Eddie Money RIP

As a kid in the 1980s, listening to the now-gone radio station WPLJ, I loved the songs of Eddie Money. 

The child of an NYPD family from Brooklyn, Money went his own way, breaking into the music biz and moving to California, then turning out a string of big hit songs like "Think I'm in Love," "Two Tickets to Paradise", "I Wanna Go Back" and -- my two favorites -- "Walk on Water" and "Take Me Home Tonight."

These were rousing, musically dense, and heart-wrenching songs. Money's voice was full of longing, anguish, love, and determination. He was a crooner, a balladeer, the kind of popular singer who don't really have today but was big once upon a time. After a run of huge success, Money's fame receded but he kept touring, kept performing, and even appeared earlier this year on the new Netflix show "The Kominsky Method." 

Eddie Money died today from cancer at the age of 70. I couldn't find out much about his life since it appears that he was married to the same woman for 30 years, had 5 kids, and never got arrested or sued or into some big accident. He seems to have lived a stunningly normal life for someone who was such a talented singer and big star. But he was part of my childhood that is sadly gone and, both as a son of NYC and a singer, he'll be missed. 

Take your ticket to paradise, Eddie. You earned it.