- Title: USA: SINGER--SONGWRITER ERIC CARMEN RESUMES CAREER AFTER A 20-YEAR BREAK
- Date: 13th April 2000
- Summary: NEW YORK, UNITED STATES RECENT (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ERIC CARMEN saying "I had reached a point, I was living in Los Angeles. I had been recording for many years, and I was in a particular situation where I was not enjoying it, and I was not being given the freedom to do things they way I thought they should be done. I wasn't happy with the results and the label
- Embargoed: 28th April 2000 13:00
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- Location: NEW YORK CITY, AND CLEVELAND, OHIO, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVAEDQH8RK394B0CW0OGO5410GXN
- Story Text: Singer-songwriter Eric Carmen has resumed his performing career after a 20-year hiatus Eric Carmen is back.He is best identified with his 1975 hit "All By Myself." The single was so infectious that many other artists recorded it, including Frank Sinatra, Sheryl Crow and Celine Dion.
Carmen himself sang it before an audience on March 20, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.It had been 20 years since his last public performance.
He told Reuters TV recently that his early inspiration came from the British rock and roll invasion, from the Beatles."I looked at these four odd lads and said 'What is it? I've got to figure this out.' And we got to bring in records and they would play the "Meet the Beatles" album over and over again in our class.And I began to see, you know, these are not dummy songs.They're pretty sophisticated even though they sound kind of simple and they're played with a couple of guitars and drums.And then the Hollywood Strings did an album of Beatle songs and it became totally apparent that these are songs that stood up to an orchestra an arrangement or rock and roll.And I said, 'Wow, I could kind of get into this.' And right about the same time a couple of other things happened.I liked the stones and I loved the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson's songwriting and the Byrds.And I said, 'I want to do this.I want to give this a try."
Carmen was, indeed, a songwriter.He formed the legendary "Raspberries" and wrote for them a series of smash hit singles including, "Go All The Way," "I Wanna Be With You," and "Let's Pretend."
Carmen began his solo career in 1975, and he recorded the international hit "All By My Self." He had hits in the 1980s, too -- "Hungary Eyes from the "Dirty Dancing" movie soundtrack, and "Make Me Lose Control," which was at the top of the adult contemporary list.
Despite all of this, Carmen was not happy.He told Reuters TV,
"I had reached a point -- I was living in Los Angeles.I had been recording for many years, and I was in a particular situation where I was not enjoying it, and I was not being given the freedom to do things they way I thought they should be done.I wasn't happy with the results and the label wasn't happy with the results and at a certain point, since it had ceased being any fun, I said, 'Maybe I don't want to do this anymore.' And I took a nice long vacation of a couple of years off and wrote songs and wrote some songs for other people.It's a lot less of a headache."
But Carmen is recording again.His new album, released in February, is called "I Was Born To Love You." Carmen said it came about because he did it his way."Some people came to me and said what would it take for you to do an album again.I said, 'You give me the money.I'll give you the record.That's it that's your total involvement.I don't want anybody picking songs for me, telling me who should produce the the record.' And they said 'OK'.And I said 'OK then we can do that.' So, I went into the studio and me and an engineer pretty much for about 2 years.And we recorded this new album."
And Carmen is performing with a band again.He will be touring this summer with Ringo Starr and his All Star Band.
Keeping in mind that the Beatles were Carmen's first inspiration, he is looking forward to the summer tour."I'm playing in the band.I'm playing with Ringo," Carmen announced."He's going to play drums on All By Myself.I'm going to sing A Little Help from My Friends.Ringo's going to answer.Very cool."
Carmen lives in Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife and two children. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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