A publicist for Eddie Money says the rock star has died after he recently announced he had stage 4 esophageal cancer.
Cindy Ronzoni provided a statement from the family saying he died peacefully Friday morning in Los Angeles. He was 70.
The husky-voiced, blue collar performer was known for such hits as “Two Tickets to Paradise” and “Take Me Home Tonight.” In 1987, he received a best rock vocal Grammy nomination for “Take Me Home Tonight,” which featured a cameo from Ronnie Spector.
His family issued a statement about his death: “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,” Variety reported.
In late August, he revealed his cancer diagnosis.
“I thought I was going in for a check-up and [the doctor] told me I have cancer,” Money said, according to Rolling Stone. “We found out that I had cancer and that it was stage 4 and that it was in my liver and my lymph nodes and a little bit in my stomach… It hit me really, really hard.”
Money’s wife Laurie added, “Eddie has been diagnosed with Stage 4 esophageal cancer. It’s in his esophagus, it’s in the top of his stomach—it’s where the tumor is—and it’s also spread to his liver.”
Money, who was born Edward Joseph Mahoney, said that he didn’t want to keep the diagnosis “from everybody.”
“It’s not honest. I want to be honest with everybody. I want people to know that cancer [treatment] has come a long way and not everybody dies from cancer like they did in the Fifties and Sixties. Am I going to live a long time? Who knows? It’s in God’s hands,” he said.
For years, Money lived too much like a rock star. In 1980, he sustained nerve damage in his legs after overdosing on alcohol and barbiturates, a near-tragedy he wrote about on his hit 1982 album “No Control.” He continued to struggle with alcohol addiction before joining a 12-step program in 2001. “I came to the realization that I didn’t really need (alcohol) for my quick wit,” he told CNN in 2003.
Money did manage the rare rock achievement of a long-term marriage, more than 30 years to Laurie Harris. The Moneys had five children, Zachary, Jessica, Joseph, Desmond, and Julian.
The Associated Press and Epoch Times Reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
