Following two albums that
alienated many fans with their departure in style (1979's Dynasty and 1980's Unmasked), and a falling-out with Peter Criss over his substance abuse problems and
unreliability[citation
needed],
Kiss held open auditions for a new drummer. Criss had not recorded an entire
studio album with Kiss since 1977's Love Gun.
Caravello was working as an oven repair man when Peter Criss left Kiss. Caravello, who had been playing in
cover bands throughout the 1970s, was told by former Flasher bandmate Paul Turino, that he should audition for Kiss. Taking
his advice, Caravello purchased a copy of Unmasked to get information on getting in touch with
Kiss's management, and after submitting an application (a day after the
deadline), he met with Kiss manager Bill Aucoin who advised Caravello to shave off his
mustache for the audition for fear the band "wouldn't be able to see past
it". Along with the application, Caravello submitted a cassette tape of
Kiss's current single "Shandi" but with his vocals over the music
instead of Paul Stanley's. "It sounded great!" he
enthused years later in a fanzine interview.
At the time of his
successful audition, Caravello was repairing stoves with his father for a
living, while playing drums in a variety of bands. He was the last drummer to
audition for the band and actually asked Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Ace Frehleyfor autographs, in case he never saw them again. "But
I knew I had it", he told a fanzine in 1990. According to Caravello, his
audition was videotaped.
After passing the audition, the band
had some trouble coming up with a character persona and a stage name. Caravello
originally considered going by the name "Rusty Blades", until he
decided on Eric Carr, noting
that Peter Criss' name was two syllables followed by a single syllable, the
inverse of the other three band members' names. He decided to make his stage
name sound the same rhythmically as Peter Criss' when people said all four
names together. Carr was shortened from his birth name Caravello, and he chose
Eric from a list of first names his girlfriend at the time had given him. Paul
Caravello remained his legal name.
For his Kiss persona, Carr
was first made up as "The Hawk", which he did not like, and later
adopted the persona of "The Fox", with his make-up design reflecting
the character. Carr was also part of the band's well-publicized removal of
their stage makeup in 1983 live on MTV network. "I thought the band was
ending, and they weren't telling me", he told a fanzine editor in June,
1990.
Carr, in his Fox make-up, from the
"I Love It Loud" video in 1982.
Carr's first album with
Kiss was 1981's Music from
"The Elder", which marked a departure for the band in a mystical art-rock
direction. One of his contributions to the album, "Under the Rose",
featured a Gregorian chant-style chorus. Later, he would also have co-writer
credits on "All Hell's
Breakin' Loose",
"Under the Gun", and "No, No, No" amongst others.
Carr was influenced by John Bonham of Led Zeppelin and Ringo Starr of The Beatles.[5] Carr idolized Starr when he first saw The
Beatles; photographs of him during his high school years show him wearing his
hair like the Beatles drummer did. His interest in double bass drumming came from his admiration of Ginger Baker.
Carr also had a love of all types of music as songwriter Adam Mitchell once
described Carr as knowing a lot about folk, R&B and other non-rock styles.
Besides drumming, Carr also
played guitar, bass guitar, piano and sang background vocals. Occasionally he
sung lead vocals, such as "Black Diamond" and "Young and
Wasted" live with Kiss. His first lead vocal in the studio was when the
classic Kiss track "Beth" (originally sung by Peter Criss) was
re-recorded for the 1988 compilation album Smashes,
Thrashes & Hits. Carr recorded his version of the song using the same backing track as
Criss, and reportedly sat on the same drum throne as Criss did to record the
song.
In 1989 he sang lead vocal on a self-penned, studio track titled "Little Caesar" (originally called
"Ain't That Peculiar") from Hot in the Shade. Carr's last live performance with Kiss was November 9, 1990
inNew York City, at Madison
Square Garden.
Gene Simmons, the Kiss
bassist, has stated that Carr's harder drumming style pushed Kiss into becoming
a heavier band than when Peter Criss, a jazz-inspired drummer, was the band's
drummer.
Former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick, along with Carr's family, released Carr's
first and only solo album in 1999 titled Rockology, which featured many demos that Kulick and
Carr worked on together, along with songwriter and friend Adam Mitchell. The CD
features several songs with Carr on lead vocals as well as on bass guitar,
along with Kulick on guitars and Mitchell assisting Carr with many of the
background vocals. This album includes "Somebody's Waiting" and
"Tiara", a song that he originally wrote for his planned children's
cartoon show called Rockheads,
a rock band parody featuring four characters (Slider, Clive, Scruffy and Punky)
with different characteristics and personalities.
Following
the tour for the album Hot in the Shade, Carr began having problems with his health. Diagnosed
with an unexpectedly serious and extremely rare condition, heart cancer, he underwent surgeries to remove tumors in
his right atrium and lungs in an effort to restore heart function and prevent the cancer's growth. Carr, recovered enough and
flew to Los Angeles
to be with the band to play drums but, the band told him to go away and get
well, and then he cut off communication from the band. It was after aggressive
treatment that the cancer went into remission, and Carr's health began to
improve. However, not long afterwards he suffered from an aneurysm, and was rushed into hospital. He recovered from this, but it was only
a matter of days before he was subject to a brain hemorrhage, caused by cancer cells transported in his
bloodstream to the head.
Carr died on November 24, 1991, at the age of 41.
