Eddie Money was born in Brooklyn...and after a brief career as a New York City cop, Eddie turned to his true love: Rock 'N' Roll!

I have previously written about Eddie Money...click here to read his story, and enjoy the videos of his hits!!

"The Money Man" sings several of "Jersey's Favorite Hits!"

Spanning the 1970's and the 1980's, Eddie's hits on New Jersey 101.5 include "Two Tickets To Paradise," "Shakin'" and our Fun Facts spotlight tune: "Take Me Home Tonight."

Eddie's 1986 hit would go to #4 on the Hot 100 in the fall of the year...with the help of 1960's girl-group idol, and lead singer, Ronnie Spector (also born in NYC).

In fact, "Take Me Home Tonight" is based on the Ronettte's 1963 hit "Be My Baby"...

In the official video (which I can't get my hands on), Ronnie Spector is seen in the shadows, singing her famous (chorus) line: "Be My Little Baby!"

"Take Me Home Tonight" sprang from the imaginations and pens of song writers Michael Leeson and Peter Vale.

The song is about a guy who is in lust with a girl, and he is trying to convince her to...take him home.

As you will soon see, one could argue who benefited most from the song: Eddie or Ronnie.

Thanks to this hit song, Ronnie Spector returned to the spotlight for the first time in over 20 years!

In 2007, she and the Ronettes were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame," but in 1986, Spector was hardly top of mind!

Spector had last been on the Top-40 charts in 1964, with "Walkin' In The Rain" (#23/1964).

"Take Me Home Tonight" put her on MTV...giving her exposure to a whole new generation!

And, that almost didn't happen!

Ronnie Spector almost passed on her chance to be in the video...over...what else: money.

Her then-boyfriend/manager convinced her to hold out...to not be filmed...until they got paid an amount that he thought was fair.

The video's director, Nick Morris, put his own wife (who was a part of the video production team) in the dress that Ronnie was to wear...and started doing camera tests in front of Spector!

The director explaining that any woman in the dress could fill the part...as she would only be seen in silhouette.

The ploy worked...Ronnie Spector appeared in the video. The crew cheered, afterwards.

In  a later interview, Morris explained that paying Ronnie Spector extra money for appearing in the video would have "crashed our budget."

According to Ronnie Spector, she signed on for the video as soon as she heard the line: "Listen honey, just like Ronnie sang...Be My Little Baby."

So...

Our spotlight song gave Eddie Money another BIG chart hit...and made a 1960's superstar a (brief) part of the 80's music scene!

In fact, in 1987, Spector put out an album called ":Unfinished Business."

Sadly...there was no chart hit for solo Ronnie...

Rock 'N' Roll can be that way.

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