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Eric Carmen

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Not to be confused with Eric Cartman.

Eric Carmen
Carmen, c. 1991
Carmen, c. 1991
Background information
Birth nameEric Howard Carmen
Born(1949-08-11)August 11, 1949
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
OriginLyndhurst, Ohio, U.S.
DiedMarch 2024(2024-03-00) (aged 74)
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • musician
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • keyboards
  • guitar
  • bass
Years active1967–2024
Labels
Formerly of
Spouse(s)
Marcy Hill
​
​
(m. 1978; div. 1979)​

Susan Brown
​
​
(m. 1993; div. 2009)​

Amy Murphy
​
(m. 2016)​
Websiteericcarmen.com

Eric Howard Carmen (August 11, 1949 – March 2024) was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead vocalist of the Raspberries, with whom he recorded the hit "Go All the Way"[1] and four albums. He embarked on a solo career in 1975 and had global success with "All by Myself", "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", "She Did It", "Hungry Eyes", and "Make Me Lose Control".[2] In later years, he toured with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band before reforming the Raspberries in 2004.

Early life

[edit]

From a family of Russian Jewish immigrants,[3] Carmen was born on August 11, 1949, in Cleveland, Ohio, United States,[4][5] and grew up in Lyndhurst, Ohio. He was involved with music since early childhood. By the age of two, he was entertaining his parents with impressions of Jimmy Durante and Johnnie Ray. By age three, he was in the Dalcroze Eurhythmics program at the Cleveland Institute of Music.[6] At six years old, he took violin lessons from his aunt Muriel Carmen, who was a violinist in the Cleveland Orchestra.[6] By age 11, he was playing piano and dreaming about writing his own songs. The arrival of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones altered his dream slightly. By the time he was a sophomore at Charles F. Brush High School, Carmen was playing piano and singing in rock bands including the Sounds of Silence, and the Cyrus Erie.[6]

Though classically trained in piano, at age fifteen, Carmen started to take guitar lessons, but when his teacher's approach did not fit with what he wanted, he decided to teach himself. He bought a Beatles chord book and studied guitar for the next four months.[7]

Tenure with the Raspberries

[edit]

Carmen became serious about being a musician while attending John Carroll University. He joined a band named Cyrus Erie, which recorded several commercially unsuccessful singles for Epic Records.[8] Cyrus Erie guitarist Wally Bryson had been playing with friends Jim Bonfanti and Dave Smalley in one of Cleveland's most popular bands, the Choir, which scored a minor national hit in 1967 with the single "It's Cold Outside".[9]

When Cyrus Erie and the Choir disbanded at the end of the 1960s, Carmen, Bryson, Bonfanti, and Smalley teamed up to form the Raspberries, a rock and roll band that was among the chief exponents of the early 1970s power pop style.[8] Carmen was the lead singer of the group, and wrote or co-wrote all their hit songs.[10] In 1975, after the breakup of the Raspberries, he started his solo career, de-emphasizing harder rock elements in favor of soft rock and power ballads.[8]

In 2004, Carmen, along with original Raspberries members Jim Bonfanti, Wally Bryson, and Dave Smalley, re-formed the band for a series of sold-out live performances in cities across the United States. On that tour, the Raspberries recorded a live album of their hits at the House of Blues on Sunset Strip, in West Hollywood. Both the show and album received critical acclaim.[11]

Solo career

[edit]

Carmen's first two solo singles were chart hits in 1976. Both were built around themes by Sergei Rachmaninoff. The first of these singles, "All by Myself" – based on Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2[12] – hit number 2 in the United States, and number 12 in the United Kingdom where it was his only charting hit. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in April 1976.[13] The follow-up single, "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again"[5] – based on the main theme of the third movement of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 – reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and hit number one on the US Adult Contemporary Chart, as well as number nine on the Cash Box chart. In the UK, Dana took it to number 31 and in Australia Mark Holden took it to number 13. Those two songs featured on his 1975 self-titled debut album, along with "That's Rock and Roll", a number 3 hit single for singer Shaun Cassidy. The album made number 21 on the Billboard album chart and was certified gold in 1977 for sales of more than 500,000 copies.[14]

Carmen's second album, Boats Against the Current, was released in the summer of 1977 to mixed reviews.[15][16][17] It featured backup players such as Burton Cummings, Andrew Gold, Bruce Johnston and Nigel Olsson. The album spent 13 weeks on the Billboard album chart, peaking at number 45. It also produced the top 20 single "She Did It", but the title track only managed to scrape the bottom of the chart. The title track was later covered by Olivia Newton-John on her album Totally Hot. A third single taken from the album, "Marathon Man", became his first solo single not to hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart. However, Shaun Cassidy again made the top 10 in 1978 with Carmen's "Hey Deanie". For several weeks in the fall of 1977, Carmen had three compositions charting concurrently on the Billboard Hot 100; Cassidy's two big hits and Carmen's own "She Did It".[18]

Carmen followed up with two more albums. Despite declining chart fortunes, the single "Change of Heart" broke into the top 20,[5] and reached number 6 on the AC chart in late 1978, with this hit also being covered by Samantha Sang on her Emotion LP.[19] In 1980, he released the album Tonight You're Mine with its lead single "It Hurts Too Much" (number 75 Billboard Hot 100).[19]

In 1984, Carmen and Dean Pitchford co-wrote "Almost Paradise", the love theme from the film Footloose. The song, performed by Ann Wilson and Mike Reno, peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.[20]

In 1985, Carmen resurfaced on Geffen Records with a second self-titled album and a sizable comeback hit, "I Wanna Hear It from Your Lips".[8] The single hit the Adult Contemporary top 10 as well as the Pop top 40. The follow-up single, "I'm Through with Love", also climbed the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top 20 of the Adult Contemporary chart. Another track from the album, "Maybe My Baby", later became a country hit for Louise Mandrell reaching number 8 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. "I Wanna Hear It from Your Lips" was also covered by Mandrell, but only managed to peak at No. 35 on the same chart.[21]

In 1987, Carmen's contribution to the hit film Dirty Dancing, "Hungry Eyes", hit number 2 on the Adult Contemporary chart and also returned him to the Pop top 10.[5] "Reason to Try", a further contribution to the One Moment in Time compilation album of songs recorded for the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, kept Carmen's profile high in 1988, during which the nostalgic "Make Me Lose Control" also returned him to the number one position on the Adult Contemporary chart – where it stayed for three straight weeks – as well as number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.[5] Following a final minor chart hit in 1988 with "Reason to Try", from an Olympics-themed compilation album,[22] Carmen's career was largely inactive for a decade.

The year 2000 saw the stateside release of I Was Born to Love You, which had been released in 1998 in Japan as Winter Dreams.[8] Carmen eschewed the use of a band on the recording, playing most of the instruments and programming the drum parts himself. The album did not find a large audience, but Carmen continued to enjoy success placing songs with other artists over the years. In 2000, he toured with Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band.[23]

On December 24, 2013, the first new recording in over 15 years by Carmen titled "Brand New Year" was released. The track, written and recorded in November and December 2013 in Ohio and Los Angeles, was issued as a free download by Legacy Recordings as a special "Christmas gift", to herald the March 2014 arrival of a 30-track career retrospective entitled The Essential Eric Carmen.[24]

Personal life

[edit]

Carmen was married three times: to Marcy Hill from 1978 to 1979; to Susan Brown, with whom he had two children, from 1993 to 2009; and to former newscaster Amy Murphy from 2016 until his death in 2024.[25][26][27]

Carmen moved from Los Angeles back to Gates Mills[28] in northeast Ohio in the 1990s.

Following Carmen's death, his children Clayton and Kathryn filed a lawsuit against their step-mother, Amy Carmen, in Cuyahoga County Probate Court, accusing her of wrongly disinheriting them from a trust their father had established in 2007.[29] In response, Amy’s attorneys said in a court filing that Carmen had decided well before his death to drop his two children from the trust. In preceding years they had broken into his house, plotted to kill him and take his Jaguar, and had used his credit card without permission.[30]

Death

[edit]

On March 11, 2024, Carmen's wife Amy announced that he had died in his sleep over the previous weekend at the age of 74. No cause or location of death was given.[31][32]

Discography

[edit]

With the Raspberries

[edit]
See also: Raspberries (band) § Discography

Solo

[edit]

Studio albums

[edit]
Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
US
[2] 		AUS
[33] 		SWE
[34] 		UK
[35]
Eric Carmen
  • Released: November 1975
  • Label: Arista
 21 15 41 58
Boats Against the Current
  • Released: August 1977
  • Label: Arista
 45 37 39 –
Change of Heart
  • Released: September 1978
  • Label: Arista
 137 93 – –
Tonight You're Mine
  • Released: January 1, 1980
  • Label: Arista
 160 80 – –
Eric Carmen
  • Released: January 7, 1985
  • Label: Geffen
 128 – – –
I Was Born to Love You
(released as Winter Dreams in Japan)
  • Released: 1998
  • Label: Pioneer
 – – – –

Compilation albums

[edit]
Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
US
[2] 		AUS
[37] 		NZ
[38]
The Best of Eric Carmen
  • Released: June 1988
  • Label: Arista
 59 17 26
The Definitive Collection
  • Released: June 17, 1997
  • Label: Arista
 – – –
All by Myself – The Best of Eric Carmen
  • Released: October 21, 1999
  • Label: Collectables
 – – –
The Essential Eric Carmen
  • Released: March 25, 2014
  • Label: Arista
 – – –

Charted singles

[edit]
Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album
US
[39] 		US AC
[40] 		AUS
[33] 		CAN
[41] 		GER
[42] 		NL
[43] 		NZ
[38] 		SWE
[34] 		UK
[35]
"All by Myself" 1975 2 6 7 3 – 7 6 – 12 Eric Carmen
"Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" 1976 11 1 – 1 – – 30 – –
"That's Rock 'n' Roll" – – 100 – – – – – –
"Sunrise" 34 33 – 33 – – – – –
"She Did It" 1977 23 26 30 11 – – 16 – – Boats Against the Current
"Boats Against the Current" 88 – – – – – – – –
"Change of Heart" 1978 19 6 – 14 – – – – – Change of Heart
"Baby I Need Your Loving" 62 30 – 50 – – – – –
"It Hurts Too Much" 1980 75 – 45 – – – – – – Tonight You're Mine
"I Wanna Hear It from Your Lips" 1985 35 10 27 17
(AC) 		– – – – – Eric Carmen
"I'm Through with Love" 87 16 – – – – – – –
"Hungry Eyes" 1987 4 2 4 2 17 16 18 6 82 Dirty Dancing: Original Soundtrack
"As Long as We Got Each Other" (with Louise Mandrell) 1988 –[a] – – – – – – – – Best of Louise Mandrell
"Make Me Lose Control" 3 1 8 2 – – 29 – 93 The Best of Eric Carmen
"Reason to Try" 87 – 133 – – – – – – 1988 Summer Olympics Album: One Moment in Time

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ "As Long as We Got Each Other" peaked at number 51 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.[46]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Hot 100". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 24, 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Eric Carmen Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 3, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  3. ^ Scharf, June (December 31, 2004). "'All by Himself' among musicians; Jewish Clevelander Eric Carmen reflects on his life as a rock star". Cleveland Jewish News. Highbeam.com. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  4. ^ Sweeting, Adam (March 13, 2024). "Eric Carmen obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 418. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  6. ^ a b c Chakerian, Peter (March 12, 2024). "Remembering Eric Carmen: a sweet bushel of pop-rock milestones". Cleveland.com. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  7. ^ Parker, Matt (March 12, 2024). ""There were times, I admit, when I had to pinch myself": Eric Carmen – the All By Myself and Hungry Eyes hitmaker, and the man who sold Joan Jett her Melody Maker – dies aged 74". Guitar World.
  8. ^ a b c d e Prato, Greg. "Eric Carmen Biography". allmusic. Archived from the original on July 31, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  9. ^ Peacock, Tim (April 10, 2023). "Defining Power-Pop: The Fruitful Debut Album By Raspberries".
  10. ^ Ankeny, Jason. "The Raspberries Biography". allmusic. Archived from the original on July 31, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  11. ^ Eustacio Humphrey (December 12, 2007). "Raspberries show and album review – Cleveland, OH 12/12/2007". Cleveland.com. Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  12. ^ bluffho (May 14, 2023). "Rachmaninoff vs. Eric Carmen". Youtube. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
  13. ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 355. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  14. ^ "Eric Carmen". Recording Industry Association of America.
  15. ^ Marsh, Dave. "Boats Against the Current". Super Seventies. Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on August 24, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  16. ^ Weiner, Matthew. "Adrift in the Seventies". Save the Robot. Archived from the original on July 31, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  17. ^ Ofjord, Michael. "Boats Against the Current". AllMusic. RhythmOne Group. Archived from the original on June 24, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  18. ^ Trust, Gary. "Eric Carmen's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits: 'All By Myself' & More". Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  19. ^ a b Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 – ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  20. ^ "Mike Reno Chart History". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021.
  21. ^ "Louise Mandrell Songs". MusicVF. VF Entertainment. Archived from the original on June 28, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  22. ^ "1988 Summer Olympics Album - Various Artists - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  23. ^ "Eric Carmen – Interview". www.ericcarmen.com. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  24. ^ "'Brand New Year' for songwriting legend". Cleveland Jewish News. March 13, 2014. Archived from the original on August 30, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  25. ^ Carmen, Eric [@RealEricCarmen] (October 20, 2016). "Meet Mrs. Eric Carmen. Last week I married my beautiful soulmate and best friend. Love at last!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on August 13, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2020 – via Twitter.
  26. ^ "Eric Carmen, singer who had a worldwide hit with the tear-stained power ballad All by Myself – obituary". The Telegraph. March 12, 2024. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  27. ^ Jacob, Bob (March 12, 2024). "Raspberries lead singer Eric Carmen, former Lyndhurst resident, dies at 74". Cleveland Jewish News. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  28. ^ Eric Carmen – Book Eric Carmen for your Corporate Events, Fund Raisers Archived April 22, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  29. ^ Adam Ferrise, cleveland com (August 7, 2024). "Raspberries frontman Eric Carmen's wife cut kids out of trust, lawsuit says". cleveland. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
  30. ^ "Eric Carmen's wife fires back at Raspberries frontman's kids in lawsuit over trust".
  31. ^ "Eric Carmen: Raspberries Lead Singer ... Dead at 74". TMZ. March 11, 2024. Archived from the original on March 12, 2024. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
  32. ^ Willman, Chris (March 11, 2024). "Eric Carmen, Raspberries Frontman and 'All by Myself' Singer, Dies at 74". Variety. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
  33. ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book Ltd. p. 55. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988.
  34. ^ a b "Discography Eric Carmen". Swedish Charts. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  35. ^ a b "Eric Carmen". Official Charts. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  36. ^ a b "Gold & Platinum". RIAA. Archived from the original on December 23, 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  37. ^ "Eric Carmen Discography". Australian Charts. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  38. ^ a b "Discography Eric Carmen". Charts.Org.NZ. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  39. ^ "Eric Carmen Chart History: Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 12, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  40. ^ "Eric Carmen Chart History: Billboard Adult Contemporary". Billboard. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  41. ^ "RPM Search Results". Library and Archives Canada. July 17, 2013.
  42. ^ "Discografie von Eric Carmen". Offizielle Deutsche Charts (in German). Archived from the original on June 12, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  43. ^ "Discografie Eric Carmen". Dutch Charts (in Dutch). Archived from the original on June 12, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  44. ^ "Eric Carmen, Hungry Eyes, Single". BPI. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
  45. ^ "Datenbank: BVMI". www.musikindustrie.de. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
  46. ^ "Eric Carmen Chart History: Hot Country Songs". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 12, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
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