Eddie Mooney (born 6 August 1957) is an English rock and pop vocalist/bassist. He is best known as a member of The Fortunes.

Early career

Mooney joined his first teen pop group in Larne, Northern Ireland in 1974, called Flame, who toured with the chart acts of the time, but released no recordings. In 1975 Mooney moved to Manchester where he formed the progressive rock band Accidents with keyboardist Paul McKavanagh and drummer Alan Arenstein. Popular on the student circuit, the band survived the onset of punk, releasing their only EP "Execution" on their own Eye label. By 1978 Mooney had gone solo and, with backing group the Grave, featuring guitarist Mike Rowbottom and drummer Chris Fisher, he was signed to independent Manchester label TJM Records, which also released singles by Mick Hucknall, later of Simply Red, and Slaughter & The Dogs. In 1978 the label released the bizarre "I Bought Three Eggs" single, frequently played by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel. Although it did not chart, the track attained cult status being re-released on the White Dopes on Punk CD in 2005 and again on vinyl on the German Still Unbeatable label in 2009. During the 80s, Mooney was lead vocalist and bassist with Parq Avenue, who toured with chart acts and released their only single "Raffy and Sean/No Control" on the independent label Q Records, which reached the lower end of the UK Top 100 in 1983. During this period Mooney recruited drummer Tony Mansfield (brother of singer Elkie Brooks), who was a former original member of 60s hit band The Dakotas, which had also backed singer Billy J. Kramer. This led to reformation of The Dakotas with original guitarist Mike Maxfield.

The Dakotas

From 1989 to 2007, Mooney was a member of The Dakotas who toured the United States, Germany, Ireland and Sweden as well as the UK nostalgia and theatre circuit. The band released six albums, "The Dakotas", "The Beat Goes On", "Don't Look Back", "Everlasting", "Strong" and "Evolution" and were a regular fixture on the successful "Solid Silver 60s" tours (six to date), where they also backed acts such as Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, Wayne Fontana, John Walker of The Walker Brothers and others. Mooney also appeared on a sporadic basis as bassist and vocalist with 70s Glam rock act The Glitter Band during this period, also recording new versions of their hits "Angel Face" and "Didn't Know I Loved You" with original member John Rossall.

Peter Kay

In 2001 Mooney worked with UK comedian Peter Kay as a session singer and bassist on the successful Phoenix Nights TV series, notably singing "Don't Cry Out Loud". Mooney also sang and played on Kay's follow up series Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere. He had a cameo role in Episode 3 performing as a musician on stage with Kay's character Max, dressed as Boy George.

The Walker Brothers

As a spin-off form working with John Walker of The Walker Brothers, Mooney appeared on a US PBS television special in 2007 as a member of The Walker Brothers, where they reprised the act's UK and American hits. Their performance was subsequently released on a US-only "British Invasion" DVD.

The Fortunes

In December 2007, whilst still with The Dakotas, Mooney was asked to stand in as lead vocalist and bassist with 60s and 70s British chart band The Fortunes due to the illness of original frontman Rod Allen. In early 2008 Mooney became a permanent member following the death of Allen and has been with the band ever since. Mooney played on The Fortunes albums Play On and Another Road and appeared during 2008 in Las Vegas, Netherlands and Belgium as well as the UK. The band successfully toured Canada, the Netherlands and Sweden, in addition to the UK during 2009. Since then the Fortunes continue to appear on 60s theatre package shows, as well as their own Past and Present theatre show. Mooney played on and produced the accompanying Past and Present live album. In 2016 the band appeared on the Australian "Rock the Boat" concert cruise and the band toured Australia in 2018. In 2021 the Fortunes had two hit singles on the Amazon, Spotify and iTunes download charts, "Never Too Far" (co-written by Mooney) and "One Special Moment". In 2022 and 2023 the Fortunes singles "Hello My Friend" and " One Special Moment" were hits on the UK Heritage Chart, hosted by DJ Mike Read.

Eddie Mooney and the Grave

After a hiatus of almost forty years, Mooney reformed the 1970s pop punk band Eddie Mooney and the Grave in 2019 with original guitarist Mike Rowbottom, Coventry drummer Rick Medlock and Munich-based guitarist and German record label owner Malte Buhr. Medlock had worked with Ben E King, Barbara Dickson, Cupid's Inspiration and ex-the Specials bassist Horace Panter. The band released a series of digital and vinyl singles, "Dennis Votes" (2019 and 2021), "Down The Drain" (2020 and 2021), "Lockdown Baby" (2020), "Telephones" (2021), "(How Does It Feel to Be) Great!!!" (2021), "Vinyl Freak" (2021) "Bone Idol" (2022), "Voodoo Chile" (2022) and "Plastic Smile" (2022). Several of these singles charted on various digital and streaming charts.

Discography

External links

• The Official Fortunes Website
• Eddie Mooney at IMDb