Eric Carmen, whose aunt was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra, had a natural talent for music even as a kid. In 1970, he founded the Raspberries, known for their hit single "Go All The Way," which reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972.
He launched a successful solo career in 1975 with such hits as "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" and "All by Myself." In the chapters, you'll see two of his album covers, one of which also is used in this episode's thumbnail.
Carmen's songwriting continued to thrive in the 1980s, co-writing popular songs like "Almost Paradise" for "Footloose" and "Make Me Lose Control" for "Dirty Dancing."
You can go to YouTube to listen to Carmen singing "All by Myself" from "The Definitive Collection" album. And if you want to revisit the Raspberries' "Go All The Way," you can go here. There's also a live recording of the song by the band members who reunited decades later for a concert at The House of Blues Sunset Strip.
Carmen died in March 2024; no cause of death was given. The February 2025 issue of Rolling Stone has an intriguing piece about him. It's written by Andy Greene, who spent six months doing the interviews for it. The story is titled "ALL BY HIMSELF" and subtitled "Eric Carmen was a power-pop genius behind songs like ‘Go All the Way’ and ‘All by Myself,’ but the musician’s perfectionism, personal demons, and obsession with conspiracy theories haunted him until his still-unexplained death."
This tribute is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, wrote and recorded about the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's done tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.
Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.
This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.
