Fame & Fortune: Rocker Eddie Money
Drugs and windmills in past, he's a happy 'working slob'
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Bankrate: At this point, are hits like "Two Tickets to Paradise" big royalties earners for you?
Eddie Money: They were, but I sold my publishing to buy a house for my wife that she threw me out of. So now I only get the writer's share, which is still a nice piece, but selling my publishing was a big mistake.
Bankrate: When did you
sell it? Eddie Money: About five
years ago. I held onto it for years. Bankrate:
How much did you get for it? Eddie Money:
$2 million. Which is gone. Bankrate:
What did you spend it on? Eddie Money:
Back taxes. Bankrate: How much
would that have been worth if you'd held it? Eddie
Money: I just got a check for $25,000 this month from the publishing company.
That would have been about $50,000. I'd probably be making another $100,000 a
year. Bankrate: "Two Tickets
to Paradise" was included on the soundtrack to "Grand Theft Auto: San
Andreas," which was a hit video game. Was that profitable for you at all? Eddie
Money: No, it wasn't. Bankrate:
Because you sold the publishing? Eddie
Money: You have to have more than 12 seconds of a song in order to get
paid, and they were smart enough to do the whole thing in 11 seconds. Bankrate:
So they took your song and didn't pay you for it? Eddie
Money: Exactly. Bankrate:
So at this point in your life, with a wife and five teenaged kids, how do you
handle your investments? Eddie Money:
I have a lot of money in real estate. I gained a couple of million on my house,
we have four acres in Los Angeles, and then I own another house in Florida that's
also gone up about $1 million. Outside of that, I used to own money in Merck and
all this other stuff, but right now my wife spends more money than I can make.
I should have married a blind woman. Let's put it this way -- I got my health,
I got my sobriety and I'm off the cigarettes. Right now, even if I'm in the hole
for $200,000, I been in the hole before. I'll bust out of this and break even
by the end of the year. Bankrate:
You're in the hole for $200,000? Eddie
Money: I borrowed $100,000 to make the record, and $100,000 ... my wife,
she put me in the hole. I got kids in Christian high schools, that's, like, $1,800
a month per kid. Then I got one kid in the Graystone Academy. He was a drummer
and he's into chicks, so he spent the whole time in the principal's office the
last two years. So now I have him one-on-one with a teacher, and that costs me
$2,400 a month. It just costs a lot of money. Then you got the guys cutting the
lawn, the pool breaks down, my wife drives a BMW, she wrecked her other BMW and
we gave it to my son. It's a misery. You don't want to get into it. I'm just a
working slob like everyone else. Bankrate:
For a guy who lost a couple million recovering from a drug overdose, though, you
sound like you're doing pretty well. Eddie
Money: I'm doing OK. He's a just God, but a loving God. If you don't get
up and smoke a million cigarettes and do cocaine and take a bunch of pills and
knock down a couple of Bloody Mary's before breakfast, you'll have a good day. | 
