CLEVELAND — As the music world remembers a former rock star, Ohioans are paying tribute to one of their own.

What You Need To Know

  • Eric Carmen wrote more than 130 songs 

  • Carmen was a Cleveland area native 

  • Carmen and the Raspberries are featured in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's "Cleveland Rocks" exhibit 

Eric Carmen died over the weekend at 74. Carmen was the lead singer of the Raspberries and had a successful solo career in the 1970s and 1980s.

Growing up in Lyndhurst, Eric Carmen was just three years old when he became the Cleveland Institute of Music’s youngest student ever.

It was the start of a career that saw him write more than 130 songs. 

“Eric Carmen was an amazing musician and a Cleveland Classic you might say,” said Jason Hanley, vice president of education and visitor engagement for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

While Carmen isn’t an inductee, his work is featured there in the museum’s “Cleveland Rocks” exhibit, which pays tribute to the Raspberries.

“They’re so important in the history of rock and roll because they were really one of the first power pop bands,” Hanley said.

After leaving the Raspberries in 1975, Carmen had a successful solo career, perhaps best known for the hit “All By Myself.”

But it was his recording of “Hungry Eyes” from the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack that brought him back home.

“A lot of people don’t know recorded right here in Beachwood in a recording studio and that became an international hit you think about the soundtrack of Dirty Dancing just another cultural movement at that time and Eric was front and center in it,” Hanley said.

While his lasting legacy for most people will be his gifted musical talent, Hanley said those who knew him recognize he left behind so much more.

“He was also just a great person, I’ll say on a personal level. I was lucky enough in my time here working at the Rock Hall to get to work directly with Eric,” Hanley said. “We had a Raspberries reunion one time here at the museum and Eric Carmen participated back in 2008. It’s real special in this exhibit to get to feature Cleveland artist that changed the landscape and changed rock and roll.”

Hanley said while Carmen’s passing leaves a hole for some, his music will live on with fans forever.