| Eric Carr |
Eric Carr was the drummer in Kiss
from 1980 until his death in 1991.
|
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Paul Charles Caravello |
| Also known as |
“The Fox” |
| Born |
July 12, 1950(1950-07-12)
Brooklyn, New York, USA |
| Died |
November 24, 1991 (aged 41)
New York, New York, USA |
| Genres |
Hard rock, heavy metal |
| Occupations |
Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments |
Drums, guitar, vocals, piano, bass |
| Years active |
1965-1991 |
| Labels |
Casablanca, Mercury |
| Associated acts |
The Cellarmen, Salt & Pepper, Creation, Mother Nature/Father Time, Bionic Boogie, Lightning, Flasher, Frehley's Comet, Kiss |
| Website |
http://www.ericcarr.com/ |
Paul Charles Caravello (July 12, 1950 – November 24, 1991), better known as Eric Carr, was an American musician, best known as drummer for the rock band Kiss. Caravello was selected as the new Kiss drummer after Peter Criss left the band in 1980. He remained a band member until he became ill with heart cancer and died in 1991.
Audition for Kiss and name change
Following two albums that alienated many fans with their departure in style (1979's Dynasty and 1980's Unmasked), and a falling-out with Peter Criss over his substance abuse problems and unreliability[1], Kiss held open auditions for a new drummer. Criss had not recorded an entire studio album with Kiss since 1977's Love Gun with the exception of his solo album Peter Criss (released as a Kiss album in 1978).
Audition
Caravello was working as an oven repair man for his father while playing drums in a variety of bands when Peter Criss left Kiss. Caravello, who had played in cover bands throughout the 1970s, was told by former Flasher bandmate Paul Torino that he should audition for Kiss. Taking his advice, Caravello purchased a copy of Unmasked to get information on contacting Kiss's management. After submitting an application (a day after the deadline), he met with Kiss manager Bill Aucoin who advised Caravello to shave off his mustache for the audition for fear the band "wouldn't be able to see past it". Along with the application, Caravello submitted a cassette tape of Kiss's current single "Shandi" but with his vocals over the music instead of Paul Stanley's. "It sounded great!" he enthused years later in a fanzine interview.[2]
Caravello was the last drummer to audition for the band and actually asked Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley for autographs, in case he never saw them again. "But I knew I had it", he told a fanzine in 1990. According to Caravello, his audition was videotaped.[2]
Character and stage persona
After Caravello passed the audition, the band, under tight deadline, had some trouble coming up with a character persona and a stage name for him. Caravello originally considered going by the name "Rusty Blade", until he decided on Eric Carr, noting that Peter Criss' name was two syllables followed by a single syllable, the inverse of the other three band members' names. He decided to make his stage name sound the same rhythmically as Peter Criss' when people said all four names together. Carr was shortened from his birth name Caravello, and he chose Eric from a list of first names his girlfriend at the time had given him. Paul Caravello remained his legal name. [3]
For his Kiss persona, Carr was provisionally given "The Hawk"; this concept was apparently very difficult to realize - a suitable make-up design was never created, and the "Hawk" costume was a "bright ORANGE-YELLOW!"[4]. With the band on deadline (only two weeks before Carr's stage debut), Carr came up with the make-up design for the persona of "The Fox"; Simmons liked it and thus the character was born. The original design was modified within days of Carr's initial photo sessions.[5] Carr was introduced to the public on an episode of Kids Are People Too!, and his first public performance was with the band in New York City's "The Palladium" venue on July 25, 1980. His persona remained consistent for three years until the band's well-publicized removal of their stage makeup in September 1983, live on MTV network. "I thought the band was ending, and they weren't telling me", he told a fanzine editor in June, 1990.[6] Kiss slowly turned their career descent into a rebound, and the band thrived. Carr earned a reputation amongst fans for being unusually friendly and approachable. He answered more mail than other band members, and often added messages to his autographs. Despite being a replacement member, his popularity soared among fans based on this personal decency and well-honed percussion skills.
Music career
Carr's first album with Kiss was 1981's Music from "The Elder", which marked a departure for the band towards a mystical art-rock direction. One of Carr's contributions to the album, "Under the Rose", featured a Gregorian chant-style chorus. Later, he would also have co-writer credits on "All Hell's Breakin' Loose", "Under the Gun", and "No, No, No", amongst others. Carr said he found writing lyrics harder than writing music.
Influences and style
Carr was influenced by John Bonham of Led Zeppelin and Ringo Starr of The Beatles.[7] Carr idolized Starr when he first saw The Beatles; photographs of Carr during his high school years show him wearing his hair like the Beatles drummer did. His interest in double bass drumming came from his admiration of Ginger Baker.[citation needed] Carr also had a love of all types of music; songwriter Adam Mitchell once described Carr as knowing a lot about folk, R&B and other non-rock styles.[citation needed]
Besides drumming, Carr also played guitar, bass guitar, and piano and sang background vocals. Occasionally he sang lead vocals, such as "Black Diamond" and "Young and Wasted" live with Kiss.[8] His first lead vocal in the studio was when the classic Kiss track "Beth" (originally sung by Peter Criss) was re-recorded for the 1988 compilation album Smashes, Thrashes & Hits. Carr recorded his version of the song using the same backing track as Criss, and reportedly sat on the same drum throne as Criss did to record the song.[citation needed] In 1989 he sang lead vocal on a self-penned, studio track titled "Little Caesar" (originally called "Ain't That Peculiar") from Hot in the Shade. Carr's last live performance with Kiss was November 9, 1990 in New York City, at Madison Square Garden.
Gene Simmons, Kiss bassist, has stated[9] that Carr's harder drumming style pushed Kiss into becoming a heavier band than it had been when jazz-inspired Peter Criss was the band's drummer.
Rockology and Rockheads
Former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick, along with Carr's family, released Carr's first and only solo album in 1999 titled Rockology, which featured many demos that Kulick and Carr worked on together (along with songwriter and friend Adam Mitchell). The CD features several songs with Carr on lead vocals as well as on bass guitar, along with Kulick on guitars and Mitchell assisting Carr with many of the background vocals. This album includes "Somebody's Waiting" and "Tiara", a song that he originally wrote for his planned children's cartoon show called Rockheads, a rock band parody featuring four characters (Slider, Clive, Scruffy and Punky) with different characteristics and personalities.[10]
Death
Following the tour for the album Hot in the Shade, Carr began coughing up blood. Medical tests revealed what at first appeared to be manageable problems with his health[11]. Before long, however, he was diagnosed with an unexpectedly serious and extremely rare type of cancer - heart cancer. Carr underwent surgeries to remove tumors in his right atrium and lungs in an effort to restore heart function and prevent the cancer's growth. Carr recovered enough to fly to Los Angeles to be with the band to play drums, but they told him to go home and get well. He then cut off all communication with Stanley and Simmons. With aggressive treatment the cancer went into remission and Carr's health began to improve. However, not long afterwards he suffered from an aneurysm and was rushed to hospital. He survived this episode, but it was only a matter of days before he suffered a brain hemorrhage caused by cancer cells transported in his bloodstream to the head.[citation needed] Carr died on November 24, 1991, at the age of 41[12] (coincidentally the same date as Queen singer Freddie Mercury's death). In keeping with Carr's accessibility to his fans, his family decided to open his funeral service to the public, and reserved the interment as a private event. [13]
Carr is interred in Cedar Hill Cemetery in the Town of Newburgh, New York.[14]
Last recording
Carr's last recording with Kiss was for the song "God Gave Rock 'N Roll To You II", which featured him on backing vocals. His health had deteriorated to the point where he was unable to play drums for the recording session, and Eric Singer (who had played previously in Paul Stanley's solo band) was brought in, though Carr appeared in the video for the song.
Tributes
As a tribute, the group's 1992 release Revenge featured what is said to be the only drum solo Carr ever recorded with the band,[8] entitled "Carr Jam 1981", a jam session recorded for the Music From "The Elder" sessions (former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley's original guitar part was overdubbed by Bruce Kulick). Much of the soloing was seasoned during Kiss' 1980 Unmasked Tour of Europe and Australia, and put down during The Elder sessions, since that album was recorded following that tour.[citation needed] Revenge was also dedicated to Carr. He was also homaged on the Kiss My Ass video, as well as Kissology 2. However, the band declined a tribute concert that was requested by numerous fans the year after his passing, claiming that "our hearts just wouldn't be in it".[citation needed]
A further tribute was produced in 1992, called Eric Carr: The Memorial Tribute. It was first broadcast live on 88.1 FM / WCWP, where Carr had been interviewed 3 years earlier while doing press for the Hot in the Shade album.[citation needed] Running for approximately 3 hours, the tribute featured a re-broadcast of the interview, interspersed with biographical information and details of Carr's extracurricular projects, along with all the officially-released songs Carr had written or co-written. Though broadcast just once, Eric Carr: The Memorial Tribute was released several years later (seemingly in an unofficial capacity) as a 2-tape box set, designed to resemble the Kiss solo albums. It featured a newly-commissioned painting of Carr in his fox make-up, patterned after the rarely-seen original by Eraldo Carugati (the artist who did the paintings for the original four Kiss solo album covers, plus one of Carr that was never officially released).[citation needed]
Carr was inducted into the Rock Walk Hall of Fame at Guitar Center in Hollywood, CA.[citation needed] Carr's parents, as well as former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley, accepted on his behalf. Also, on numerous solo tours since Carr's death, Ace Frehley would play "Breakout" (with lyrics written by Carr and Frehley and later re-recorded as "Carr Jam '81" on Kiss' Revenge album) and dedicate it to Carr, whom Frehley hopes is "checking out the show up there". Frehley also dedicated his 2009 solo album Anomaly to Carr.
Discography
Other albums
References
- ^ Lendt, Chris (1997). Kiss and Sell. Billboard Press.
- ^ a b Kiss Alliance recorded interview, Providence, RI, June 20, 1990
- ^ Jan. 2008 issue Kiss Destroyer fanzine (Kiss Army Sweden) from recorded phone interview, April, 1990
- ^ Sherman (2009), Black Diamond, pp. 125-6.
- ^ See People Magazine cover photo,1980: "KISS, they're Rich, Raunchy, and not so Repulisve"Insert footnote text here
- ^ Recorded interview
- ^ www.ericcarr.com/tribute/biography/index.html
- ^ a b Sherman, Dale. Black Diamond - The Unauthorized Biography of KISS. CG Publishing, 1997. ISBN 1-896522-35-1
- ^ (VHS) Kiss Exposed. Polygram Video. 1987.
- ^ [1] Eric Carr on Answers.com, retrieved June 2008.
- ^ Recorded Telephone Interview, April 1991.
- ^ "Eric Carr, 41, Is Dead; Rock Band's Drummer". New York Times. 26 November 1991. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/26/obituaries/eric-carr-41-is-dead-rock-band-s-drummer.html. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
- ^ Kiss Central
- ^ "Eric Carr". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/php/famous.php?page=date&previousJumpTo=&previousFameFilter=&FSbirthmonth=&FSbirthday=&FSbirthyear=&FSdeathmonth=7&FSdeathday=22&FSdeathyear=&page=date&FSbirthmonth=7&FSbirthday=12&FSdeathmonth=11&FSdeathday=24&jumpTo=1&fameLevel=somewhat. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
- Sherman, Dale (2009). Black Diamond: The Unauthorized Biography of Kiss (10th Anniversary Edition). Ontario, CANADA: CG Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-1-894959-92-6.
External links
