How do you pay tribute to someone that was a friend as well as a
major ROCK star??? I had the distinct pleasure to be able to call
ERIC CARR my friend.... He became a great friend over the years to me
and my family, he would often call or write to visit with me away from
the rock world, and he genuinely cared what was going on in my life and
how myself and my family were. If i didnt write to him in a couple of
weeks i would recieve a letter from him saying " I havent heard
from ya in a while phil just checking to see if your still alive and
doing ok? Eric. " thats the kind of guy he was.... If you met
him, he remembered you, he would not see me for a year at a time or my
friends but he would remember us when we saw him next. I traveled all
over the united states to see Eric many times and he was always a
pleasure to be with and made me feel welcome. He always took time to
hangout and cutup and joke with me.
Here is a few of my many memories of my
times with Eric Carr and some of the happy times we shared together.
Phil Hunt backstage with Eric Carr in Austin on the Hot In The
Shade tour.
CLICK ON ERIC CARR ARTWORK FOR THE
ARTIST WEBSITE
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Phil Hunt backstage with Eric Carr in San Antonio on
the Asylum tour.
( KISS FAQ's ERIC CARR BIO )
Paul Caravello had the unenviable task (or vice-versa!!) if being
the first "replacement" member of KISS. Following Peter Criss,
who had sat atop the golden drum-stool for KISS throughout their glory
years in the 1970's, Paul joined the band at a time of confusion with
their musical direction, the beginning of utter fragmentation as Ace
went off the deep end and Gene started to eye other horizons, and as the
massed ranks of the KISS Army went AWOL. For this somewhat quiet and
reserved individual, with few pretentions, Paul approached his task with
dedication and professionalism, and very much appreciated the position
he had been awarded. Moreover, he gave 100% to the band in trying to
restore them to the greatness lost. This biography is a tribute to
remember a genuinely nice man who came from "nowhere" and gave
his all for the band we all love. On November 24, 1991, Paul Caravello,
aged just 41, sadly passed away leaving many fans shocked and appalled
at the tragedy of life. Gone, though he may be, Eric lives on forever in
the hearts of all his fans and is remembered every time one of his
albums is played.
Born in Brooklyn, NY, on July 12, 1950, Paul Charles Caravello
grew up in an extended family in Brownsville, NY, which included his
parents, two younger sisters, Loretta and Sissy, and his Uncle Paul's
family (who lived next door). Early on Eric had a normal life, and
wanted to be an astronaut or scientist, though he had definite artistic
interest which was "pushed" by one of his teachers in
elementary school, but like many when the Beatles hit America in 1963
the music changed his life. Around that time Eric's sister, Loretta, was
given a drum set (a 5 piece Gretsch) by their Uncle Peter, something
which Eric immediately domineered in hopes of becoming the next Ringo
Star! In 1964 Eric started at Manhattan High School of Art and Design
where he studied cartooning, and soon afterwards, photography, this
interest in cartoons would later be put into use with his idea of a rock
cartoon, which became the Rockheads. With his desire to be a drummer
Eric soon destroyed his Gretsch drum kit which was quickly replaced with
3-piece Zigmar. Later Eric's father bought him a Ludwig set, and then,
after tons of practice bashing out the Beatles (and driving the
neighbors up the wall) Eric was ready to take on the World! In 1965 Eric
formed his first band, The Cellermen, with a friend from his school and
his future brother-in-law. According to Loretta Caravello, "Eric
put up a card at a music store that was owned by Neil Diamond's family
in Brooklyn... After [a] few auditions The Cellarmen were formed. Today
one of the band members remains close with the family, he is a
successful Lawyer in New York, and the other one is my brother-in-Law.
They got their name from always playing in the celler.. that's what we
Brooklyn people call it instead of a basement" (Asylum Interview w/
LC). In the four years that The Cellermen existed they played numerous
shows (mainly Bar Mitzvahs and weddings) performing top-40 material or
whatever was popular at the moment. They also managed to get into a
studio in 1968 and record two original songs, both written by Eric.
Perhaps with Eric's love of the Beatles it is not suprising that both of
these songs, I Cry At Night and Your Turn To Cry, have a heavy
Beatlesque feel. But they're fun songs which feature Eric both on lead
vocals and drums, and they remain some of the earliest material
available by any member of KISS. Around this time the band also sang
backing-vocals for a female performer, Gale, though nothing ever came of
these recordings. While The Cellermen soon broke up the experience of
performing and writing music gave Eric the impetus to go on with music.
After graduating from high school Eric had to avoid the draft by
deliberately failing his medical by failing his intelligence tests -
while this damaged his prospects for employment, even though he was
intelligent, he worked numerous jobs while continuing to work in bands
hoping for the break which he wanted so desperately. Some of these jobs
included delivering tobacco for export at Kennedy Airport, repairing gas
ranges, a job which Eric remembered with a distinctive lack of
amusement, delivering refrigerators for his father, slicing cold cuts in
a deli, and working as a paper pusher in the Department Of Criminal
Justice.
As Eric entered the 1970's the outlook must have been good. He had
teamed up with John and Sarita Henderson (and three others) in a new
band called Salt & Pepper (named such due to the ethnic balance of
the members). After his experience in The Cellermen, Eric must have
thought that there was only one direction to go - up! Eric would stay
with Salt & Pepper for the next nine years with the band going
through several personnel and name changes. According to Eric, "It
was top-40 when we first started. It was six people, half-black,
half-white, which is why we were called Salt & Pepper. We were doing
top-40, but Top 40 in the early 70's was any kind of music. You would
turn on the radio and hear Led Zeppelin, then Joan Baez, then Janis
Joplin, then Cream, then Hendrix, then Rare Earth, then Chicago. It was
everything" (BD, p114). Undoubtedly, this helped Eric develop a
diverse skill base. In February 1973, a photo Eric appears in the
centerfold of the New York Daily Herald with the caption, "Is it a
boy or a girl?" Sadly, this was not to be the only exposure Eric
had. Later in 1973, with the music scene changing from the hippie era of
the 1960's and the disco/pop phase starting to emerge in the mainstream,
Salt & Pepper changed their name to Creation. This move away from
the standard top 40 of a few years before led the band into a more
"Funk" oriented sound, a sound which would progress, over the
next few years, into a full fledged disco sound. In 1974, the band
acquired a new keyboard player, Damon DeFreis who was just 17, however
soon afterwards an event occurred which, " ironically gained the
band national attention" (BD p114). Playing the third night of gigs
at "The Pit" at Gulliver's in Port Chester, New York on June
30th, fire broke out killing 22 people plus the keyboard player, Damon
DeFreis, and lead singer, George D. Chase, in the band. In such a sad
event Eric proved himself a hero saving the life of the bands other
vocalist, Sarita Henderson, when the smoke came pouring into the
discotheque. The following day both Eric and guitarist John Henderson
were interviewed on CBS' Sunday morning news program, Sunday, and in the
New York Times, where the shocking rapidity of the smoke spreading was
made apparent. It was "later determined that the fire was started
by a man who had broken into the bowling alley's nursery (next door to
the club/resturant), that was located in its basement, stolen some of
the mother's purses, then set fire to cover his tracks" (BD p115).
A very high cost for such a crime. The band, apart from losing two of
their members, also lost most of their equipment in the fire, though
soon afterwards their management, Creative Talent Associates, held a
benefit concert featuring their top acts to help the band replace their
equipment. The band continued but soon changed its name to Mother
Nature/Father Time, and name Eric never cared for and thought was
totally unsuitable for use as a name for a band. Yet Creation had had
some success, even with all the tragedy associated with the band. The
had toured the Tri-State area opening up for established Rhythm &
Blues acts including Nina Simone and Stevie Wonder, though by the time
they changed their name success had eluded them.
For the next 5 years the band soldiered on, breaking into the Long
Island disco circuit, and making the transition from R&B; to pure
disco. In fact, by all accounts, the band appeared on Gregg Diamond's
1977 LP, Bionic Boogie, which also featured Gregg Diamond, Lance Quinn,
Steve Love, Jim Gregory, Alan Schwartzburg (note the Peter Criss
connection), Jimmy Moelin, amongst other studio musicians [I now believe
this to be incorrect. The Bionic Boogie connection comes from Eric's
band covering BB material and occasionally performing as BB]. The band
also appeared live throughout that period as "Bionic Boogie",
at Miami Convention Center, Walt Disney World, and at various
discotheques. Eric appeared on one song on the album, Risky Changes,
singing backing vocals. Though things for Eric in the late 1970's were
pretty much down hill. In 1979 Mother Nature/Father Time recorded an
album for the Casablanca Record label (Casablanca NBLP-7170), under the
stage name, Lightning. This, contrary to popular belief, was not
attributed to "Bionic Boogie", no mention of that name was
made anywhere on the packaging on the album, nor was the album called
"Disco Symphony" or "Lightning Disco Symphony", it
was simply called "Lightning: Lightning". Promotional copies
(at least) were released around November 1979, as was a promotional
12" single featuring the tracks Disco Symphony and Baby Without
Your Love. Circulation of this album is very unclear, with Eric stating
in interviews, "that only 5 or 6 copies existed.... When asked if
fans might have a chance to find the album somewhere, he shot back,
there better not be" (BD p116). The other three songs on the album
were: In And Out Of Love, I Love The Way You Love You, and One Step At A
Time. All the songs were written by band members, though Eric did not
contribute to any while he appeared on all of them on drums and
backing-vocals. Incidentally, the album was produced by Lewis
Merenstein, who had also produced Peter Criss' Chelsea album in 1970.
Around the time of the release of "Lightning", Mother
Nature/Father Time finally called it quits, this may have had some
effect on the proper release of the album with there being no
"unit" left to promote it. After 10 years of trying to break
into the music business nothing had come of the attempt and the band was
getting caught up performing as Bionic Boogie, rather than doing their
own material. The disco craze was also starting to die off. In December
1979 Eric joined a 4 piece power-rock combo, called Flasher, who were
doing cover songs around the New York area. Apparently, this was a
particularly sad period for Eric, who had become unsure about his
musical future. In March 1980, the keyboardist, Paul Turino, in the band
quit, though Flasher continued for some time as a trio. Yet it was a
chance meeting with the keyboardist at club in Queens, called Poets,
where Flasher were going to be performing, in May/June 1980, where Eric
was given the idea to audition for KISS who had recently announced the
departure of Peter Criss. Eric had, at this time already give notice
that he intended to quit Flasher, and the keyboardist suggested that he
audition for KISS. While Eric didn't believe the guy at first he went
out and bought Unmasked the following day and started to put his
"press-kit" together. Finally, on June 18th, one day late, a
procrastinating Paul Caravello submits his press kit to Aucoin
Management. In order to get his package noticed he housed it in a bright
orange folder, a tactic which works when the secretary picks it up first
out of a stack of submissions. He is offered an interview with Bill
Aucoin at his Madison Avenue offices the following day at noon where he
is immediately told that he should shave his mustache if he wants KISS
to even consider him. Meeting the prerequisites of playing a double-bass
style and having good vocal skills, the following day Eric is offered an
audition with KISS on June 23rd at 1:30. He is also told to learn 5
songs for the audition, these include "Black Diamond" and
"Detroit Rock City" plus songs from more recent KISS albums.
It's a very nervous Eric who shows up for his audition with KISS, though
the audition, which is videoed by the band, goes well and a
"vibe" is apparent as they perform songs, once the confusion
of live versus recorded drumming is sorted out. Eric leaves, content
with how the audition has gone, but not before getting the bands
autographs! After a few tense days of waiting Eric is informed that as
of July 1st he is officially a member of the band. Finally! After 15
years of struggling Paul Caravello has made it, and become the drummer
for one of the biggest rock bands in the World, something he would not
have anticipated just a couple of months earlier when he was questioning
his future in music.
As a member of KISS the first thing Paul had to do was change his
name to help mask his background. There was also the small factor of
there already being Paul "Ace" Frehley... and Paul Stanley.
One Paul was enough! KISS had wanted an "unknown" to help
perpetuate the myth surrounding the members of the band, so Paul chose
the name "Eric Carr" as it "spoke well" when saying
all of the band members names. Then came the more difficult task of
coming up with a character. While Bill Aucoin or possibly Paul Stanley
had created the infamous "Hawk" costume, it became rapidly
apparent that such an idea was not suitable, indeed that is putting it
lightly! Eric then started sketching ideas and came up with "The
Fox", and got Gene's approval, using a basic costume to complete
the look. While Gene liked the idea, Eric thought that it suited him
well, and with only a couple of weeks until his live debut with the band
he had to come up with something sharpish. Eric could then get on with
the task of learning the material he'd have to perform in New York, and
on the upcoming European Tour. Finally on July 22 came the official
announcement of Eric's induction into the band, stating "... KISS
have finally announced that 27 year-old Eric Carr has been named and the
band's new drummer. Known for his cunning, crafty way with rock 'n roll
rhythms, Eric will perform in stage in the guise of a fox. A Brooklyn
native and veteran of several New York-area bands, Eric was chose from
among 30 drummers who auditioned for the coveted role of becoming the
fourth member of KISS. Eric, a/k/a the Fox, will debut in concert with
KISS at the Palladium in New York on Friday, July 25th" (A&C;).
And that was that! Eric's age was dropped by two years to further
confuse those who might like to "blow" his past, though this
did happen very quickly with the passports of the members being found
and copied while whey were on tour in Europe later that year, though
this seems to have never filtered down to the fans. And the rest is
history.... Well, not quite! Soon after the conclusion of the Unmasked
Tour in December 1980, the band started to think about work on their new
album, at which point they had no idea that it would become a concept
album. One of the first tracks Eric recorded as a member of KISS was the
superb Deadly Weapons which remains unreleased to this day. What was
immediately apparent was that Eric brought a new dimension to the KISS
sound, and his skill would make a sound as individual to the sound which
KISS had had with Peter.
Eric's time with KISS is more a history of rejection of his material.
Very few of his ideas ever made it onto the final releases, and even
with his extremely strong vocal abilities he only ever got to record one
song for an album singing lead vocals. That is a shame considering his
lead vocals in concert on "Black Diamond" and "Young And
Wasted". He also considered the redoing of Peter's "Beth"
a mistake, though at the time he was so desperate to sing a lead he's
have done anything. Yet KISS did allow him a certain amount of
experimentation and on his first studio album he contributed part of
"Under The Rose" and "Escape From The Island". At
the Elder sessions he and Ace worked out the basic structure of
"Heaven", a track which later became "Breakout" on
Ace Frehley's first post-KISS solo album, and later still, was redone
editing out all of Ace's guitar work and replacing it with Bruce, became
"Carr Jam 1981" on Revenge. On Creatures Of The Night, apart
from making an unsuccessful attempt to perform the solo in the title
track, Eric played bass for "I Still Love You", while another
track he'd cowritten with Gene and Vinnie, "Ain't None Of Your
Business", later turned up on Wendy O. William's album while
another song KISS had demoed, "Legends Never Die" appeared
with her vocal over-dubbed onto KISS' music, while the same is possibly
true for a further track "It's My Life". In 1983 a song he'd
cowritten with Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, "Don't Leave Me
Lonely", which was probably done at the same time as other Killers
tracks, early in the Creatures sessions, appeared on Adam's album, Cuts
Like A Knife. For Lick It Up Eric provided the basic idea for "All
Hell's Breakin' Loose" which was developed by Gene, Vinnie, and
Paul for inclusion on the album. For the next few years it seemed that
Eric was not providing much material for the band (he did co-write on
"Under The Gun" on Animalize and "No, No, No" for
Crazy Nights), yet he was bringing the band material, they were just
rejecting it. While Eric came up with the title "Who Dares
Wins" for the album which became Crazy Nights, he also brought a
song he'd co-written with Adam Mitchel, "Dial L For Love",
which was rejected. For Hot In The Shade Eric brought four songs to the
band including "Little Caesar", "Looking Through The Eyes
Of Love", and "Somebody's Waiting", yet it was what he
thought was the weakest song which was accepted. Though it is
interesting to note that Eric recorded the vocals, bass and drums for
that song with Bruce providing guitar. Eric also came up with the cover
concept for the album after seeing a similar picture in a magazine. In
1988 Eric had also started developing his Rockheads cartoon idea, and he
and Bruce cut 5 demos, including a song called "Tiara", for
it. There is also mention of another Eric Carr song, "Electric
Thunder", from 1989 which he co-wrote for a band of the same name.
In 1989 he was also working with Ace Frehley, who he had remained good
friends with, on material for Ace's Trouble Walkin' album, recording
"Rock Your Mind". One of the final songs which Eric worked on
is called "The Elephant Man" which he wrote around the time
Revenge was being prepared, though it was never demoed.
Perhaps it is appropriate that the last song Eric recorded with KISS was
"God Gave Rock And Roll To You II". For a man who joked about
his situation after leaving hospital after having open-heart surgery in
1991 Eric was positive about the future and continued to work on ideas.
I'm not going to go into the rumours surrounding his final days with
KISS as there is too much conjecture and not enough fact. All I can end
with saying is the utter devestation I felt when I heard on the radio
that Eric had passed away. I cried. Though it had been well reported
that his condition had deteriorated in the months before his death, I
and probably many others, thought that he could, and prayed that he
would, make a recovery. However, it was not to be. I felt anger at the
lack of coverage about his life at the time, though his passing was
overshadowed by the death of Freddie Mercury, but I can't help but feel
that MTV in particular (and Rolling Stone for that matter) showed little
respect for him. Yet that doesn't matter as his memory lives on in the
hearts of all his fans. I also like to remember the mischevous grin on
his face in the Heaven's On Fire video.
( KISS FAQ's ERIC CARR BIO )
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