Happy 80th birthday Kim Carnes!!

Sorry here’s the link.

The short but stellar LMG's cover is adding to the attention as well, I'm sure.

I always loved her early 80s blonde hair for some reason. And that raspy voice.

I hated Bette Davis Eyes, but I did really like Crazy in the Night

I honestly love "Bette Davis Eyes" and find that song endlessly re-playable. I've always been fascinated by her voice and wondered if it was naturally that way to begin with or if it was attributed to something like vocal nodules, vocal injury, etc. As far as I know, she's never really commented on it. I know some people simply have raspy voices, but hers was extreme. Some singers develop it from scream-singing or smoking (i.e. Courtney Love), but I don't think Kim falls under either of those scenarios.

Bette Davis Eyes is the only song anybody remembers from her.

I sent her a bottle of Jean Nate and a nice blouse.

She has a really cool song called Invisible Hands.

She makes my heart beat faster (and that's all that matters)

80s videos were fun.

"She" is very active on her official Facebook page. I somehow doubt she's actually the one responding but whoever it is offers up a lot of good info and memories about her music career. Then again at 80 years old maybe she has nothing better to do than engage with fans on social media

For one brief moment in time, when she took a photograph with Barbra Streisand in 1984, her blue eyes turned brown for the camera ! Imagine ?

BTW, her high school yearbook picture looks like she's in her 30s.

Kim and Bette Davis. Knowing Bette, that was probably her fifth martini of the afternoon.

"Does It Make You Remember" is my favorite, followed closely by the trio recording with Kenny Rogers and James Ingram "What About Me?"

Sad that Kenny and James are gone but thrilled Kim is still with us.

Bette drank scotch, r13.

R14 / R15 That song was originally written for Rogers, Streisand, and Lionel Richie with David Foster producing. Richie ended up dropping out of the project, and Streisand later parted ways, as well (she didn't want to record it without LR). Original replacements were Olivia Newton-John and Jeffrey Osbourne. ONJ had a scheduling conflict and had to refuse, and JO left for the same reason. The final replacements were Carnes and Ingram.

One of the great duets...

Barbra Streisand & Kim Carnes - Make No Mistake, He's Mine (1984)

Love Kim, always have, totally underrated, Under My Thumb should have been a tacked on single to Mistaken Identy (Like Stand & Deliver was with later versions of Kings of The Wild Frontier) as it would have been a musical thru line to Voyeur, and all this Kim stuff made me think of this....

Kim Carnes was 22 when she got married for the first and only time, and she has been married to the same man since 1967!

Carnes resides in Nashville with husband Dave Ellingson (1967–present). They have two sons, Collin and Ry.

Kim was born in Los Angeles on July 20, 1945. 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."

Carnes was 36 when she hit it big with 'Bette Davis Eyes' in 1981.

"Bette Davis Eyes" was written and composed by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon in 1974. It was recorded by DeShannon that year but made popular by Kim Carnes in 1981 when it spent nine non-consecutive weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It won the 1982 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

[quote]The final replacements were Carnes and Ingram.

Only after Steve and Eydie also dropped out.

One of my all-times, this song. I had a crush on a senior when I was a freshman & this I'd play thos over & over thinking about him. Years later we actually ended up going a date...turned out to be a real heel. I didn't even offer a kiss goodnight. Some things really are left alone. Anyway, still a superb song from Kim.

I swear, when I first saw this thread title, I thought it said: “Happy 80th birthday Kim [bold]CATTRALL!![/bold]

r22 Meh, you tried.

Bette Davis Eyes really punches me in the gut in yanking me to a different time. A far better one for me. Anyway, thanks for reminder that Kim Carnes was actually a great singer, not just a novelty song wonder.

Speaking of Jeffrey Osborne (r17) I'm a sucker for this duet from the Spaceballs soundtrack of all places. Okay it's 80s cheesy but in the best way. Could have been a big hit had it been recorded for a romcom or something but tied to Spaceballs it would have been a hard sell (it wasn't released as a single)

Bon Voyage from Barking At Airplanes is so achingly sad

Don’t Fall in Love With a Dreamer, w Kenny Rogers was the first I’d heard her unique voice. All the best to her.

For one week, in January 1985, Carnes made music history on the Hot 100 Billboard Chart which has never been duplicated. Carnes was on the Hot 100 Singles in three different categories that same week:

1. As a trio with 'What About Me?'

2. As a duet with 'Make No Mistake, He's Mine'

3. As a solo artist with 'Invitation to Dance'

^^And nobody remembers those songs. Bette Davis Eyes is the only song anyone remembers from Kim Carnes.

I love the duet 'Make No Mistake, He's Mine' with Streisand, but her solo version (which was included as a bonus track in 2001 on the extended 'Barking At Airplanes') is the best. When interviewed years later, Carnes said she had no idea they included the solo track on the expanded album; it was actually a demo track she sent to Streisand and was never meant to be released as track on an album. (For a demo, it's beautiful and raw).