Eric Howard Carmen (born August 11, 1949, in Cleveland, Ohio) is a Jewish American singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist.
In 1970, he formed The Raspberries, a rock and roll band who were amongst the chief exponents of the power pop style. In 1975, after the breakup of The Raspberries, he started his solo career, deemphasizing harder rock elements in favor of soft rock in the style of Elton John.
His first solo single, "That's Rock 'N' Roll" failed to chart, but was later remade as a hit for Shaun Cassidy. His next two releases were both hits in 1976. Both were based on melodies by Sergei Rachmaninoff: " All By Myself", based on Piano Concerto No. 2 hit #2 in the US (and #12 in the UK, where it would be his only charting hit); "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", based on Symphony No. 2 reached #14.
Carmen followed up with three more albums (and declining chart fortunes, though the singles "She Did It" and "Change of Heart" broke the top 40) between 1977 and 1980, before temporarily withdrawing from the music industry. Five years later, after Mike Reno and Ann Wilson topped the charts with the Carmen-penned ballad "Almost Paradise," he resurfaced on Geffen with a second self-titled album and a further top 40 hit, "I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips." A track from that album, "Maybe Your Baby," later became a country hit for Louise Mandrell.
However, it was a few more years before Carmen made a real pop culture comeback with two songs: 1 from the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, "Hungry Eyes" and also "Make Me Lose Control". Both songs became Top 5 hits on the music charts. However, Carmen did not follow these hits with a new album, and disappeared from view for the next decade.
