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Kim Carnes, best known as the singer behind the hit song "Bette Davis Eyes," is turning 81 years old on Monday.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Carnes always had her sights set on becoming a singer-songwriter. She started her career in the late 1960s as a musician and performer, while also working as a background singer with the Walter Sisters for several years. Her first hit song was "Nobody Knows," which was written by Mike Settle and was featured in the 1971 film Vanishing Point, while "Sing Out For Jesus," another track in the movie, was written by Carnes but recorded by Willie Mae "Big Mama Thornton." That same year, Carnes signed with Amos Records and released her first solo album, Rest on Me.
Carnes and her early career
Throughout the 1970s, Carnes and her husband Dave Ellingson co-wrote several songs with David Cassidy and released multiple albums and songs that placed on various smaller Billboard charts. Her third album, Sailin', put out in 1976, won multiple international awards, and one of the songs, "Love Comes from Unexpected Places," was recorded by Barbra Streisand.
"I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed greater rapport with a singer," producer Jerry Wexler wrote in his 1993 autobiography, Rhythm and the Blues: A Life in American Music. He was also the producer behind many hits sung by Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Dusty Springfield and Bob Dylan. "With Kim in the studio and me in the booth, the good feelings flowed back and forth almost mystically. A nod of my head and she understood what I was saying, where I was pointing her. She’s a fine musician, her sultry voice a marvelous instrument."
Despite a Streisand cover, Carnes didn't recieve her first Top 40 hit until she collaborated with Gene Cotton in 1978, with whom she recorded the duet, "You're a Part of Me," which reached No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The success of 'Bette Davis Eyes'
In 1981, Carnes recorded the song "Bette Davis Eyes," which was originally written by Jackie DeShannon and Donna Weiss in 1974. Released as the lead single for her album, Mistaken Identity, "Bette Davis Eyes" spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became an international hit. The song led to Mistaken Identity becoming the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 for four weeks, and became the biggest hit of 1981. In addition, the song won Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 1982 Grammy Awards, as well as nominations for Best Pop Female and Album of the Year.
According to an Instagram post Carnes shared in October 2024, she is always asked for the story behind "Bette Davis Eyes." She wrote that Weiss brought her the original demo, and Carnes loved the lyrics but wasn't super confident about the production. She brought in her friend and keyboardist Bill Cuomo, and they came up with different chords. Carnes also brought her drummer Craig Krampf into the studio, and the new song was mixed by Niko Bolas.
"Bill Cuomo has never gotten the credit he deserves for completely changing the vibe and the chords," she concluded. "Bill made all the difference!!!"
"Bette Davis Eyes" was inspired by Hollywood actress and icon Bette Davis, who was known for her beautiful and dramatic eyes in the 1930s and 1940s. Throughout her 60-year career, Davis acted in multiple Broadway plays, melodramas, period films and comedies; winning the Academy Award for Best Actress twice and was nominated for 10 awards overall.
"I was flabbergasted, and I thought it was fun, and I thought the words were pretty terrific," the actress told Sunday Sunday in 1987. When the song came out, Davis was 73 years old. "As a matter of fact, I wrote the girl who wrote the words and asked her how she knew me this well."
The two ended up becoming close friends, with sources saying Carnes visited Davis at her home multiple times before the Dark Victory actress passed away from breast cancer in 1989.
What Kim Carnes is doing now
Though "Betty Davis Eyes" was a huge success, it ended up being Carnes' only No. 1 hit. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Carnes released multiple albums, including Café Racers, Barking at Airplanes, Light House, View from the House and Voyeur, the latter of which was nominated for Best Rock Vocal Performance at the Grammys.
Carnes released her last album, Chasin' Wild Trains, in 2004, which included songs co-written by Angelo Petraglia, Matraca Berg, Kim Richey, Al Anderson, Jeffrey Steele, Marc Jordan, Anders Osborne and Chuck Prophet, and was praised for its Americana and country influences. Throughout the 2000s, she continued to write and record songs for movie soundtracks; and in 2012 and 2013, she re-released some of her most popular albums, including Mistaken Identity, Voyeur and Café Racers.
At 81 years old, Carnes is still somewhat active in the industry. Now living in Nashville, the "More Love" singer spends most of her time away from the spotlight, but she still manages her music catalog and engages with her fans on social media.
She is currently promoting Universal Songs: The A&M, EMI America & MCA Years box sets, which is a 10-CD set that covers her 1975 to 1988 albums and also includes unreleased 12-inch dance mixes and famous duets.
