Music Fans Lost Two Greats Over The Weekend

EDDIE MONEY PASSES AWAY AT 70: 1970s and ‘80s pop star Eddie Money died on Friday. He was 70. The news comes shortly after Money postponed his ongoing tour in July, and after he later revealed his stage 4 esophageal cancer diagnosis. Money’s breakout success came with his self-titled debut album in 1977, which featured the charting singles “Two Tickets to Paradise” and “Baby Hold On.” He again had a hit with 1986’s “Take Me Home Tonight.” Money has since been public about his drug and alcohol abuse during those years, but he underwent rehab in the early 2000s. Since 2018, Money and his family had appeared on a reality TV show called Real Money. Money underwent “minor” heart valve surgery in May, and while his family said he was “recovering and doing well” in July, he did postpone all his tour dates and the release of his upcoming album.

THE CARS FRONTMAN RIC OCASEK PASSES AWAY AT 75: Ric Ocasek, the lead singer of the new wave band The Cars, died Sunday in New York City. He was 75. Ocasek was found unconscious and unresponsive in his Manhattan home late Sunday afternoon and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. He appears to have died of natural causes, sources told Page Six, and was discovered by his estranged wife, model Paulina Porizkova. The Cars, known for their hits “Drive,” “Just What I Needed,” and “It’s All I Can Do,” were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. Ocasek was also a successful producer, working with everyone from Weezer to No Doubt to Bad Brains. The Cars’ biggest commercial breakthrough was 1984’s Heartbeat City. The album, co-produced by Mutt Lange and solely written by Ocasek, went to No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and yielded five top 40 singles, including the top 10 hits “Drive” and “You Might Think.” The video for the latter song won Video of the Year at the first annual MTV Video Music Awards, beating out Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”