Rock star Eddie Money has died at 70, TMZ reports.
He died Friday of complications from stage 4 esophageal cancer. In a statement, his family said, “The Money Family regrets to announce that Eddie passed away peacefully early this morning. It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to our loving husband and father. We cannot imagine our world without him. We are grateful that he will live on forever through his music.”
Money learned he had cancer during a routine visit to his doctor in late 2018, but only confirmed the news publicly on August 24, and talked about it on a special episode of his “Real Money” reality series on an episode that aired the night he died.
On the show, Money said, “What I don’t wanna do is I don’t wanna keep the fact that I have cancer from everybody. It’s not honest. I wanna be honest with everybody. I want people to know cancer’s come a long way, and not everybody dies of cancer, like they did in the ’50s and ’60s.”
He went on to say, “Am I gonna live a long time? Who knows? It’s in God’s hands. But you know what? I’ll take every day I can get. Every day above ground is a good day.”
Money had battled other health issues recently, including a heart valve procedure in May and pneumonia in July, neither related to his cancer.
Money was born in Brooklyn on March 21, 1949, into a family filled with police officers. He entered a training program to join the force before moving to Berkeley to seek success as a musician.
A popular draw at local clubs, Money was signed to Columbia and by the late ’70s was a reliable rock hitmaker, with such hits as “Baby Hold On” (#11 in 1978), “Two Tickets to Paradise” (#22 in 1978), “Think I’m in Love” (#16 in 1982), “Shakin'” (#63 in 1982) and his signature tune, “Take Me Home Tonight” (#4 in 1986), which featured Ronnie Spector reprising a portion of her vocal from the 1963 classic “Be My Baby.”
Along with his 27 singles, Money released 12 studio albums, including one in July of this year entitled “Brand New Day”; six compilation albums; three live albumsl and three EPs.
In recent times, Money was a familiar face on a popular GEICO ad. His reality show “Real Money” was in its second season.
He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Laurie, and their five children.
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