Eddie Money
Edward Joseph Money (né Mahoney; March 21, 1949 – September 13, 2019) was an American singer and songwriter who, in the 1970s and 1980s, had eleven 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", "Endless Nights", "Walk on Water", and "The Love in Your Eyes". Critic Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times called him a working-class rocker.[3] 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
September 13, 2019 (aged 70)
- Singer
- songwriter
- multi-instrumentalist
1970s–2019
5
- Columbia
- Warrior
Early life[edit]
Edward Joseph Mahoney was born in Manhattan, New York City on March 21, 1949, to a large family of Irish Catholic descent. 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][7] but spent some teenage years in Woodhaven, Queens, New York City.[8] Money was a street singer from the age of eleven.[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 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 his 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 two letters from his last name and sarcastically referring to the fact that he was always broke (some people called him "Eddie no money").[2]
Personal life and death[edit]
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][36][3]
On Valentine's Day 1984 in Moraga, California, Money married Margo Lee Walker, a student from Los Angeles. Money and his bride tried to keep the wedding private, "but a crowd of screaming teenage fans showed up."[37]
Money married Laurie Harris in 1989.[38] Together, they had five children: Zachary, Jessica, Joseph, Julian, and Desmond.[36] They were married for 30 years and had renewed their vows three months before his death.[39]
In March 2000, Money purchased a home in Westlake Village, California, where he lived with his family.[40] 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".[41]
In 2001, Money joined a 12-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.[36]
Money — who had been a cigarette smoker for years — developed pneumonia following a minimally invasive heart valve replacement surgery in July 2019, causing him to cancel tour dates.[7] On August 24, 2019, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer;[42] he died of complications from the cancer at Keck Hospital of USC in Los Angeles on September 13, 2019, at age 70.[34][11][43][44] A year later, his family filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful death against the hospital, with an additional allegation of medical malpractice.[44]
Studio albums
