Eric Carmen, frontman of the Raspberries who later found success as a writer of powerful ballads like "All By Myself," has died. He was 74.
The singer-songwriter died in his sleep, according to his wife Amy Carmen.
“It is with tremendous sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the passing of Eric Carmen,” she wrote. "It brought him great joy to know, that for decades, his music touched so many and will be his lasting legacy."
Formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1970, the Raspberries never achieved the fame of some of their contemporaries, but the group's big, melodic sound was influential in forming what critics labeled "power pop."
Bruce Springsteen called them "THE great underrated power pop masters.”
Carmen's songwriting talent shined in the band's biggest hit, "Go All The Way," described by AllMusic as "a magnificent fusion of Who-inspired guitar snarl and Beach Boys-styled vocal harmonies."
The song reached Number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 but was banned by the BBC because of its sexually suggestive lyrics.
Drawing inspiration from the Beatles and the powerful guitar sound of The Who, the Raspberries swam against the musical currents of their day, as rock moved in more ambitious - some would say pompous - directions.
"By the end of the 60s, it was all about bands like Jethro Tull noodling on flutes, or inferior guitarists playing 10-minute solos under the delusion that they were as good as Jimi Hendrix,” Carmen once recalled. “We reacted against that by writing melodic three-minute pop songs.”
After the Raspberries broke up in 1975, Carmen went on to a successful solo career with soaring ballads like "All By Myself" and "Hungry Eyes," which was featured in the 1980s movie Dirty Dancing. "All By Myself" was famously covered by Celine Dion years later.
Carmen also found radio play with songs like "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" and "Make Me Lose Control."
The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Carmen was vocal in later years about his support of President Trump, which brought backlash. When the Raspberries reunited in 2004 for a tour, Carmen was pleased to find the band was finally getting recognition.
“It’s more satisfying now to go onstage and play with these guys than it ever was,” Carmen told Cleveland newspaper The Plain Dealer in 2007.
“It’s also nice that after 30-some years, we finally seem to be eliciting the respect of the media and people who maybe the first time around didn’t quite get it.”
