Edward Keh, who is from Hawaii, where he owns about a dozen convalescent hospitals. Like Ashlee Simpson, Keh liked the house and its unusually large closet so much that he decided to buy almost immediately after he finished a walk-through.

To borrow from Simpson’s new single, there clearly was a lot of “L.O.V.E.” put into that closet, which is part of the 2,200-square-foot master-bedroom suite. The closet has a washer, dryer and space to hang clothes to drip-dry. The suite occupies the entire second floor of the 9,000-square-foot house. There’s also a meditation room, a gym with skylights and ballet barres, a sauna and a spa for two.

As it turned out, the four-bedroom house on an acre was too big for Simpson, who is away from home much of the time anyway. She made her stage debut this fall in London’s West End, playing Roxie Hart in “Chicago.”

Jory Burton at Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills, had the listing. Anna Isbirian of American Realty Center, Glendale, represented Keh.

Drummer beats path to the Strip

Matt Sorum, former drummer in the rock band Guns N’ Roses, has purchased a ranch-style home in the Sunset Strip area for close to its asking price of $2.7 million.

Let’s hope he doesn’t still have an “Appetite for Destruction” -- the group’s 1987 major-label debut, which earned the band worldwide popularity.

His 2,400-square-foot house, built in 1960, has three bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms, all updated. The home has an open floor plan, cathedral ceilings and wood floors. The kitchen has stainless-steel appliances.

There is a great room and a living room, which opens through French doors to tropical grounds with a koi pond, waterfall, fire pit, spa and sauna. The house also has a steam shower.

Sorum, 46, recently toured as drummer with the group Velvet Revolver and launched a clothing line this month called “Sorum Noche.”

Sorum was represented by Boni Bryant and Joe Reichling of Sotheby’s International Realty, Sunset. Darrell Wallace of Prudential California, John Aaroe, had the listing.

Singer -- but not a gentleman rancher

Charlie Wilson, the husky-voiced “Sexual Healing” singer, and founding member and lead singer for the funk trio the Gap Band, has put his gentleman’s horse ranch near Agua Dulce and Acton on the market at $5.3 million. Wilson is selling because touring keeps him away from home much of the time.

The home, built in 1982, has five bedrooms and six bathrooms in 8,700 square feet. It’s on 20 fenced acres. Features include a main house with two master-bedroom suites, three guesthouses, a pool with a swim-up bar and gazebo, an amphitheater, a 16-seat movie theater, a recording studio, a helipad, a 12-stall barn, two pastures, a hot walker, stone fireplaces, a library and crystal chandeliers.

Wilson has described the Gap Band sound as R&B;, gospel and rock-funk. He also has been working on some albums with Justin Timberlake.

Michael J. Rodgers of Keller Williams Realty, Northridge, has the listing.

A house with hundreds of keys

A Beverly Hills home once owned by the Spanish-born concert pianist Jose Iturbi, who played the instrument in films such as “Anchors Aweigh” during Hollywood’s Golden Age, is listed at $12.5 million.

The house is a 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival and sits on an acre-plus of flat land. All of the interiors were designed by Elsie de Wolfe, who made a name for herself as a widely successful interior decorator. She was hired to do the work by socialite Countess Dorothy di Frasso, the first owner of the house.

Iturbi, an internationally known musician, and his companion, Marion Seabury, preserved the estate after Iturbi bought it in the ‘40s. He died in 1980 at age 84; Seabury’s death precipitated the house sale.

The house has eight bedrooms and 7 1/2 bathrooms in 8,700 square feet. Two of the bedrooms are in his-and-hers master suites connected by a concealed passageway. The estate also has a 20-by-45-foot pool, a sun room and detached guest quarters. Inside the home are many original furnishings plus 11 pianos and two harpsichords that Iturbi owned and played. In the garage, there are two vintage Rolls Royces and a Mercedes. The home buyer will get first pick on buying the contents, which otherwise will be sold after the house.

Geoffrey Lands of Prudential California Realty, Brentwood, has the listing.

ruth.ryon@latimes.com