Eric Carmen, Raspberries Frontman and ‘All By Myself’ Singer, Dies at 74
Eric Carmen, whose plaintive vocals
soared above the crunching guitars of the 1970s power-pop pioneers the
Raspberries before his soft-rock crooning made him a mainstay of 1980s
music, has died. He was 74.
His death was announced on his website
by his wife, Amy Carmen. She did not give a cause or specify where he
died, saying only that he died “in his sleep, over the weekend.”
The
Raspberries, formed in Cleveland, burst onto the American rock scene in
1972 with their debut album, titled simply “The Raspberries.” It
featured a raspberry-scented scratch-and-sniff sticker and the group’s
biggest hit, “Go All the Way,” a provocative song for its day, sung from the point of view of a young woman.
In
2013, Dave Swanson of the website Ultimate Classic Rock called it “the
definitive power pop song of all time,” as the emerging style, known for
grafting bright ’60s-era vocal harmonies onto the heavy guitar riffs of
the ’70s, would come to be called.
“The opening Who-like blast leads into a very Beatles-esque verse, before landing in some forgotten Beach Boys chorus,” he wrote.
“Thus was the magic of the Raspberries song craft. They were able to
take the best parts and ideas from the previous decade, and morph them
into something new, yet familiar.”
