Eric Carmen, singer of "All By Myself" and "Hungry Eyes," has died at 74.
His wife Amy Carmen shared the news of his passing, saying he died in his sleep.
"It is with tremendous sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the passing of Eric Carmen. Our sweet, loving and talented Eric passed away in his sleep, over the weekend," Amy said in a statement on his website.
"It brought him great joy to know, that for decades, his music touched so many and will be his lasting legacy. Please respect the family's privacy as we mourn our enormous loss," she said.
No cause of death was revealed.
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Eric Carmen was born in Cleveland and was "singing before most kids could talk," he said in his website bio. Sensing his musical talents, his parents had already enrolled him at the Cleveland Institute of Music at 2 years old.
Carmen found inspiration in going to concerts with his grandmother, watching his Aunt Muriel play music, and in theater and films.
"After seeing The Beatles film, 'A Hard Day's Night,' I dropped everything and immediately decided I wanted to do THAT! I taught myself to play guitar (sort of) and joined my first band a few months later," Carmen wrote in his bio.
He was also moved by "West Side Story," which he saw 11 times.
Carmen rose to fame in 1970, when his band the Raspberries — of which he was the lead singer — went against the grain of what was considered "in" and made pop rock with melodies and power chords.
In 1975 he recorded his first solo album, self-titled "Eric Carmen." Its song "All By Myself" became the first single and became a top five international record. He went on to record several more albums.
Carmen went on to write for "Footloose" and later produced "Hungry Eyes" for "Dirty Dancing." He was nominated for a Grammy for his work on "Footloose" in 1985.
In 2004, the Raspberries reunited after over 30 years to perform at the new House of Blues in Cleveland, with the show selling out in four minutes. They embarked on a mini-tour the following year.
The group's final performance was in December 2007 at Cleveland's KeyBank State Theatre, according to CNN.
