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Eric Carmen, an innovative force in the rise of power-pop both with his group The Raspberries and as a solo artist, has died. He was 74.
“It is with tremendous sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the passing of Eric Carmen,” his wife, Amy Carmen, wrote on the singer’s website. “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. ‘Love Is All That Matters… Faithful and Forever.’”
The Cleveland-born musician formed the Raspberries in 1970. The band originally sprang from two of the most successful local Cleveland bands of the late 60s. Drummer Jim Bonfanti and guitar-and-vocal duo Wally Bryson and Dave Smalley played with The Choir, whose breezy, Merseybeat-styled “It’s Cold Outside” was a minor US hit and later featured on Rhino’s landmark garage rock box set Nuggets. Bryson went on to join budding singer-songwriter Eric Carmen in a second hotly-tipped Cleveland outfit, Cyrus Erie, whose Carmen/Bryson original “Get The Message” was released as a single by Epic.
After The Choir and Cyrus Erie both split, Carmen, Bryson, and Bonfanti formed Raspberries, initially with guitarist John Aleksic. In 1971, however, Aleksic was replaced by Dave Smalley, who had recently returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam. With their classic line-up in place, Raspberries recorded an accomplished studio demo, provoking a major-label bidding war for the band’s signatures from which Capitol Records emerged victorious.
Future Bay City Rollers producer Jimmy Ienner had already been impressed by the band’s demo and Capitol duly paired him off with Raspberries to oversee the sessions for the group’s eponymous debut at New York’s Record Plant and Abbey Road studios in London.
Released in April 1972, Raspberries’ sleeve showed off the band’s elaborate, bouffant-style hairdos – and the music within was equally opulent. Tunes such as the delicate “Waiting” and the yearning “Don’t Want To Say Goodbye” were augmented by discreet, “Yesterday”-style strings, while Carmen’s show-stopping “I Can Remember” evolved from fragile, melancholic ballad to barnstorming, Who-esque bombast over the course of eight exhilarating minutes.
The band split in 1975 after two underrated gems, Side 3 and 1974s Starting Over, at which point Carmen endeavored on a highly successful solo career. He released a number of celebrated singles and albums, including tracks like “Hungry Eyes” and “All By Myself.”
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