Raspberries (band)

The Raspberries were an American power pop/pop rock band formed in 1970 from Cleveland, Ohio. They had a run of success in the early 1970s music scene with their pop sound, which Allmusic later described as featuring "exquisitely crafted melodies and achingly gorgeous harmonies." The members were known for their clean-cut public image, with short-hair and matching suits, which brought them teenybopper attention as well as scorn from some mainstream media outlets as "uncool". The group drew influence from the British Invasion era—especially The Beatles, The Who, The Hollies, and Small Faces—and its mod sensibility. In both the U.S. and the UK, the Raspberries helped pioneer the power pop music style that took off after the group disbanded. They also have a following among professional musicians such as Jack Bruce, Ringo Starr, and Courtney Love.

The group's "classic" lineup consisted of Eric Carmen (vocalist/guitarist/bassist), Wally Bryson (guitarist), Jim Bonfanti (drummer), and Dave Smalley (guitarist/bassist). Their best known songs include "Go All the Way", "Let's Pretend", "I Wanna Be with You", "Tonight", and "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)". Producer Jimmy Ienner was responsible for all four of the Raspberries' albums in the 1970s. The group broke up in 1975 after a five-year run, and Eric Carmen proceeded to a successful career as a solo artist. Bryson and Smalley resurrected the group's name in 1999 for an album, which included singer/songwriter Scott McCarl working as the vocalist. In 2004 the original four-man lineup reunited and undertook a well-received reunion tour in 2005.

Eric Carmen

Eric Howard Carmen (born August 11, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist. He scored numerous hit songs across the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Raspberries (who had a million-selling single with "Go All The Way"), and then with his solo career, including hits such as "All By Myself," "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again," "She Did It," "Hungry Eyes," and "Make Me Lose Control."

Biography

Early life

From a family of Russian Jewish immigrants, Carmen was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Lyndhurst, Ohio. He has been involved with music since early childhood. By the age of two, he was entertaining his parents with impressions of Tony Bennett and Johnnie Ray. By age three, he was in the Dalcroze Eurhythmics program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. At six years old, he took violin lessons from Muriel Carmen (his aunt), a violinist of the Cleveland Orchestra. By age 11, he was playing piano and dreaming about writing his own songs. The arrival of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones altered his dream slightly. By the time he was a sophomore at Charles F. Brush High School, Eric Carmen was playing piano and singing in rock 'n' roll bands including the Fugitives, the Harlequins, the Sounds of Silence and the Cyrus Erie.

Raspberry

The raspberry (/ˈræzˌbɛri/) is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus; the name also applies to these plants themselves.

Raspberries are perennial with woody stems.

Major kinds of cultivated raspberries

Raspberries are an important commercial fruit crop, widely grown in all temperate regions of the world.

Many of the most important modern commercial red raspberry cultivars derive from hybrids between R. idaeus and R. strigosus. Some botanists consider the Eurasian and American red raspberries to belong to a single, circumboreal species, Rubus idaeus, with the European plants then classified as either R. idaeus subsp. idaeus or R. idaeus var. idaeus, and the native North American red raspberries classified as either R. idaeus subsp. strigosus, or R. idaeus var. strigosus. Recent breeding has resulted in cultivars that are thornless and more strongly upright, not needing staking.

The black raspberry, Rubus occidentalis, is also cultivated, providing both fresh and frozen fruit, as well as jams, preserves, and other products, all with that species' distinctive flavor.

Romeo Miller

Percy Romeo Miller, Jr. (born August 19, 1989), better known by his stage name Maserati Rome or simply Rome (formerly Lil' Romeo and Romeo) or his acting/business name Romeo Miller, is an American rapper, actor, basketball player, entrepreneur, and model. Miller is the son of well known rap mogul Master P. Miller has founded record label's Guttar Music, Take A Stand, The Next Generation & his current label No Limit Forever. Miller still holds the spot of the youngest person to hit #1 on the Billboard 200, a record that was previously held by music icon Michael Jackson.

Miller gained fame and fortune in the early 2000s after signing with his father's popular and successful label at the time No Limit Records with the help of his debut single & most successful single to date "My Baby" which went on to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) it established Miller as the youngest person to achieve the #1 spot on the Billboard 200. In 2001 Miller released his debut & most successful album to date Lil 'Romeo it charted the US Billboard 200 at number six & went on to be certified gold, selling over 500,000 copies.

Dave Smalley

Dave Smalley is an American musician, best known as the lead singer for the hardcore punk bands DYS, Dag Nasty, and All and as lead singer/guitarist with Down by Law. He is known for his influence on pop punk music and his early contributions to the emo genre. He also founded a side project called The Sharpshooters, whose music is influenced by mod revival bands such as The Jam. Smalley has also produced and appeared on Canadian punk band Penelope's second album, Face au silence du monde, recorded at Inner Ear Studio in Virginia.

He received a bachelor's degree from Boston College and a masters in political science from California State University Los Angeles. He resides with his family in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he works as a features editor of the Weekender section of the town's newspaper, the Free Lance-Star. He previously worked as the youth editor for it!, a teen news supplement to the Free-Lance Star, and won several awards for that section.

Discography