'Awful news': Raspberries frontman Eric Carmen's death at 74 leaves fans devastated

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Legendary Raspberries frontman Eric Carmen has died at the age of 74. The lead singer’s wife Amy made his death public via his official website.

“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. 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 wrote.

Amy further noted, "Love Is All That Matters. Love Is All That Matters… Faithful and Forever," referring to his memorable song.

Eric Carmen's illustrious career

Carmen shot to fame after starting as a frontman with his 1970s band Raspberries. His songs quickly proved popular, starting with ‘Let’s Pretend', ‘Overnight Sensation', ‘I Wanna Be With You', and ‘Go All the Way'.

Carmen then went solo and achieved great success with ‘Never Gonna Fall in Love Again', and 'Hungry Eyes'.

'All by Myself' was one of his biggest hits and even found a place in hit movies, including 'To Die For', 'Clueless', 'Almost Famous', and 'Bridget Jones's Diary', reports USA Today. Celine Dion also did a cover of the hit song.

Carmen told Entertainment Weekly after a brief Raspberries reunion in the early 2000s, "People used to ask me 'Why don’t you guys get together and just play one gig?' Because it takes the same amount of preparation for one good show as a six-month tour," he told the outlet.

He added, "I never wanted to be the guy to put this band back on a stage and pop everyone’s bubble and have them go home saying 'Oh, they weren’t that good.' Plus, it may have taken that long to forget the drunken parking-lot fight that marked the band’s end. But 30 years have passed, and everybody is a grown-up now, with a life."

”When I was writing ‘Go All the Way,’ I’d seen how the Stones were forced to change their lyrics to ‘Let’s spend some time together’ on Ed Sullivan. And I was listening to Pet Sounds, where Brian Wilson is talking about sleeping with his girlfriend, but in an innocent way, and getting away with it. I thought, If we sing this like choirboys and put the words in the girl’s mouth, maybe we can slide this by radio! And it worked,” he further said.

The cause of his death is unknown as of now.

Fans devastated by singer's death

The popular singer's unexpected demise has shattered his ardent fans. One of them wrote on social media, "Very sad news hearing Eric Carmen has passed away at the age of 74. His music and legacy lives on and will continue to transcend the test of time and be forever a favorite for those who listen..."

"Awful News. Eric Carmen has died. Although known to many for writing radio hits like “All By Myself” and others, Eric was a true rocker at heart. His voice had elements of McCartney and Steve Marriott," said another. A fan reacted, "Out in the garage reminiscing after hearing the sad news. RIP Eric Carmen 😞"

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.