Eddie Money

File this under I'll bet you know but Eddie Money has died.

It's so strange that it's becoming something we're slowly getting used to. The passing of our musical heroes. Prince, David Bowie, Tom Petty, Luther Vandross, and sadly there are more.

I've always said wait until Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Robert Plant...I've also always said that I wish people no harm but we're going to lose our collective minds behind all that. My father always said to me that dying was part of living.

But still.

I was a brand new DJ in Baltimore when I went to see this new singer in a small venue. He was great. His name? Eddie Money. It was the first time I saw a concert as someone who played the music.

When I was on the air in Chicago, WLUP-The Loop, I saw Eddie again. I told him I saw him in the Marble Bar in Baltimore years before. He casually said, "I remember that night." With wide eyes I asked him did he recall every show he'd ever performed. "No," he laughed, "I remember that show because I met a girl at the after-party and we went back to my room." "I'll bet that happens a lot," I said.

With a sly grin and in that New York accent Eddie replied, "I do my share of pushups."

I've been telling that story for years.

Rock and roll, for me, has been around forever.  Lines like, 'hope I die before I get old' and 'when I'm 64' are like second nature to me and everyone else. Is it weird that when I see a grandfather in a Pink Floyd t-shirt I don't think it's weird?

'Just like Ronnie said.'

Eddie and Ronnie

When Take Me Home Tonight seemed to be everywhere my sister Karen, who loved the song, mentioned something to me. With Ronnie Spector gyrating and singing in the video she said that it was strange to see Eddie pick up a saxophone. And as she said pretend to play it. I pointed out that like Bowie Eddie actually played the sax.

"Oh."

Eddie Money, whose real last name was Mahoney, had a father who was a cop. He was supposed to follow in his footsteps but gave it up for music.

I speak for a lot of people in saying I'm glad he did.

Turn on Sirius/XM or Classic Rock stations and wait. You'll hear him.

Rest In Peace Eddie Money.




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