2muchcoffeeman
Well-Known Member
Shotty, you did better by him than his wife did (IMHO).
Eric Carmen Was a Power-Pop Legend. Then He Vanished — Rolling Stone
As soon as he answered his phone, Clayton Carmen knew he was getting bad news. It was March 2024, and by then, nearly a decade had passed since he had seen his father, Eric Carmen -- the power-pop trailblazer and Raspberries frontman best remembered for the hits "Go All the Way," "All by Myself," and "Hungry Eyes." Clayton's stepmother, Amy, was on the other end of the line. The 27-year-old hadn't seen her since his high school days, when Clayton knocked on the door of the house that Amy shared with his dad in an attempt to finally reconcile their differences. Carmen and Amy responded to the overture by closing the curtains, calling the police, and reporting a trespasser.
"I remember going, 'Oh, boy, if you're calling me, I can't imagine this is good,'" Clayton says. "She told me, 'Your dad died yesterday.'"
Eric Carmen's brother, Fred, received a similar call from Amy. Fred hadn't communicated with his older brother since 2016, even though they were as close as siblings could be for the first 55 years of his life. Fred blames Amy for inspiring a series of lawsuits that separated Eric from his brother, his son, and 24-year-old Kathryn Carmen, Eric's only other child. He had some questions.
"I said, 'Was he sick? Were there issues?'" Fred says. "She said, 'No. We went out to dinner the night before and he seemed fine. We watched TV before going to bed. The next morning, I ran some errands while he slept in, like he always did. When I came home, he was gone.'"
"I'm not commenting on my husband's death, but that is not what I said to Fred Carmen," says Amy Carmen, who initially declined to be interviewed for this article, but eventually responded to a list of inquiries.
In search of more details about his brother's passing, Fred says he phoned the coroner's office in Maricopa County -- Carmen had lived in Paradise Valley, Arizona -- to ask for a copy of the autopsy report. He was told it wasn't available, and later learned that Amy had filed a lawsuit against the police, fire department, medical examiner, and the county's public-health office to prevent the report's release, even to Carmen's children.
"We should all get the respect of being remembered for our accomplishments during our time here," Amy says, "not the most personal moment in our lives -- the time we leave this earth." (Last September, a judge agreed with Amy, stating that the release of records relating to Carmen's death would cause Amy and the estate "substantial grief and harm.")
On Eric Carmen's official website the day after his death, a vague announcement informed fans only that he had died "in his sleep, over the weekend." Eleven months later, the exact cause of Carmen's death at 74 is just one of many questions about his enigmatic life that linger. Why did the singer, fiercely private, go so public in his support of Donald Trump during his final years, posting furious MAGA missives that horrified many longtime friends and fans? Why did he almost completely abandon his music career after scoring worldwide hits in the late Eighties? What caused him to sever ties with his only children? And how did the family schism widen to the point that Amy is now accusing Clayton and Kathryn of once plotting their father's murder, in one of multiple lawsuits Amy has been involved in following Carmen's death?
"I remember going, 'Oh, boy, if you're calling me, I can't imagine this is good,'" Clayton says. "She told me, 'Your dad died yesterday.'"
Eric Carmen's brother, Fred, received a similar call from Amy. Fred hadn't communicated with his older brother since 2016, even though they were as close as siblings could be for the first 55 years of his life. Fred blames Amy for inspiring a series of lawsuits that separated Eric from his brother, his son, and 24-year-old Kathryn Carmen, Eric's only other child. He had some questions.
"I said, 'Was he sick? Were there issues?'" Fred says. "She said, 'No. We went out to dinner the night before and he seemed fine. We watched TV before going to bed. The next morning, I ran some errands while he slept in, like he always did. When I came home, he was gone.'"
"I'm not commenting on my husband's death, but that is not what I said to Fred Carmen," says Amy Carmen, who initially declined to be interviewed for this article, but eventually responded to a list of inquiries.
In search of more details about his brother's passing, Fred says he phoned the coroner's office in Maricopa County -- Carmen had lived in Paradise Valley, Arizona -- to ask for a copy of the autopsy report. He was told it wasn't available, and later learned that Amy had filed a lawsuit against the police, fire department, medical examiner, and the county's public-health office to prevent the report's release, even to Carmen's children.
"We should all get the respect of being remembered for our accomplishments during our time here," Amy says, "not the most personal moment in our lives -- the time we leave this earth." (Last September, a judge agreed with Amy, stating that the release of records relating to Carmen's death would cause Amy and the estate "substantial grief and harm.")
On Eric Carmen's official website the day after his death, a vague announcement informed fans only that he had died "in his sleep, over the weekend." Eleven months later, the exact cause of Carmen's death at 74 is just one of many questions about his enigmatic life that linger. Why did the singer, fiercely private, go so public in his support of Donald Trump during his final years, posting furious MAGA missives that horrified many longtime friends and fans? Why did he almost completely abandon his music career after scoring worldwide hits in the late Eighties? What caused him to sever ties with his only children? And how did the family schism widen to the point that Amy is now accusing Clayton and Kathryn of once plotting their father's murder, in one of multiple lawsuits Amy has been involved in following Carmen's death?
Eric Carmen Was a Power-Pop Legend. Then He Vanished — Rolling Stone
