Eddie Money

Eddie Money
Money performing at GateCon in 2008
Background information
Birth name	Edward Joseph Mahoney
Born	March 21, 1949 (1949-03-21)
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Genres	Rock, pop rock, hard rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, saxophone, harmonica, keyboards, Synthesizer
Years active	1974–present
Labels	Columbia, Warrior
Website	EddieMoney.com

Not to be confused with Eddie Mooney.

Eddie Money (born Edward Joseph Mahoney, March 21, 1949 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American rock guitarist, saxophonist and singer-songwriter who found success in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of Top 40 hits and platinum albums. Rock impresario Bill Graham said of Money "Eddie Money has it all...Not only can he sing, write and play, but he is a natural performer."

Money originally followed his father's footsteps and became a police officer in the late 1960s. As his interest in music intensified, he eventually ended his law enforcement career in favor of becoming a full time musician. He moved to Berkeley, California and became a regular at area clubs, where he eventually got enough attention to secure a recording contract with Columbia Records. Later in the 1970s, he charted with singles such as "Baby Hold On" and "Two Tickets to Paradise". Money continued his successes and took advantage of the MTV music video scene in the early 1980s with his humorous narrative videos for "Shakin'" and "Think I'm in Love", but his career began to fail him after several unsuccessful releases in the mid-1980s, accompanied by his struggles with drug addiction.

Money made a comeback two years later in 1986 and returned to the mainstream rock spotlight with the album Can't Hold Back, which featured a Ronnie Spector duet with "Take Me Home Tonight", which reached the Top 10, along with the hit "I Wanna Go Back". Money followed the album with another Top 10 hit, late 1988's "Walk on Water", but his Top 40 career ended following the #21 placement of "I'll Get By" in 1992. During the 1990s and 2000s, Money continued to release numerous compilation albums along with several albums featuring new material. Today, he still tours the "Oldies" circuit regularly, often accompanied by other successful rock acts from his era, and has also made several television appearances on American sitcoms. Since 1992, Money has traditionally opened the summer concert season for DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan.

Early years

Eddie Money was born Edward Mahoney into a large Irish Catholic family in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island. He attended Island Trees High School in Levittown, New York. His father, grandfather and brother were all New York City Police Department (NYPD) policemen and Eddie was an NYPD trainee and a police officer for two years.

Musical career

Money performing in Hallandale, Florida.

Mahoney left the NYPD to pursue a musical career and moved to Berkeley, California in 1968. He made his splash with the Berkeley band, The Rockets, which included future Eddie Money band members John Nelson and Chris Solberg.

According to an article in the Portland Times, Eddie Money changed his name from Mahoney in 1972 as a "laugh" prompted by a then current girlfriend, in that he had no money and was living on food stamps.

In 1976, after meeting promoter Bill Graham, he released his first album, the eponymous Eddie Money, in 1977. It reached #37 on the charts, and contained two of his most memorable hits, "Baby Hold On" and "Two Tickets to Paradise". Both songs entered the top 40. The next year he followed up with his second album, Life for the Taking, which had more of a pop–disco sound. The album charted higher at #17, but neither of its two singles, "Can't Keep a Good Man Down" and "Maybe I'm a Fool", entered the top 20.

Two years later in 1980, Money released his third album, Playing for Keeps. The album only reached #35 in the United States and yielded no Top 40 singles. Two years later, he released No Control, which included the hits "Shakin'", "Think I'm In Love", and "Take A Little Bit". The album hit #20 in the United States.

Trying to duplicate the success of No Control, Money released Where's the Party in 1983. This album featured the songs "Big Crash", "Club Michelle" and "Leave It To Me". It became his lowest charting album to date at #67, which now makes it hard to find and a collectible album.^{[citation needed]} A second comeback for Money came in the form of Can't Hold Back in 1986, which featured the single "Take Me Home Tonight", featuring Ronnie Spector, that reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other songs include "Wanna Go Back", "Endless Nights", and "We Should Be Sleeping". The album later went platinum.

In the late 1980s, the single "Walk on Water", from his 1988 album Nothing to Lose, became a top ten hit. The album also featured the songs "Forget About Love" and "The Love In Your Eyes". Subsequent releases by Money have often failed to chart.

Television appearances

Money appeared in an episode of the CBS sitcom The King Of Queens, when Doug, Deacon, and Arthur hire Money to play a personal concert for just the three of them in Doug's living room.

He made an appearance in The Drew Carey Show, as the former husband of Mimi Bobeck.

He also appeared on Don't Forget The Lyrics! on December 5, 2008, with his daughter Jesse Money, raising money for charity.

On January 2, 2010, he performed "Two Tickets to Paradise" and "Shakin'" during halftime of college football's Liberty Bowl.

Soundtrack appearances

"Two Tickets to Paradise" has been featured in numerous forms of media including video games, television, and movies. It was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the radio station K-DST in 2004, and also in an episode of The Simpsons, to which Homer remarks "excellent guitar riff". It also appeared in the reality show Paradise Hotel and in the film Operation Situation: Code Name Kill.

"Baby Hold On" was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories on the radio station Emotion 98.3 in 2006 and in the 2010 film A Little Help.

"Shakin'" is featured in the Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s game.

Two of Money's songs ("Get A Move On" and "Open Up Your Heart") were featured in the movie Americathon. While both appear on the vinyl release of the motion picture soundtrack album, the ballad "Open Up Your Heart" does not seem to have ever been released on CD or on any of Money's collections.

His song "Think I'm In Love" is featured in both Joe Dirt (2001) as well as Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009), starring his friend Kevin James.

"Take Me Home Tonight" is featured in Saturday Night Live sketch turned movie "MacGruber" (2010).

The Groomsmen, a 2006 movie directed and starring Ed Burns, John Leguizamo, Matthew Lillard, Jay Mohr, and Donal Logue, is an indie movie where the five reunite for Ed's character's wedding, and relive their high school days by playing "Shakin'", featuring John Leguizamo on vocals.

He performed the song "Roll It Over" as the theme to the 1989 TV series Hardball.

Personal life

Eddie Money and his wife Laurie live in Westlake Village, California and have five children, one daughter and four sons, all musically inclined.

Money's daughter Jesse Money appeared on the 2008 MTV reality competition Rock the Cradle, coming in last. She also toured with Money in 2008–2009, performing as his opening act, as well as singing backing vocals throughout his show, including the Ronnie Spector part on "Take Me Home Tonight."

Discography

Main article: Eddie Money discography

• Eddie Money (1977)
• Life for the Taking (1978)
• Playing for Keeps (1980)
• No Control (1982)
• Where's the Party? (1983)
• Can't Hold Back (1986)
• Nothing to Lose (1988)
• Right Here (1991)
• Love and Money (1995)
• Ready Eddie (1999)
• Wanna Go Back (2007)

External links

• Official website
• Eddie Money at Allmusic
• Eddie Money at VH1
• Eddie Money at Rolling Stone at the Wayback Machine (archived March 12, 2008)
• Eddie Money at the Internet Movie Database
• MelodicRock.com interview
• Rock N Roll Universe interview
• Review of Wanna Go Back CD
• Eddie Money Music at Wolfgangsvault