Eddie Money was born Edward Joseph Mahoney on March 21, 1949, in Brooklyn, New York, and raised on Long Island. Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised on Long Island, Money initially pursued a career in law enforcement, working as a New York City police cadet, handling evidence in the property clerk's office for about two years in the late 1960s, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather who were also officers. In 1968 he set that path aside for music, relocating to Berkeley, California, to chase his musical ambitions, performing in local clubs and auditioning for and reportedly briefly performing with the band Big Brother and the Holding Company following Janis Joplin's departure from the group. His break came when Eddie's fate changed when he was introduced to legendary promoter Bill Graham while performing at one of Graham's events, and the two quickly became close, with Graham serving as both a mentor and manager to Money. Graham helped him land a deal with Columbia Records, setting the stage for a career built on gritty, working-class rock and roll.
Money's self-titled debut, released in 1977, became his defining breakthrough. Eddie Money was successful in the U.S., where it was eventually certified double platinum, and its singles were hits on AOR radio, with "Baby Hold On" and "Two Tickets to Paradise" crossing over into the Top 40 format, with the former charting highest at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's songs had been road-tested in front of live crowds, as it features almost entirely original compositions that the band had written and honed during their live performances in Bay Area venues. Guitarist Jimmy Lyon was a key early collaborator, having co-written much of that debut material with Money, and the record remains, as noted by industry sources, Money's highest-selling album. The 1980s brought both triumph and turmoil. Money scored his first number-one single when his single "Think I'm in Love" became his first ever number-one single on Billboard's newly introduced Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1981. But success was shadowed by addiction, and early on he also embraced getting high, and Money overdosed in 1981. He rebounded commercially in 1986 with the album Can't Hold Back, whose hit duet with Ronnie Spector "Take Me Home Tonight," as well as the Top 20 "I Wanna Go Back," made the album a Top Ten smash, re-establishing Money as a successful blue-collar rocker. That single, interpolating the Ronettes' classic "Be My Baby," became his biggest hit, and he followed it with more Top Ten success, since he followed the album in 1988 with Nothing to Lose, which featured the Top Ten "Walk on Water." Across his career Money released eleven studio albums, and collectively, these albums contributed to worldwide sales exceeding 28 million records. By the 1990s his radio dominance faded, but Money remained a durable live draw, spending years touring for devoted fans. He continued recording into the 2000s and kept performing well into the 2010s, and throughout the 2010s, Eddie Money sustained a robust touring presence, performing at numerous venues including casinos and amphitheaters, where he engaged fans with high-energy renditions of his signature songs like "Baby Hold On" and "Shakin'." His career came to a close in 2019, as Money's final public performances occurred in May 2019, with his last concert on May 26 at Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino in Maricopa, Arizona, before health complications prompted the cancellation of remaining tour dates. He died later that year, and his catalog of blue-collar anthems, from "Two Tickets to Paradise" to "Take Me Home Tonight," remains a fixture of classic rock radio and a touchstone of the era's arena-rock sound.
Wayne Dennon captured Eddie Money in concert once, photographing a single show in 2005 during the years he spent documenting live music. That performance lives on through 25 photographs preserved in this archive, images that have drawn 19,175 views from visitors returning again and again to relive the raspy voice, the saxophone breaks, and the blue-collar swagger that made Money a lasting fixture of American rock and roll.
