Born: 20-Jul-1946
Birthplace: Pasadena, CA

Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Singer/Songwriter

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Bette Davis Eyes

At 20, Kim Carnes joined the New Christy Minstrels, a squeaky-clean 10-person pop-folk chorus of the 1960s. Carnes quit the group after just a few months, but met her eventual husband and songwriting partner Dave Ellingson when he was a Minstrel too. At 22, Carnes did her only acting work in C'mon, Let's Live A Little, a dreadful 1967 Hollywood attempt at hipness. It stars pop singers Bobby Vee ("Take Good Care of My Baby") and Jackie DeShannon ("What the World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love") as vapid college kids amidst simple-minded "hippie" protesters who are reformed by the end of the film.

Carnes worked for years as a songwriter, back-up singer, and nightclub performer. She was 32 when she first cracked the Top 40, with "You're a Part of Me", a country-western number that peaked at #36 on the Country charts. Two years later, she sang a hit duet with Kenny Rogers, "Don't Fall in Love With a Dreamer". Rogers and Carnes had first met when they were both New Christy Minstrels. In 1981, she had a hit singing, "Bette Davis Eyes", written by Jackie DeShannon. It was the #1 song for nine straight weeks in the US, and eventually #1 in 21 different nations, and won Grammys for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. She has continued to be a songwriter, her songs recorded by Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Tanya Tucker, Trisha Yearwood and others.

Father: (attorney)
Mother: (hospital office worker)
Husband: Dave Ellingson (songwriter, m. 1967)
Son: Collin Ellingson (songwriter)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    We Are the World (28-Jan-1985) · Herself
    C'mon, Let's Live a Little (3-Mar-1967)

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