Rocker Eddie Money dead at 70

Eddie Money, the raspy voiced rocker who sang “Take Me Home Tonight” and “Two Tickets to Paradise,” died Friday at age 70.

“The Money Family regrets to announce that Eddie passed away peacefully early this morning,” read a statement provided by his family to Variety. “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 most recently performed March 22, 2018, at The Palace Theatre, Greensburg.

“I’m very partial to Pittsburgh. I’ve had more fun in that town than I can ever tell you,” Money told the Tribune-Review ahead of the concert. “I used to come through the old Pittsburgh airport to see my girlfriend.”

Rolling Stone reports the singer/sax player was suffering from a series of health issues in the past few years. In August, he revealed he was battling stage 4 esophageal cancer.

“What I don’t want to do is I don’t want to keep the fact that I have cancer from everybody,” Money said in a promo for “Real Money,” a TV series about the his life. “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.”

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised on Long Island, Money’s moved to the Bay Area and began to make it big in the city’s clubs.

His self-titled debut album landed in 1977, and scored hits with “Two Tickets to Paradise” and “Baby Hold On.” His next big album came in 1986 with the release of “Can’t Hold Back.” He scored with the singles “Take Me Home Tonight,” “I Wanna Go Back,” and “Endless Nights.” He released 11 albums in his career.

“I’ve been blessed with good kids,” Money told the Tribune-Review in 2018. “Nobody sells records anymore. I sold 42 million records. Now, all the big record stores are closed. The world is a different place.”