Eric Carmen was the frontman for the Raspberries. The singer wrote music that helped set the temper for a number of standard films all through his profession, together with Soiled Dancing.
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Eric Carmen was the frontman for the Raspberries. The singer wrote music that helped set the temper for a number of standard films all through his profession, together with Soiled Dancing.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Pictures
Eric Carmen wrote and carried out a number of the greatest energy ballads of the Nineteen Seventies and ’80s. Lots of them grew to become well-known from the flicks they helped rating. Carmen wrote eight prime 40 hits; his best-known songs embody “Hungry Eyes,” an integral a part of the Soiled Dancing soundtrack from 1987, and “All By Myself,” which has change into a romantic comedy staple.
Carmen died in his sleep this weekend, in response to a press release on his webpage.
“It’s with super unhappiness that we share the heartbreaking information of the passing of Eric Carmen,” wrote his spouse, Amy Carmen. “It introduced him nice pleasure to know, that for many years, his music touched so many and might be his lasting legacy.”
No particulars of Carmen’s demise got. He was 74 years outdated.
Carmen’s mom was knowledgeable violist who performed with the Cleveland Orchestra. He discovered songwriting inspiration in classical music. (“All By Myself” is predicated partly on Sergei Rachmaninoff‘s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor.) In 1970, Carmen began a Cleveland band referred to as the Raspberries that made up in affect what it lacked in fame; followers included John Lennon, Lou Reed and Bruce Springsteen, as Carmen informed The Observer in a 2017 interview.
Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr poses with members of the sixth incarnation of the All-Starr Band who’re Jack Bruce, left, Eric Carmen, Ringo Starr, Dave Edmunds, Mark Rivera and Simon Kirke throughout a press convention in Might 2000.
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Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr poses with members of the sixth incarnation of the All-Starr Band who’re Jack Bruce, left, Eric Carmen, Ringo Starr, Dave Edmunds, Mark Rivera and Simon Kirke throughout a press convention in Might 2000.
Matt Campbell/Getty Pictures
“The primary time I met Bruce Springsteen, I walked in his dressing room earlier than a present, and he was writing out the setlist, and we each checked out one another for a few minutes — I used to be very uncomfortable being on the fan finish, so I felt somewhat silly,” Carmen remembered to reporter Ken Kurson. “However Bruce checked out me, and he goes, ‘You recognize, whereas I used to be writing “The River” all I listened to was Woody Guthrie and the Raspberries’ best hits.'”
The Raspberries broke up in 1975, and Carmen went solo. His music appeared in films starting from Bridget Jones’s Diary to Nearly Well-known — director Cameron Crowe was a fan of the Raspberries, too — to Footloose. Carmen co-wrote its love theme, “Nearly Paradise,” carried out by Mike Reno and Ann Wilson.
A constellation of stars, together with John Travolta, Shirley Bassey and Celine Dion, have recorded Eric Carmen’s music through the years. The Raspberries reunited in 2004 and toured for the subsequent three years. Carmen additionally toured with Ringo Starr within the sixth iteration of his All-Starr Band.