Eddie Money
Eddie Money (born Edward Joseph Mahoney, March 21, 1949) is an American rock singer-songwriter who found success in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of Top 40 hits and platinum albums. His musical style is characterized by his recognizable vocals and memorable melodies, and his numerous MTV music videos during the 1980s.
After becoming a police officer, like his father, during the late 1960s,[1] Money began to be interested in music, and eventually ended his law enforcement career in favor of becoming a 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 when "I'll Get By" charted 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.Contents [hide] 1 1960s 2 1970s 3 1980s 4 Money in the media 5 Discography 5.1 Studio albums 5.2 Compilation and specialty albums 5.3 Singles 6 References 7 External links
[edit] 1960s
Eddie Money attended Island Trees High School in Levittown, New York where he graduated in 1967.[2]
[edit] 1970s
Eddie Money 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 featured more of a pop/disco sound to keep up with the trends of the late 1970s. 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.
[edit] 1980s
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 a hard to find and collectible CD. A second comeback for Money came in the form of Can't Hold Back in 1986, which featured the single "Take Me Home Tonight", co-sung with 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.
[edit] Money in the media
"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. The song also appeared 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.
"Shakin'" is featured in the hit video game series Guitar Hero on the Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s edition.
On an episode of the CBS sitcom The King Of Queens, characters Doug and Deacon hire Money to play a personal concert for just the two of them in Dougs living room. Earlier in the episode, Doug and Deacon had won 5,000 dollars, and in an effort to hide their winnings from their wives, Doug and Deacon set out to spend the winnings quickly and without evidence that they had ever possessed any money. Finally after several steak dinners and other various efforts to quickly burn through the money they had won, the two were out of ideas of how to get rid of the cash. Then, while sitting in an expensive restaurant frequented by celebrities, Doug spots Eddie Money in the restaurant and uses the remainder of the winnings to pay him for a private concert. After Money plays several of his hit songs, Doug realizes that his wife will be home any minute and kicks him out of his house in the middle of the song "Shakin'".
Character Mimi Bobeck on the sitcom The Drew Carey Show claimed to have wed and divorced Money.
Two of Money's songs ("Get A Move On" and "Open Up Your Heart") were prominently 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 the 2009 movie "Paul Blart- Mall Cop", starring his friend Kevin James.
The catchphrase "you're so money" (popularized in the movie Swingers) is a shortened version of the phrase "you're so Eddie Money," which was popular with L.A. hipsters in the early 1990s.
Money's daughter Jesse Money is featured on the MTV series Rock the Cradle, coming in last on the reality competition.[3]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albumsYear Album Billboard 200 RIAA 1977 Eddie Money 37 2× Multi-Platinum 1978 Life for the Taking 17 Platinum 1980 Playing for Keeps 35 — 1982 No Control 20 Platinum 1983 Where's the Party? 67 — 1986 Can't Hold Back 20 Platinum 1988 Nothing to Lose 49 Gold 1991 Right Here 160 — 1995 Love and Money — — 1999 Ready Eddie — — 2007 Wanna Go Back — —
[edit] Compilation and specialty albumsYear Album Billboard 200 RIAA 1989 Greatest Hits: The Sound of Money 53 Gold 1992 Unplug It In — — 1996 Good as Gold — — 1997 Shakin' with the Money Man — — 1997 Super Hits — — 1998 Greatest Hits Live: The Encore Collection — — 2000 Complete Eddie Money Live — — 2001 The Best of Eddie Money — — 2003 The Essential Eddie Money — — Let's Rock and Roll the Place — —
[edit] SinglesYear Single Chart Positions Album US Hot 100 US Main Rock US AC 1978 "Baby Hold On" 11 — — Eddie Money "Two Tickets to Paradise" 22 — — 1979 "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" 72 — — "Maybe I'm a Fool" 22 — — Life for the Taking "Can't Keep a Good Man Down" 63 — — "Get a Move On" 46 — — Playing for Keeps 1980 "Let's Be Lovers Again" 65 — — "Running Back" 78 — — 1982 "Think I'm In Love" 16 1 — No Control "Shakin'" 63 9 — 1983 "The Big Crash" 54 17 — Where's the Party? 1984 "Club Michelle" 66 — — 1986 "Take Me Home Tonight" 4 1 — Can't Hold Back "I Wanna Go Back" 14 3 33 1987 "Endless Nights" 21 10 — "We Should Be Sleeping" 90 18 — 1988 "Walk on Water" 9 2 — Nothin' to Lose 1989 "The Love in Your Eyes" 24 1 — "Let Me In" 60 30 — 1990 "Peace in Our Time" 11 2 34 Greatest Hits: The Sound of Money 1991 "I'll Get By" 21 — 7 Right Here "Heaven in the Back Seat" 58 6 — 1992 "Fall in Love Again" 54 — 16 2008 "Gimme Some Water" (with Vince Gill) — — — single only
