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American singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist Eric Carmen, former member of The Raspberries, performs at Alex Cooley's Electric Ballroom on November 10, 1975 in Atlanta, Georgia.
CNN
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Eric Carmen, former lead singer of The Raspberries and singer of “All By Myself,” has died. His website. According to IMDb, he is 74 years old.
“It is with great sadness that we share the heartbreaking news that Eric Carmen has passed away,” a post on his website read. “Our sweet, loving and talented Eric passed away in his sleep, over the weekend.”
“It brought him great joy to know that, over the decades, his music touched so many and will be his lasting legacy,” the post said.
No cause of death was reported.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Carmen rose to fame as the frontman of the 1970s pop-rock group The Raspberries, whose sleek haircuts and matching suits seemed to epitomize the uniform look of The Beatles and other defining groups of the British Invasion.
“We became very popular in 1970 by going completely against the grain,” Carmen wrote in her post Website bio. “Prog-rock was 'in' and FM radio was clutching it to its chest. I hated it. I loved The Beatles, The Who, The Byrds, Stones, The Beach Boys and Small Faces. I loved bands I could write about!”
Together, the band released hits including “I Wanna Be With You” and the provocative “Go All the Way” – sung from a woman's perspective. But it doesn't take long for the group to crack.
“Critics loved us, girls loved us, but their 18-year-old, album-buying brothers said 'no,'” Carmen wrote. “We got frustrated and exploded.”
After the band broke up in 1975, Carmen built her solo career on knockout ballads like “All By Myself” — later belted to legendary heights by Celine Dion — and “Hungry Eyes,” which provided a steamy soundtrack backdrop to the intense romance between. Johnny and Baby in “Dirty Dancing”.
Another of Carmen's most memorable hits was written for the film soundtrack. He also co-wrote “Almost Paradise”, the romantic theme from the movie “Footloose”, performed by Mike Reno and Ann Wilson. The song earned him his only Grammy nomination when the soundtrack was in the running for Best Album of an Original Score Written for a Motion Picture.
“All By Myself,” “Make Me Lose Control” and “Hungry Eyes” peaked in the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100, each spending more than four months on the chart. In total, 13 of Carmen's songs charted.
Carmen declined to join The Raspberry in 1999 to release the “Raspberry Refreshed” EP. But he joined them onstage for a show at Cleveland's House of Blues in 2004, and the group briefly toured in 2005, according to Case Western Reserves. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.
The group's final performance was at Cleveland's Keybank State Theater in December 2007.
This story has been updated with additional information.
