Kim Carnes
Encyclopedia
Kim Carnes is an American singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner noted for her distinctive raspy vocal style. Some people have called her "The Female Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....

" due to her raspy voice.

Early career

After writing songs for many years, Kim Carnes signed her first publishing deal in 1969 with famed producer Jimmy Bowen
Jimmy Bowen
Jimmy Bowen is an American record producer and former pop music performer.Bowen was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico. He began as a teenage recording star in 1957 with "I'm Stickin' With You," originally the flip side of the hit record "Party Doll" by Buddy Knox, but ultimately a Top 20 recording...

. During this period, she shared demo-recording time with Bowen's other writers, including Don Henley
Don Henley
Donald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up...

, Glenn Frey
Glenn Frey
Glenn Lewis Frey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Frey formed the Eagles after he met drummer Don Henley in 1970 and the two eventually joined Linda Ronstadt's backup band for her summer tour. The Eagles formed in 1971 and...

, and J.D. Souther. Carnes also sang "Nobody Knows", written by Mike Settle
Mike Settle
Mike Settle, is an American songwriter, journalist, broadcaster and singer. He is most famous for being a member of the Rock band Kenny Rogers & The First Edition between 1967 and 1970...

, which was featured in the end credits of the 1971 film, Vanishing Point. The film also featured Carnes's first selection as a songwriter, "Sing Out for Jesus", which was recorded by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton
Big Mama Thornton
Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million...

.

Her first album, Rest on Me, produced by Jimmy Bowen, was released in 1972. Her self-titled album in 1975 contained her first charted hit, "You're a Part Of Me" (No. 32 AC). This album was followed in 1976 by Sailin', produced by the legendary Jerry Wexler
Jerry Wexler
Gerald "Jerry" Wexler was a music journalist turned music producer, and was regarded as one of the major record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s...

. One selection, "Love Comes from Unexpected Places", won Best Composition at the 1977 American Song Festival and gained additional notice after it was recorded by Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...

 on her 1977 album Streisand Superman
Streisand Superman
Streisand Superman is an album released in 1977 by American singer Barbra Streisand.The single "My Heart Belongs to Me" became a hit in 1977, peaking at #4 on the U.S...

.
Streisand also recorded Carnes's "Stay Away" on her 1978 album Songbird
Songbird (Barbra Streisand album)
Songbird is a studio album by Barbra Streisand, released in 1978. The album includes Streisand's solo version of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers". She also subsequently recorded this song as a duet with Neil Diamond and this version topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two non-consecutive weeks in...

.
In spite of Streisand's endorsement of her material, Carnes's own Top 40 breakthrough did not occur till 1978, when Gene Cotton
Gene Cotton
Gene Cotton is a pop and folk singer-songwriter. He is best known for his four Billboard Top 40 entries during the years 1976–1978.-History:...

 recruited her to record a duet version of "You're a Part of Me", which reached No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1979, she recorded a single using the pseudonym Connie con Carne titled "She Dances With Meat."

In 1980 her duet with Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...

 "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer
Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer
"Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" is the title of a song written by David Ellingson and Kim Carnes and recorded by Kenny Rogers and Carnes as a duet. It was released in March 1980 as the first single from Rogers' album Gideon. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and #1...

" became a major hit on the Pop (No. 4), Country (No. 3) and AC (No. 2) charts. The song was culled from Rogers's concept album, Gideon, which was written entirely by Carnes and her husband Dave Ellingson. Later that year, her cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of the Smokey Robinson & The Miracles song "More Love" became her first solo Top 10 hit (No. 10 Pop, No. 6 AC).

"Bette Davis Eyes"

In 1981, Carnes recorded the Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon is an American singer-songwriter with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock 'n' roll period.- Life and early career :...

 and Donna Weiss song "Bette Davis Eyes
Bette Davis Eyes
"Bette Davis Eyes" is a song written in 1974 by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon and made popular by American singer-songwriter Kim Carnes.-History:...

". As the first single released from the album Mistaken Identity
Mistaken Identity (Kim Carnes album)
Mistaken Identity, released in 1981, is the sixth studio album by Kim Carnes.It spent four weeks as number one on Billboard magazine's Pop Albums chart, and was subsequently certified platinum...

,
it spent nine weeks at number one on the US singles charts and became a worldwide hit. The song's success propelled the album to No. 1 for four weeks. The single became the biggest hit of the entire year of 1981, and is second only to Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...

's "Physical
Physical (Olivia Newton-John song)
"Physical" is a song by Australian pop singer Olivia Newton-John, released in September 1981. The song was an immediate success, shipping 2 million copies in the United States, being certified Platinum, and spending 10 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, ultimately becoming Newton-John's...

" as the biggest hit of the 1980s in the USA, according to Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

. The song earned both the Record of the Year
Record Of The Year
Record of the Year may refer to:*Grammy Award for Record of the Year*The Record of the Year, a British award based on public polling...

 and Song of the Year
Grammy Award for Song of the Year
The Song of the Year is one of the four most prestigious awards in the Grammy Awards ceremony, if not in all of the American music industry. It has been awarded since 1959 and unlike the Record of the Year award, which goes to the performer and production team of a single song, Song of the Year...

 awards at the 1982 Grammys
Grammy Awards of 1982
The 24th Grammy Awards were held February 24, 1982, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1981...

. Carnes was nominated for Best Pop Female and Mistaken Identity also earned a nomination for Album of the Year. Two follow-up singles from Mistaken Identity, "Draw of the Cards" and the title track, were both released during 1981.

"Bette Davis Eyes" was written by Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon is an American singer-songwriter with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock 'n' roll period.- Life and early career :...

 and Donna Weiss in 1974. Carnes and her band rehearsed the song in the studio for three days to take the melody and overall sound of the record to a darker, more haunting place. Keyboard player Bill Cuomo came up with the signature instrumental lick and together with the band and producer Val Garay created a completely new arrangement of the song, which was recorded live the next day with no overdubs.

Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...

 admitted to being a fan of the song and approached Carnes and the songwriters to thank them. Davis wrote to Carnes after the song was released saying she loved the song. "It was a thrill to become a part of the rock generation", she said in her memoir This 'N That
This 'N That
This 'N That is a memoir written by the actress Bette Davis and Michael Herskovitz, first published in 1987.As Davis had already written a successful autobiography, The Lonely Life, published in 1962, she had discussed in some detail the most important years of her acting career...

. Davis' grandson, Ashley, told the screen legend she had "finally made it". Carnes and Davis struck up a special friendship, with the singer visiting her at her home several times until her 1989 death. In what she considers a career highlight , Carnes performed the song live for Davis at a tribute to the legendary actress held just before her death. Most recently, the song has been used in a 2008 Clairol
Clairol
Clairol is a personal care products division of Procter & Gamble. The Clairol company was started in 1931 by Lawrence M. Gelb and wife, Joan, who named their enterprise after a hair-coloring preparation they found while traveling in France....

 Nice 'n Easy TV commercial in the United Kingdom. The ad featuring the song has expanded into South Africa and other territories around the world. In 2008, the song was featured in the opening scene of the documentary film, Valentino: The Last Emperor
Valentino: The Last Emperor
Valentino: The Last Emperor is a documentary film about the life of Valentino Garavani. It was produced and directed by Matt Tyrnauer, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine. The film is an exploration of the singular world of one of Italy's most famous men, Valentino Garavani...

.

Later career

Carnes' later Hot 100 hits included the top 15 charter "Crazy in the Night
Crazy in the Night
"Crazy in the Night" is a 1985 hit single released from Kim Carnes's album Barking at Airplanes.The single reached number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was the last time she would hit the Top 20 in her career; the track also reached number 24 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart.The song also...

" (from Barking at Airplanes) and "What About Me?" with Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...

 and James Ingram
James Ingram
James Ingram is an American soul musician. He is best known as a vocalist. He is also a self-taught musician who plays piano, guitar, bass, drums and keyboards...

. Carnes reached the AC Top 10 four times after "Bette Davis Eyes" with "I Pretend" (No. 9), "What About Me?" (No. 1), "Make No Mistake, He's Mine
Make No Mistake, He's Mine
"Make No Mistake, He's Mine" is a popular hit recorded by Barbra Streisand and Kim Carnes. This track, written and co-produced by Carnes, was recorded and released on Streisand's 1984 album Emotion...

" with Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...

 (No. 8) (co-produced by Carnes with Bill Cuomo) and "Crazy in Love" (No. 10). On January 19, 1985, Carnes had the distinction of being on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot 100 with three singles simultaneously, "What About Me", "Make No Mistake, He's Mine" and "Invitation to Dance", from the soundtrack to the film, That's Dancing!
That's Dancing!
That's Dancing! is a 1985 retrospective documentary produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that looked back at the history of dancing in film. Unlike the That's Entertainment! series, this film did not focus specifically on MGM films and included more recent performances by the likes of John Travolta and...

This meant she was on the chart as a solo artist in addition to being part of a duo and a trio.

Carnes was nominated for two more Grammys – Best Pop Female for Voyeur, and Best Rock Female for "Invisible Hands". In 1983, Kim's song, "I'll Be Here Where the Heart Is", was included on the Flashdance soundtrack which received a Grammy for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture. Carnes was one of the singers invited to perform on USA for Africa
USA for Africa
USA for Africa was the name under which forty-seven predominantly U.S. artists, led by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, recorded the hit single "We Are the World" in 1985. The song was a US and UK Number One for the collective in April of that year...

's 1985 famine relief fundraising single "We Are the World
We Are the World
"We Are the World" is a song and charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World...

" and can be seen in the music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 and heard singing the last line of the song's bridge with Huey Lewis
Huey Lewis
Huey Lewis is an American musician, songwriter and occasional actor.Lewis sings lead and plays harmonica for his band Huey Lewis and the News, in addition to writing or co-writing many of the band's songs...

 and Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...

. In 1987 she sang the song "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own" in a duet with Jeffrey Osborne
Jeffrey Osborne
Jeffrey Linton Osborne is an American funk and R&B musician, songwriter, lyricist, and former lead singer of the band, L.T.D.-Early life and career:...

 for the soundtrack to the movie Spaceballs
Spaceballs
Spaceballs is a 1987 American science fiction comedy parody film co-written by, directed by, Mel Brooks and starring Bill Pullman, John Candy, Mel Brooks & Rick Moranis. It also features, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, and the voice of Joan Rivers. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on...

. She also sang a duet of the Johnny Cash classic, "Ring of Fire
Ring of Fire (song)
"Ring of Fire" or "The Ring of Fire" is a country music song popularized by Johnny Cash and co-written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore. The single appears on Cash's 1963 compilation album, Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash...

", with Jeff Bridges, for the film The Contender.

Several of Carnes songs, including "Voyeur", "I'll Be Here Where the Heart Is" and "Gypsy Honeymoon" were hits for her in countries throughout Europe and South America. As a songwriter, she has had two No. 1 country singles. Her duet with Barbra Streisand was re-recorded as "Make No Mistake, She's Mine
Make No Mistake, She's Mine
"Make No Mistake, She's Mine" is a duet single recorded by country pop artists Ronnie Milsap and Kenny Rogers in 1987.The song topped the Billboard country charts and peaked at #42 on the Adult Contemporary...

" by Ronnie Milsap
Ronnie Milsap
Ronnie Lee Milsap is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country’s most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s...

 and Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...

 which was a No. 1 Country and No. 42 AC hit in 1987. She also wrote "The Heart Won't Lie
The Heart Won't Lie
"The Heart Won't Lie" is a duet between American country music artists Reba McEntire and Vince Gill that reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart...

", a No. 1 duet for Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

 and Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...

 in 1993. Co-writing with others, Carnes has had songs covered by such country stars as Deana Carter
Deana Carter
Deana Carter is a country music artist who broke through in 1996 with the release of debut album Did I Shave My Legs for This?, which was certified 5× Multi-Platinum in the United States for sales of over five million...

, Kevin Sharp, Matraca Berg
Matraca Berg
Matraca Maria Berg is an American country music singer and songwriter. She has released five albums: three for RCA Records, one for Rising Tide Records and one for Dualtone Records, and has charted in the top 40 of the U.S. Billboard country charts with "Baby, Walk On" and "The Things You Left...

, Carolyn Dawn Johnson
Carolyn Dawn Johnson
Carolyn Dawn Johnson is a Canadian Juno Award winning country music singer-songwriter. Johnson first rose to fame by co-writing Chely Wright's 1999 Number One single, "Single White Female," which reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in September 1999...

. Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown is an American country music band founded in 1981 in Apopka, Florida, by five members of country pop singer Don King's road band: Bobby Randall and Jim Scholten , both from Midland, Michigan; Joe Smyth , Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard , and Mark Miller...

, Suzy Bogguss
Suzy Bogguss
Susan Kay "Suzy" Bogguss is an American country music singer. In the 1980s and 90s she released one platinum and three gold albums and charted six top ten singles, winning the Academy of Country Music's award for Top New Female Vocalist and the Country Music Association's Horizon Award.After...

, Collin Raye
Collin Raye
Floyd Collin Wray Floyd Collin Wray Floyd Collin Wray (born August 22, 1959 or 1960,Although multiple online sources all indicate Raye's date of birth as 1959, Raye's MySpace lists his date of birth as 1960. Furthermore, the 2004 Deseret News article cited in this article indicates the singer as...

, Pam Tillis
Pam Tillis
Pamela Yvonne "Pam" Tillis is an American country music singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis....

, Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...

 and Tanya Tucker
Tanya Tucker
Tanya Denise Tucker is a female American country music artist who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13...

.

In 2004, Carnes released the album Chasin' Wild Trains
Chasin' Wild Trains
Chasin' Wild Trains is a studio album by Kim Carnes, released in 2004. It was Carnes' first full-length album since 1991's Checkin' Out the Ghosts and her first to be released both in the U.S. and internationally since 1988's View from the House. Chasin' Wild Trains was originally released by the...

.
An extensive European tour followed with the album achieving success in the Americana format. She continues to tour throughout the U.S., Europe and South America, and currently resides in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 with husband Dave Ellingson. She has two sons, Collin and Ry. Her son Ry is named after musician Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...

, who guests on the song "Rough Edges" from her Barking at Airplanes
Barking at Airplanes
Barking at Airplanes is a studio album by Kim Carnes, released in 1985 .The album spawned two hit singles, "Crazy in the Night" and "Abadabadango", which peaked at #15 and #67 on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100, respectively....

album. Son Collin is also featured on that album at the beginning of the song "Crazy in the Night".

External links

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