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Cara Carnes Biography & Facts

Kim Carnes (; born July 20, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter born and raised in Los Angeles. She began her career as a songwriter in the 1960s, writing for other artists while performing in local clubs and working as a session background singer with the famed Water Sisters (featured in the documentary 20 Feet from Stardom). After she signed her first publishing deal with Jimmy Bowen, she released her debut album Rest on Me in 1971. Carnes' self-titled second album primarily contained self-penned songs, including her first charting single "You're a Part of Me", which reached No. 35 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in 1975. In the following year, Carnes released Sailin', which featured "Love Comes from Unexpected Places". The song won the American Song Festival and the award for Best Composition at the Tokyo Song Festival in 1976. In her breakthrough year, 1980, Carnes was commissioned by Kenny Rogers to co-write the songs for his concept album Gideon (1980), and their duet "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and earned the duo a Grammy Award nomination. Later that year, her cover of Smokey Robinson's "More Love", from her fifth album Romance Dance (1980), hit No. 10. The following year, Carnes released Mistaken Identity, which featured the worldwide hit, "Bette Davis Eyes". It became the best-selling single of the year in the United States, spending nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, going Gold, and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Mistaken Identity reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, was certified Platinum, and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Carnes also had success with the singles "Draw of the Cards" (No. 28), "Does It Make You Remember" (No. 36), "Crazy in the Night (Barking at Airplanes)" (No. 15), "Make No Mistake, He's Mine" (No. 51), with Barbra Streisand, "What About Me?" (No. 15), with Kenny Rogers and James Ingram, "I'll Be Here Where the Heart Is", from the Flashdance soundtrack, and the Grammy Award nominated singles "Voyeur" (No. 29) and "Invisible Hands" (No. 40). Her other successes as a songwriter include co-writing the No. 1 duet "The Heart Won't Lie" with Donna Weiss (who had co-written "Bette Davis Eyes" with Jackie DeShannon); it was recorded by Vince Gill and Reba McEntire, and released on McEntire's 1993 album It's Your Call. Her distinctive, raspy vocal style has drawn comparisons to Rod Stewart. Her most recent studio album is Chasin' Wild Trains (2004). As of 2017, Carnes was residing in Nashville and continues to write music. Early life Kim Carnes was born on July 20, 1945, in Los Angeles. Her father, James Raymond Carnes, was an attorney and her mother was a hospital administrator. Kim Carnes knew she would be a singer and songwriter from the age of three, despite the fact that she was not born into a musical family. "My mother didn't get my career, and my father, who was an attorney, didn't think singing and writing was even a job." As a four-year-old, Carnes "married" her next-door neighbor musician David Lindley. She grew up in Pasadena, California and graduated from San Marino High School in 1963. Career 1962–1974: Early career and first studio album Kim Carnes was a songwriter and performer from an early age. She signed her first publishing deal in 1962 with producer Jimmy Bowen. During this period, she shared demo-recording time with Bowen's other writers, including Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and J. D. Souther. Carnes also sang "Nobody Knows", written by Mike Settle, which was featured in the end credits of the 1971 film Vanishing Point. The film also featured Carnes' first cut as a songwriter, "Sing Out for Jesus", which was recorded by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. Also in 1971, she and Mike Settle again worked with Bowen to create the bubblegum pop studio group The Sugar Bears. The album Presenting the Sugar Bears and three singles were released with the song "You Are the One", reaching No. 83 on the Billboard charts. In the early 1970s, Carnes and husband Dave Ellingson co-wrote several songs with David Cassidy who was then at the peak of his career as an international idol. Carnes toured the world with Cassidy as an opening act with her husband. Cassidy's albums Rock Me Baby, Dreams are Nuthin' More than Wishes, and Cassidy Live! include several songs penned by Carnes along with Ellingson and Cassidy. Carnes also provided backing vocals for these albums. After signing with Amos Records, her first solo album Rest on Me was released in 1971. It was produced by Jimmy Bowen. 1975–1979: Early chart successes In 1975, Carnes released her self-titled second album, which contained her first charted hit, "You're A Part Of Me", which reached No. 32 on the US Adult Contemporary charts. Carnes re-recorded this track with Gene Cotton three years later. The majority of tracks on this second album were written by Carnes and Ellingson. Her third album Sailin' was produced by Jerry Wexler and released in 1976. One track, "Love Comes from Unexpected Places", won Grand Prize at the 1976 American Song Festival. The song also earned the award for Best Composition at the Tokyo Song Festival. It gained additional notice after it was recorded by Barbra Streisand on her 1977 album Superman. Streisand also recorded Carnes's "Stay Away" on her 1978 album Songbird. In spite of Streisand's endorsement of her material, Carnes's own Top 40 breakthrough did not occur until 1978 when Gene Cotton 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", written by herself and Dave Ellingson. 1980–1981: Collaboration with Kenny Rogers and "Bette Davis Eyes" In 1980, her duet with Kenny Rogers "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" became a major hit on the Pop (No. 4), Country (No. 3) and Adult Contemporary (No. 2) charts. The song was culled from Rogers' concept album Gideon, written entirely by Carnes and her husband Dave Ellingson. Later that year, her cover version of the Smokey Robinson & The Miracles song "More Love" became her first solo top 10 hit (number 10 in the pop charts and number six in the Adult Contemporary charts). Robinson was, indeed, so impressed with Carnes's recording and success with the song that he later wrote and composed "Being with You" for her. However Robinson's then producer George Tobin insisted instead that he record and release the song himself. "The record that went number one for me is a demo for Kim," Robinson told The Huffington Post. In 1981, Carnes provided backing vocals on Dionne Warwick's No Night So Long album. In 1981, Carnes recorded the Jackie DeShannon and Donna Weiss song "Bette Davis Eyes", originally written and composed in 1974. As the first single released from the album Mistaken Identity, it spent nine weeks at number one on the U.S.... Discover the Cara Carnes popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Cara Carnes books.