Kim Carnes

Kim Carnes is an American singer-songwriter who is a two-time Grammy Award winner noted for her distinctive raspy vocal style. Some people have called her "The Female Rod Stewart" due to her raspy voice.

After writing songs for many years, Kim Carnes signed her first publishing deal in 1969 with famed producer Jimmy Bowen. Carnes sang "Nobody Knows" which was featured in the end credits of the 1971 film, Vanishing Point.

In the early 1970s Carnes and her husband, Dave Ellingson, co-wrote several songs with David Cassidy, at the peak of his career as an international idol, and toured the world with him as part of his band.

Carnes' first album, Rest on Me was released in 1972. Her self-titled album in 1975 contained her first charted hit, "You're a Part Of Me". This album was followed in 1976 by Sailin' and "Love Comes from Unexpected Places" won Best Composition at the 1977 American Song Festival and gained additional notice after it was recorded by Barbra Streisand on her 1977 album Streisand Superman. Streisand also recorded Carnes's "Stay Away" on her 1978 album Songbird.

In 1980, her duet with Kenny Rogers "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" became a major hit on the Pop, Country and AC charts. Later that year, her cover version of the Smokey Robinson & The Miracles song "More Love" became her first solo Top 10 hit.

In 1981, Carnes 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 biggest hit of the entire year of 1981, and is second only to Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" as the biggest hit of the 1980s in the USA, according to Billboard. The song earned both the Record of the Year and Song of the Year awards at the 1982 Grammys. Carnes was nominated for Best Pop Female and Mistaken Identity also earned a nomination for Album of the Year. Two follow-up singles from Mistaken Identity, "Draw of the Cards" and the title track, were both released during 1981.

Carnes' later Hot 100 hits included the top 15 charter "Crazy in the Night" and "What About Me?" with Kenny Rogers and James Ingram. Carnes reached the AC Top 10 four more times with "I Pretend", "What About Me?", "Make No Mistake, He's Mine" with Barbra Streisand and "Crazy in Love". In January 1985, Carnes had the distinction of being on the Billboard Hot 100 with three singles simultaneously, "What About Me", "Make No Mistake, He's Mine" and "Invitation to Dance", from the soundtrack to the film, That's Dancing!.

Carnes was nominated for two more Grammys – Best Pop Female for Voyeur, and Best Rock Female for "Invisible Hands". In 1983, Kim's song, "I'll Be Here Where the Heart Is", was included on the Flashdance soundtrack which received a Grammy for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture. Carnes was one of the singers invited to perform on USA for Africa's 1985 famine relief fundraising single "We Are The World" and can be seen in the music video and heard singing the last line of the song's bridge with Huey Lewis and Cyndi Lauper. In 1987, she sang the song "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own" in a duet with Jeffrey Osborne for the soundtrack to the movie Spaceballs. She also sang a duet of the Johnny Cash classic, "Ring of Fire", with Jeff Bridges, for the film The Contender.

As a songwriter, she has had two No. 1 country singles. Her duet with Barbra Streisand was re-recorded as "Make No Mistake, She's Mine" by Ronnie Milsap and Kenny Rogers which was a No. 1 Country and No. 42 AC hit in 1987. She also wrote "The Heart Won't Lie", a No. 1 duet for Reba McEntire and Vince Gill in 1993. Carnes has had songs covered by such country stars as Deana Carter, Kevin Sharp, Matraca Berg, Carolyn Dawn Johnson. Sawyer Brown, Suzy Bogguss, Collin Raye, Pam Tillis, Tim McGraw, Conway Twitty and Tanya Tucker.

In 2004, Carnes released the album Chasin' Wild Trains. She continues to tour throughout the U.S., Europe and South America.