Eric Carmen, frontman of pop rock band Raspberries, has passed away at the age of 74. Known for hits like ‘All By Myself,’ ‘Hungry Eyes’ and ‘Never Gonna Fall in Love Again,’ the cause of his death is unknown.
The news of his death was, however, shared by Carmen’s wife Amy on his official website. She wrote, “It is with tremendous sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the passing of Eric Carmen,” adding, “Our sweet, loving and talented Eric passed away in his sleep, over the weekend. It brought him great joy to know that for decades, his music touched so many and will be his lasting legacy. Please respect the family’s privacy as we mourn our enormous loss.”
Carmen was born in Cleveland, Ohio on Aug. 11, 1949, and started singing and playing instruments from an early age. He was also a classically trained pianist. It was during his college years at John Carroll University that he joined a band called Cyrus Erie.
In his decades-long career, he delivered three top five hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including the No. 2-peaking ‘All By Myself’ in 1976, followed by the standout ‘Hungry Eyes,’ which was at No. 4 in 1988, and ‘Make Me Lose Control,’ a No. 3 hit, in the same year. Apart from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack Hungry Eyes,’ he also co-wrote ‘Almost Paradise… Love Theme from Footloose’ for the Footloose soundtrack.
Meanwhile, it was before his solo career that he recorded four albums with Raspberries from 1972 to 1974. His songs are certainly part of pop culture, including ‘Go All the Way’ being featured on the ‘Guardians of Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1’ soundtrack in 2014, and ‘Almost Paradise’ becoming the theme song to ‘The Bachelor’ spin-off ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ in 2014.
