Kim Carnes

Kim Carnes (born July 20, 1945 in Pasadena, California) is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter. She is noted for her distinctive, raspy voice which she attributes to many hours spent singing in smoky bars and clubs. Carnes was a member of New Christy Minstrels in 1967. (Kenny Rogers was also a member.) During this time, Carnes met and married Dave Ellingson with whom she would write most of her songs. For a short while in the early 1970s, she and Ellingson formed the unsuccessful folk duo Kim and Dave. Their song, Nobody Knows, was the song played during the credits for the movie Vanishing Point. She began releasing albums during the early 1970s. Her self-titled album in 1975 contained her first charted hit, You're A Part Of Me (No. 32 AC). This album was followed in 1976 with Sailin'. One track, Love Comes From Unexpected Places, won best song at the 1977 American Song Festival and gained some additional notice after it was recorded by Barbra Streisand on her 1977 album Streisand Superman. Carnes' Top 40 breakthrough occurred in 1978 when she was recruited by Gene Cotton to record a duet version of You're A Part Of Me which reached No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100. 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 AC (No. 2) charts. The song was culled from Rogers' concept album, Gideon, which was written entirely by Carnes and Ellingson. Later that year, her cover version of the Smokey Robinson & The Miracles song More Love became her first solo Top 10 hit single (No. 10 Pop, No. 6 AC). In 1981, she recorded the Jackie DeShannon and Donna Weiss song Bette Davis Eyes. As the first single released from the album Mistaken Identity, it spent nine weeks at number one on the US singles charts and became a worldwide hit. The song's success propelled the album to No. 1 for four weeks. The single became the No. 1 song of 1981 and is second only to Olivia Newton-John's Physical as the biggest hit of the 1980's. The song earned both the Record of the Year and Song of the Year awards at the 1982 Grammys and Carnes was nominated for Best Pop Female. Ironically, Bette Davis Eyes, written in 1974, was originally rejected by Carnes. It was only after a new instrumental arrangement was done by Bill Cuomo that Carnes agreed to record the song and it became a huge hit. Bette Davis admitted to being a fan of the song and approached Carnes and the songwriters to thank them. Dav...