Born August 11, 1949 in Cleveland, Ohio, Carmen was interested in music from a young age. He was classically taught on piano, and self-taught on guitar.
He gained prominence as the frontman of the 1970s rock group the Raspberries. Carmen was the lead singer, played guitar and piano, and wrote most of the band’s songs. Their hits include “I Wanna Be with You,” “Let’s Pretend,” and their best-known song “Go All the Way.”
The band was regarded as “uncool” by many rock fans and critics — with their matching suits, the band maintained an intentionally squeaky-clean image that made them stand out from the other bands of their time.
“Almost every band had hair down to their waist and beards and ripped jeans and they looked like a bunch of hippies, and I wanted to get as far away from that as I could,” Carmen told The Observer in 2017.
Despite their unhip image, the band had some high-profile fans including John Lennon and Ringo Starr, and are regarded as pioneers in the power pop music style.
The Raspberries disbanded in 1975, and Carmen embarked on a solo career. Shifting gears from his earlier rock compositions, he wrote two songs based on classical pieces by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
The first was perhaps his best-known solo hit: “All By Myself.” The power ballad reached #2 on the Billboard 100 and was certified gold.
The song has been frequently referenced and parodied in pop culture and often shows up in movies and TV shows. A 1996 cover version by Celine Dion was also a major hit.
Carmen’s follow-up single, “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again,” was also a hit. While his solo career took a downturn, he made a comeback in the mid 1980s, and scored another major hit with “Hungry Eyes,” featured on the hugely successful Dirty Dancing soundtrack.
The Raspberries reunited for a short concert tour in 2004; it was well-received by critics and spawned two lives albums. The band also received renewed popularity when “Go All the Way” was featured in the 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy.
In 2013, Carmen released “Brand New Year,” his first single in over 15 years.
Carmen was married three times; he married his wife Amy, a former newscaster, in 2016.
