Eddie Money

Edward Joseph Mahoney (March 21, 1949 – September 13, 2019), known professionally as Eddie Money, was an American rock singer and songwriter who had success in the 1970s and 1980s with 11 Top 40 songs including "Baby Hold On", "Two Tickets to Paradise", "Think I'm in Love", "Shakin'", "Take Me Home Tonight", "I Wanna Go Back", "Walk on Water", and "The Love in Your Eyes". Money was known as a working-class rocker[3] with a husky voice.[1] In 1987, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Take Me Home Tonight".[4]

Not to be confused with Eddie Mooney.

Eddie Money
Money in 2013
Born
Edward Joseph Mahoney

(1949-03-21)March 21, 1949[1][2]
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedSeptember 13, 2019(2019-09-13) (aged 70)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation
  • Singer-songwriter
  • multi-instrumentalist
Years active1974–2019
Spouse(s)
Margo Lee Walker
(
m. 1984)
Laurie Harris
(
m. 1989)
Children5
Musical career
OriginBerkeley, California
Genres
InstrumentsVocals
Labels
Associated acts
Websitewww.eddiemoney.com

Early life

Edward Joseph Mahoney was born into a large family of Irish Catholics in Brooklyn. His parents were Dorothy Elizabeth (née Keller), a homemaker, and Daniel Patrick Mahoney, a police officer.[3][5][6] He grew up in Levittown, New York,[2] on Long Island,[7] but also spent some teenage years in Woodhaven, Queens.[8] Money was a street singer since the age of 11.[3] As a teenager, he played in rock bands, in part to get dates from cheerleaders.[2] He was thrown out of one high school for forging a report card.[1] In 1967, he graduated from Island Trees High School.[3]

At the age of 18, he tried to follow in the footsteps of his police officer grandfather, father, and brother as a New York City Police Department trainee.[9] However, after working as a clerk and typist, he left in 1968 to pursue a career in music,[1] as the police did not allow him to grow his hair long.[2] “I couldn’t see myself in a police uniform for 20 years of my life, with short hair,” he later said.[9] His bandmates also fired him because they did not want a police officer in the group.[3] His father was not happy with the decision to play music and tore the Jimi Hendrix posters from his wall.[2]

In 1968, Money moved to Berkeley, California.[10] There, he studied with vocal coach Judy Davis, and took on the stage name Eddie Money, dropping a few letters from his name and sarcastically referencing the fact that he was always broke.[2] He supported himself by selling bell-bottoms.[2]

Career

Music career
Money, center, in 1990

Money became a regular performer at clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area.[11] After gaining the attention of Bill Graham,[1] he secured a recording contract with Columbia Records, releasing his debut album in 1977. He charted with singles such as "Baby Hold On" and "Two Tickets to Paradise", about visiting his girlfriend despite not having money.[2][12]

In 1978, Money opened for Santana at Boston's Music Hall.[3] The following year, he sang the bridge section on "I'm Alright", a song written and performed by Kenny Loggins. In 2014, Money claimed that Loggins had never given him credit for his contribution.[13]

In 1982, Money took advantage of the MTV music video scene with his humorous narrative videos for "Think I'm in Love", performed at The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, and "Shakin'".[2] In the early 1980s, he appeared on The Midnight Special, Fridays, and Solid Gold.[14] In 1978 and 1984, he appeared on American Bandstand.[15]

Money's career began to decline following an unsuccessful 1983 album (Where's the Party?) and struggles with drug addiction.[16] However, he made a comeback in 1986 with the album Can't Hold Back, which received a music recording certification of platinum.[17] "Take Me Home Tonight", a single from the album, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.[18] Money only agreed to perform the song—which included a line from "Be My Baby", a song Ronnie Spector performed as part of The Ronettes—after Spector agreed to sing the line herself.[8] In 1987, Money was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Take Me Home Tonight".[1] "I Wanna Go Back" and "Endless Nights"—two other singles from the Can't Hold Back album—peaked at No. 14 and No. 21, respectively.[16]

In 1988, Money released Nothing to Lose, which featured the Top 10 hit "Walk on Water" and the Top 40 hit "The Love in Your Eyes".[19]

Beginning in 1992, Money opened the summer concert season for DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan.[20] In 1996, he wrote the theme music to Quack Pack, a Disney cartoon.[21]

Money was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2008.[7] In January 2010, he performed a medley of his hit singles during the halftime performance at the Liberty Bowl.[22]

Money wrote and performed original songs for the films Americathon (1979), Over the Top, Back to the Beach (both 1987), and Kuffs (1992), along with the television series Hardball (1989–1990).[23]

On May 10, 2019, Money released the track "Brand New Day" as the lead single off of his album of the same name.[24] It was originally set to be released on July 19, 2019,[25] but was postponed following the announcement of Money's illness and subsequent death. Eventually, it was announced that the album would be released April 17, 2020.

In the three days following Money's death, fans streamed "Take Me Home Tonight" more than 3.1 million times, which was an increase of 349 percent compared to the previous three-day period. Fans also streamed his other songs by 931 percent more than the three previous days.[18]

Television, film, and radio career

Money made several screen appearances.[26]

In 1997, he appeared in Wonderland, a documentary film about Levittown, New York, where Money went to high school. In the film, he said if he had "two tickets to paradise, I'd probably get back to Levittown".[27]

Money played a fictionalized version of himself on a 1999 episode of Season 5 of The Drew Carey Show. In the episode, he had been Mimi's first husband early in his career and they never made their divorce official.[28] In May 2002, he played himself on an episode of the sitcom The King of Queens.[29]

In October 2011, Money became the host of “Money in the Morning”, a radio show on WSRV. The gig lasted about three months.[30] He appeared in a 2012 GEICO insurance commercial in which he is depicted as a travel agency owner who sings "Two Tickets to Paradise" to a family that wants tickets for a vacation.[2]

In January 2016, Money joined forces with Howard Perl Entertainment,[31] MTV VJ Nina Blackwood[32], and Hard Rock Rocksino to produce "Money for the Animals"[33], a show designed to raise funds and adopt rescue animals in need.

In 2018, Money appeared in episode 6 of The Kominsky Method as a fictionalized version of himself who is indebted to the Internal Revenue Service and portrays the character "Freddie Money" in an eponymous tribute act at a casino to avoid further tax problems.[34]

On April 8, 2018, Real Money, a reality television series about Money and his family, debuted on AXS TV.[35] An episode sharing his cancer diagnosis aired on AXS TV the day before he died. The show's second season was expected to follow Money's "journey as he tells his family about the disease and undergoes treatment."[36]

Personal life and death

In 1980, after drinking vodka, Money overdosed on a synthetic barbiturate that he mistook for cocaine. He suffered damage to the sciatic nerve on his left leg, was unable to walk for months, and had a permanent limp thereafter.[1][11][37][3]

On Valentine's Day 1984 in Moraga, California, Money married Margo Lee Walker, a 24-year-old student from Los Angeles. He and his bride tried to keep the wedding private, "but a crowd of screaming teenage fans showed up."[38]

Money married Laurie Harris in 1989.[39] Together, they had five children: Zachary, Jessica, Joseph, Julian, and Desmond.[37] They were married for 30 years and had renewed their vows three months prior to his death.[40]

In March 2000, Money purchased a home in Westlake Village, California, where he lived with his family until his death.[41] At one point in the early 2000s, Money also had a home in Island Estates, a gated community in Palm Coast, Florida, which he called "my place to play golf, be creative, go fishing, go surfing and have fun".[42]

In 2001, Money joined a twelve-step program to deal with his drinking and made a promise to his wife and children that he would change. In 2003, he reported that he was clean and sober.[37]

In July 2019, Money underwent heart valve surgery and contracted pneumonia, causing him to cancel tour dates. Money had been a cigarette smoker for years.[7] On August 24, 2019, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer.[43] Complications from the cancer resulted in his death in a Los Angeles hospital on September 13, 2019, at age 70.[36][11][44]

Discography
Main article: Eddie Money discography

Studio albums

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References
  1. Hall, Kristin M. (September 13, 2019). "Eddie Money, 'Two Tickets to Paradise' singer, dies at 70". Associated Press.
  2. Smith, Harrison (September 13, 2019). "Eddie Money, singer behind 'Take Me Home Tonight' and 'Two Tickets to Paradise,' dies at 70". The Washington Post.
  3. Genzlinger, Neil. "Eddie Money, 'Two Tickets to Paradise' Singer, Is Dead at 70". The New York Times.
  4. Bertram, Scot. "Eddie Money, the Slightly Undersold Rock Artist". National Review. National Review. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  5. Newman, Jason (April 25, 2018). "Eddie Money Talks New Reality Show and Why He'll Never Retire". Rolling Stone.
  6. "Music Interview: Eddie Money". Alibi.com.
  7. Guzmán, Rafer (September 13, 2019). "Reports: LI-raised rocker Eddie Money has died". Newsday.
  8. Stetler, Carrie (February 20, 1987). "With His Career Recharged, Eddie Money Can't Hold Back". The Morning Call.
  9. Fitz-Gibbon, Jorge; Italiano, Laura (September 14, 2019). "NYPD clears up Eddie Money cop mystery". New York Post.
  10. Beals, Melba (June 9, 1980). "Ten Years After He Threw the Book at Him, a Besieged Judge Finds He Can Bank on Rocker Eddie Money". People.
  11. Halperin, Shirley (September 13, 2019). "Eddie Money, 'Two Tickets to Paradise' Singer, Dies at 70". Variety.
  12. "Eddie Money Chart History". Billboard.
  13. Cain, Tim (March 20, 2014). "Eddie Money vs. Kenny Loggins". Herald & Review.
  14. "R.I.P. Eddie Money, hit-making rocker of the 1970s and '80s". MeTV. September 13, 2019.
  15. "American Bandstand Season 27 Episode 19". TV.com.
  16. Rutherford, Kevin. "Rewinding the Charts: In 1986, Eddie Money & Ronnie Spector Staged a Comeback With 'Take Me Home Tonight'". Billboard.
  17. "Eddie Money, Starship featuring Mickey Thomas to land in Catoosa". Claremore Daily Progress. September 22, 2017.
  18. Caulfield, Keith. "Eddie Money's 'Take Me Home Tonight' Streamed Over 3 Million Times in U.S. Since His Death". billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  19. Radenhausen, Jim (May 18, 2017). "'Can't Hold Back' when Eddie Money takes the stage at Mount Airy". Pocono Record.
  20. Graham, Adam (September 13, 2019). "Eddie Money, longtime fixture at Pine Knob/DTE, dies". The Detroit News.
  21. Correspondent, TOM LOUNGES Times. "Money's still rockin' after all these years". nwitimes.com. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  22. Snyder, Whitney (January 2, 2010). "Eddie Money's Liberty Bowl Halftime Show Performance VIDEO: 'Two Tickets To Paradise'". HuffPost.
  23. Terrace, Vincent (2015). The Television Crime Fighters Factbook: Over 9,800 Details from 301 Programs, 1937–2003 (illustrated ed.). McFarland. p. 60. ISBN 978-1476611433.
  24. "Hear Eddie Money's "Brand New Day" from His First New Studio Album in 15 Years". Classics Du Jour. May 10, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  25. "EDDIE MONEY Returns With 'Brand New Day' July 19". MelodicRock.com. May 13, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  26. "Eddie Money". TV Guide.
  27. "A Suburban Safari". New York. October 27, 1997.
  28. "Eddie Money – History". EddieMoney.com. Eddie Money.
  29. Shay, Jim (May 10, 2018). "Rock headliner announced for Milford Oyster Festival". Connecticut Post.
  30. Ruggieri, Melissa (September 13, 2019). "Eddie Money has died at 70". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  31. Niesel, Jeff. "Eddie Money to Headline Rock & Roll to the Rescue Benefit (Part 2)". Cleveland Scene. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  32. "Ex-MTV VJ @NinaBlackwood Hosts Benefit @HRRocksinoNP for Geauga County Rescue Village". CoolCleveland. November 3, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  33. Niesel, Jeff. "Eddie Money to Headline Rock & Roll to the Rescue Benefit (Part 2)". Cleveland Scene. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  34. ""The Kominsky Method" Chapter 6: A Daughter Detoxes". IMDb.com. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  35. DesOrmeau, Taylor (May 14, 2018). "Eddie Money headlines classic rock show at Jackson County Fair". Booth Newspapers.
  36. Williams, Janice (September 13, 2019). "What Was Eddie Money's Cause of Death? Musician Dead at 70 Years Old". Newsweek.
  37. Kappes, Serena (January 13, 2003). "Eddie Money now clean and sober". CNN. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011.
  38. "Wedding News". United Press International. February 15, 1984.
  39. "Eddie Money profile". People. June 17, 1996.
  40. Kietty, Martin. "Eddie Money Renewed Marriage Vows Months Before He Died Read More: Eddie Money Renewed Marriage Vows Months Before He Died". ultimateclassicrock.com. UCR. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  41. "Take a peek at Eddie Money's family, Westlake home". Ventura County Star. April 3, 2018.
  42. Bruce, Matt (September 13, 2019). "Eddie Money, famed rocker and former Flagler County resident, dies at 70". The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
  43. Vera, Amir (August 24, 2019). "Rocker Eddie Money announces he has esophageal cancer". CNN.
  44. Kreps, Daniel (September 13, 2019). "Eddie Money, 'Take Me Home Tonight' and 'Baby Hold On' Hitmaker, Dead at 70". Rolling Stone.
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