The soundtrack singer who pioneered power pop
A major influence on indie rock, Eric Carmen also provided some of the most recognizable melodies in the movies. As frontman of the Raspberries, Carmen was one of the fathers of power pop, which paired retro, 60s-style pop melodies with driving guitar riffs. The band’s 1972 debut album—featuring the four members in mop-top haircuts and matching suits to stand out from the long-haired hippies typical of the era—scored him his first hit, with “Go All the Way.” Chronicling a couple’s journey toward intercourse, it got banned for its raunchiness in Britain but peaked at No. 5 in the U.S. Three years and three more albums later, the band split up, and Carmen transformed into a solo crooner. His soulful 1975 ballad “All by Myself” became a karaoke staple with its wailing tale of loneliness. “There’s not nearly as much fuel in being happy as there is in being miserable,” he said. “Being miserable is a great catalyst for songwriting.”
Born in Cleveland to a family of Jewish immigrants from Russia, Carmen studied violin with his aunt, a member of the Cleveland Orchestra, from age 6 and was writing Cole Porter–style songs for piano by 11. But “all of that went out of the window,” said The Times (U.K.), when he saw the Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night at 15. He taught himself guitar, joined a local band, and soon formed the Raspberries. Their songs were “often catchy and hummable,” said The Washington Post, but they were never superstars. Still, they were a major influence on later bands ranging from Cheap Trick to Nirvana—even John Lennon was seen wearing a Raspberries T-shirt.
Carmen found a new level of fame through movie soundtracks, said The New York Times. He wrote “Almost Paradise” for 1984’s Footloose; “Hungry Eyes,” which he performed but didn’t write, was key to a scene in 1987’s Dirty Dancing;a Celine Dion version of “All by Myself” featured memorably in 2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary; and “Go All the Way” was on the chart-topping 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack. “It was easy for people to be derisive about our music because they saw what we were doing as retro,” Carmen said in 2007. “Sometimes it takes a while, but now there’s a whole different kind of reverence for what we’re doing.”