Our sweet & loving Eric’s music touched so many
All by Myself singer-songwriter dies at 74
ERIC Carmen’s lush but sad ballad All by Myself has resonated with millions of music fans during the lonely times in their lives.
His tracks have also featured in movies such as Dirty Dancing, which used his soft rock hit Hungry Eyes.
But the US singer-songwriter’s music didn’t only have a light touch.
Eric, who has died aged 74, also loved to belt out rockier tracks – particularly with his power pop band the Raspberries, although catchy melodies and soaring harmonies were still to the fore.
His wife Amy said: “Our sweet, loving and talented Eric passed away in his sleep. It brought him great joy to know that, for decades, his music touched so many and will be his lasting legacy.”
Paul Stanley, frontman of heavy metal band Kiss, said: “Although known to many for writing radio hits like All by Myself, Eric was a true rocker at heart.
“His voice had elements of Mccartney and Steve Marriott. The Raspberries did shows with us. A killer band live and I loved their records.” Eric, from a Russian Jewish family, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1949 and was raised in nearby Lyndhurst.
As a child, he played violin and was a classically trained pianist, but when he was a teenager in the 1960s, British bands such as the Beatles inspired him to get into a group and play guitar.
He rose to fame as the frontman of the Raspberries who formed in 1970. They wore matching suits like many bands of the early 60s, combining catchy songs and crunching guitars. The Raspberries’
biggest hit – Go All the
Way – reached number five in the US, but was banned by the BBC for sexually suggestive lyrics.
Eric once said: “We became immensely popular by going completely against the grain.
“Prog rock was ‘in’. I hated it. I loved the Beatles, the Who, the Stones, the Beach Boys and the Small Faces.”
The Raspberries broke up in 1975, and Eric began his solo career.
He based the verse of All by Myself on a piano concerto by Sergei Rachmaninoff, thinking the dead Russian composer’s music was no longer under copyright. Except it was.
A deal was later reached meaning the Rachmaninoff estate received 12% of the royalties from the song.
The track, released in 1975, was Eric’s only hit single in the UK. It was covered by Celine Dion in 1996 and features in 2001 movie Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Eric’s other major US hits include Never Gonna Fall in Love Again and Make Me Lose Control.
He wed three times. His first marriage in 1978 ended in divorce after less than a year. He had two children from his second marriage, which lasted from 1993 to 2009. Eric then married former newscaster Amy in 2016.
British actor and singer Michael Des Barres said of Eric: “An exquisite songwriter and vocalist. He loved Steve Marriott and pop music. He put them together and created something new.”
US horror author Stephen King said: “The loss of Eric Carmen really hurts.
“The Raspberries were the best power pop group ever.”
Although known for writing radio hits, Eric was a true rocker at heart
KISS STAR PAUL STANLEY PRAISES SINGER-SONGWRITER