First off, I take issue with the above headline from E! Online. Hungry Eyes was recorded in 1987, released on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and peaked at #4 on the charts.
By then, Eric Carmen’s best years were behind him. His career peaked over a decade earlier, in 1976, when he left The Raspberries and released “All by Myself” which landed at #2. All by Myself is the song for which Eric Carmen always will be known (and loved?).
Bedford, MA
BEDFORD — Bedford Municipal Court Judge Peter J. Junkin sentenced Raspberries’ lead singer Eric Carmen to 180 days in jail, with 150 days suspended, and a $1,000 fine today after finding him guilty of driving while under the influence of alcohol last September, according to court officials.Junkin has scheduled Carmen to report to the Solon City Jail at 8 a.m. April 25 to begin his sentence. Carmen is expected to serve until 8 a.m. May 24, court officials said.
Carmen’s driver’s license also remains suspended until Sept. 9, 2009, with the exception of occupational, medical and probational driving.
Junkin also required Carmen to have installed an ignition interlock system in his SUV, a device designed to prevent someone from driving if intoxicated.
Carmen also will be subject to alcohol testing and has to continue with an alcoholism prevention program he has been attending already.
Junkin also found him guilty of failure to control his vehicle and fined him an additional $150. Junkin dismissed the third charge against Carmen, a blood alcohol charge.
Adding in the $362 in court costs, Carmen paid a total of $1,362 before he left the courthouse, according to Chief Deputy Court Clerk John Garmone.
Carmen had changed his “not guilty” pleas to “no contest” on all three charges before Junkin found him guilty on two of the charges.
On Sept. 9, just before 7 p.m., Carmen crashed his black 2008 Range Rover into a fire hydrant on Chagrin Boulevard in Orange Village.
A blood alcohol test at Bedford Heights Jail later that night showed Carmen’s blood alcohol level at .234, almost three times the legal limit of .08.
Orange Village police charged him with operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and failure to control his vehicle.
He had pleaded not guilty to all charges on Sept. 12 through his attorney, his brother Fred Carmen.
In March 2007, Carmen was arrested by Gates Mills police for OVI after driving his Lexus SUV off SOM Center Road there, hitting a mailbox and a sign, then ending up in someone’s front yard.
At his 2007 court appearance, Carmen pleaded no contest to the charges. The judge fined him $750 and sentenced him to 30 days in jail, with all but three of those days suspended.
The Raspberries started in Cleveland in 1972 with the Top 5 hit “Go All the Way.” Three other Top 40 singles followed.
In 1974, Carmen also launched a successful solo career.
{ 0 comments }