Topic: Eddie Rabbitt

Edward Thomas "Eddie" Rabbitt (November 27, 1941 – May 7, 1998) was an American country music singer-songwriter who enjoyed much pop success at the height of his career in the 1970s and 80s with twenty #1 country hits including "Drivin' My Life Away" and "I Love a Rainy Night," which also topped the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks.

After growing up in New Jersey, Rabbitt moved to Nashville and began his vocation in the music industry. He started as a songwriter in the late 1960s, springboarding to a recording career after composing hits such as "Kentucky Rain" for Elvis Presley in 1970 and "Pure Love" for Ronnie Milsap in 1974. Later in the 1970s, Rabbitt helped to develop the crossover-influenced sound of country music prevalent in the 1980s with such hits as "Suspicions" and "Every Which Way but Loose." His duets "Friends and Lovers" and "You and I", with Juice Newton and Crystal Gayle respectively, later appeared on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and All My Children.

Following the death of his infant son in 1985, Rabbitt put his career on hold and produced no more cross-over material. However, he returned to music in the late 1980s with a series of country hits including a cover of "The Wanderer" and his self-penned "On Second Thought." Rabbitt was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1997; although he continued to record, he died from the disease the following year.