Kim Carnes on DeBaser: reviews, highlights, and essential tracks

The Profile

Kim Carnes is an American singer‑songwriter with a distinctive raspy voice. She achieved worldwide success with “Bette Davis Eyes” (1981), which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks and won two Grammys (Record and Song of the Year). Active since the late 1960s, she released a run of pop/new wave–leaning albums in the 70s and 80s, including Mistaken Identity, Voyeur, and Barking at Airplanes, and scored other hits such as “More Love” and the duet “Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer.”

Grammy-winning American singer‑songwriter best known for “Bette Davis Eyes”; major 80s pop/new wave presence; albums include Mistaken Identity, Voyeur, Café Racers, Barking at Airplanes; notable hits include “More Love” and “Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer.”

Three reviews circle around Mistaken Identity and its juggernaut single Bette Davis Eyes, weighing chart triumphs against the album’s balance. There’s nostalgia, production notes (Val Garay), and the 80s synth/POP-FM rock mix. One review argues Carnes isn’t a one‑hit wonder, citing steady 70s–80s output. Chart facts and Grammys are front and center.

Notable Quotes

❝ Released on March 9, 1981, “Bette Davis Eyes” conquered the public and remained at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for nine consecutive weeks.

❝ However, Kim Carnes was not a one-hit wonder, as it might seem, in the American music scene.

❝ "Mistaken Identity" (1981) is the sixth album by the hoarse-voiced blonde and the album for which she will be remembered "in saecula saeculorum": the reason is, essentially, the presence of "Bette Davis Eyes".