That’s Rock and Roll

This is another of my all time favorite singers. Eric Carmen is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist. He had a number of hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s. He began singing as a member of the rock group The Raspberries. His solo hits include “All By Myself”, “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again”, ‘Hungry Eyes”, and “Make Me Lose Control”.

Eric Carmen had the advantage and the talent because he began learning about music at the age of six, At that time he was taking violin lessons and at the age of 11 he began playing the piano and composing his own original compositions. When he started favoring rock and roll he joined high school bands. It all paid off when The Raspberries were formed and the band recorded hits that were successful, It was after the band split up in 1975 that Carmen chose to strike up a solo deal with Arista Records.

Eric Carmen’s first two solo singles came out in 1976. They were both created around themes by Sergei Rachmaninoff. “All by Myself” was based on Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. It went on to sell more than a million copies and was awarded a gold disc. His next single “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again” was based on Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 and also did well on the charts. The album which included these songs as well as “That’s Rock and Roll” went gold.

Eric Carmen’s thoughts were to incorporate some of the beautiful melodies of classical music into pop songs so that people would get a chance to appreciate such music. They might not listen to classical otherwise but it would be of interest if this music was part of songs that they enjoyed listening to and it might get them to look into classical music. An interesting concept that worked very well for Carmen on two songs that became known hits for him.

It was his self-titled album on which Eric Carmen wrote all the tracks himself except for the song “On Broadway” which was a song originally sung by The Drifters. This was his first solo production after he had left The Raspberries.

His second album was titled Boats Against the Current which came out in the summer of 1977. It included the singles “She Did It” and “Marathon Man”. His album Change of Heart made it on the charts in 1978. The album included the title song and two other singles “Tonight Your Mine” and “It Hurts Too Much”. It was after this that Eric Carmen retired for awhile.

Four years later his song “Almost Paradise” became the love theme for the movie “Footloose”. He began recording again. He scored big with the hit “I Wanna Hear It from Your Lips”. This was followed by “I’m Through with Love” and “Maybe My Baby”.

His song “Hungry Eyes” was a giant hit in the ever popular movie “Dirty Dancing”. Other hits which he came out with in the 1980s were “Reason to Try” and “Make Me Lose Control”. Then in 2000 the album I Was Born to Love You was released in the U.S. since it had previously been released in Japan in 1998. His band mate from The Raspberries Wally Bryson sat in on the guitar and it resulted in two songs “Every Time I Make Love to You” and “I Could Really Love You”.

That same year he toured with Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band performing his earlier hits. In December of 2013 Carmen came out with a new recording “Brand New Year” and in 2014 he released The Essential Eric Carmen looking back at a 30 year musical career.