Eric Carr

Eric Carr (born Paul Charles Caravello; July 12, 1950 – November 24, 1991) was an American musician, best known as drummer for the rock band Kiss. Caravello was selected as the new Kiss drummer after Peter Criss left in 1980, where he chose the stage name "Eric Carr" and took up the "Fox" persona. He remained a band member until his death of complications from heart cancer in November 1991, aged 41. Caravello was an artist and went to the High School of Art & Design in New York City.

Early life

Carr was born and raised in Brooklyn. "It was the typical 'Leave It To Beaver' kind of house.", he recalled in an interview in 1990. "It was great, basically pretty normal, I guess. My father worked real hard, so I really didn't see much of him, which is unfortunate. I realize that today, but he was working hours a day, six days a week...so I...never went to a baseball game or that kind of stuff – ever. I used to spend a lot of time alone. I used to play a lot by myself, with a lotta, lotta toy soldiers. And I used to make monsters, and have the soldiers fight the monsters." {Taped interview, 1990, KISS Alliance fanzine}.

Caravello grew up in the 1960s, in the Brownsville section of East New York in New York City.

"I went...to...the High School of Art and Design. I went in to be a cartoonist. They give you a chance to sample each major before you finally decide what you want. After the first three weeks...I decided to change and be a photographer, I don't know why. (W)ith the result that my high school years, typical high school kid, I wasted absolutely every day of high school. I got no work done, did nothing to further my career, wasted time, and wound up getting drunk in the darkroom with my friends all the time. We never got caught because we could see through the one-way glass whenever a teacher would come. It wasn't like I was getting drunk every day, you know. Half a cup of Vodka in those days was enough to get you drunk. It wasn't like we were doing bottles!I had a lotta fun with my friends in high school, I never kept track of any of them, but I had a really good time." {Taped KA interview, 1990}

Caravello did not look like all the other kids, mostly due to his love of the Beatles. "I was one of the two kids in the school that had long hair," he said in the same interview. "I used to Dippity-Do my hair down, to make it stay flat. I used to have a Beatles haircut, but my hair's curly, so I couldn't get it to lay flat like the Beatles'. So I'd get the stuff Dippity-Do, drench my hair with it, and I'd take a piece of my Mom's nylon stocking, tie a knot in one end, and pull it over my head like a burglar. I was sleeping like that for probably two years with that on my head every night. The weirdest part of that whole thing was that my parents let me do it! I would walk around the house, getting ready to go to bed, and I'd have this thing around my head. And they'd act like, Okay, well, no big deal. And I think about it now, and I say, they must have thought I was nuts!"

His parents were Albert and Connie Caravello. "My parents were real supportive, and they knew how much I loved the Beatles. They liked the fact that I was playing music, I was a real good kid. I didn't do anything to make trouble. They weren't going to pick on me for something like that. They're real good Italian parents. They're real good people. They've worked really hard, I owe them a lot. I try to do what I can for them now, but it's hard to make up for a whole lifetime of sacrifice. They're real proud of me." {Taped KA interview - April 25, 1990.}

Caravello graduated high school in 1968. "I don't remember my graduation. It was typical, you know. I stood there with that stupid cap and gown on! (The 1960s) got pretty nasty towards '67, '68, when all the riots were happening. I just happened to live where the riots were happening. My neighborhood was called Brownsville, East New York. As I was growing up...the black neighborhoods were right near where I lived. My neighborhood was old Italian and old Jewish. Little by little all the old Italians and the old Jews started moving out to Long Island, you know, Getting Out. And the black people were moving closer and closer. I never had any problems with anybody, I had black friends, and I never grew up thinking in those kinds of terms.

"From then on, basically, I played in a couple of Top-40 bands. Top-40 in those days was everything – funk, ballads, rock, country, and everything. It was a great time for radio, it really was. {Taped KA interview, 1990}

Early career

Caravello played with a string of bands mostly performing covers of well-known songs before joining Kiss. The first band, "The Cellarmen", was formed in 1965 by him and a couple of friends. They started playing local clubs in Brooklyn and Queens. Only a handful of recordings were made, released on the "Jody" label, a small Brooklyn recording studio. Caravello then joined a band called "Things That Go Bump In The Night" and later "Smack", the latter of which consisted mostly of members from "The Cellarmen", who disbanded in 1968.

Salt & Pepper" was Caravello's next cover band, playing music from multiple genres. He would go on with this band for nine years. The band enjoyed some success, performing as opening act for established names such as Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone. Changing name to "Creation" in 1973, the band was now performing disco music.

"From '70 to '79 I was in one band that changed personnel a few times. It was called Salt N' Pepper at first, because it was 50% black and 50% white. That was a cool band, what a (great) band that was! We were great. They were like my family basically for nine years." {Taped KA interview, 1990}

Tragedy struck in 1974, when a fire broke out during a discothèque gig at Gulliver's restaurant in Port Chester, New York, killing dozens of people including the band's keyboardist and lead singer. Caravello escaped and was credited with saving another person. It was determined that the fire had been started by a thief in an adjacent building hoping to cover his tracks.

Years later, he could still vividly remember the horrible night. "It was a club called Gulliver's – twenty-four people died. Two people in my band were among the dead. I was one of the last people to get out. A waitress came up on stage, and we stopped the song. She told us to announce that there was a fire a couple of doors down, and that everyone had to clear the building. And so everybody was like, 'Oh, (to hell with) THIS!' Everybody started to clear out, and then all of a sudden the ventilation system on the roof started to suck in the smoke from the fire. So this thick, black smoke started to pour into this place. The lights went out – and that was it. It was pandemonium. {Taped KA interview, 1990.}

"I was lucky, I was at the bottom of the stairway leading out of this place. We were below ground, that's where the dance floor was, and where the stage was. I had the lead singer, one of (our) lead singers, a girl. I had her by the hand, because she panicked and wanted to go back inside the basement. She would have been dead, too. I pulled her out, we were one of the last couple of people to get out of there. Two members of my band (died). My lead singer, a guy named George, and this kid Damien, a keyboard player from Deer Park, Long Island – he was seventeen. It was terrible. We were really demolished. I was on TV with the guitar player a week later on CBS on Sunday morning – it was a show called Sunday. I had a tape of that, and that's gone. I wish I had the film, because all you see is this gigantic head of hair, with my John Lennon mustache and John Lennon glasses. That's the way I looked then." (Actually, you can get a clip of this appearance on the DVD Tale Of The Fox, located by Carr's younger sister from another Caravello family member). {Tale of the Fox DVD release.}

The band continued for some time, sometimes using the name "Bionic Boogie". "All our equipment was gone," Carr said, "it was all melted. It was like a three foot (1 meter) high pile, and that's it. Our agent held a benefit for us and they raised about $5,000. That was enough in those days to get all new equipment. And we kept going. We kept going basically until 1979. We finally decided to can it. After nine years of trying to make it, it just wasn't happening so we broke up...in, I don't know, September, October in '79." (1990 KA interview).

In December 1979, Caravello successfully auditioned for a rock 'n' roll cover band called "Flasher". "(I)t was the first actual rock band that I'd really been in," He recalled, "and it was four pieces – drums, bass, keyboard, and guitar...and after about three weeks of rehearsals we went out and we started playing clubs." {1990 KA interview.}

At this point he had become discouraged about his musical future after so many years trying to make it without a break, and considered settling down with a non-musical career. "...we were making real (lousy) money – something like $10, $7 a night, whatever it was it was. Really, really terrible. Just by contrast, I used to make $15 a night when I was like 16 years old, and here I am almost 30 years old, and I'm making like $7 a night! So I wasn't doing better, obviously – I was going in reverse, you know!

"I was (repairing gas ranges) during the day to keep my car going, because I had a 1973 Dodge Colt, that used to break down, oil used to shoot out (of it). (I worked on) just regular gas stoves that people use in their house. And that was horrendous, that was pretty hair-raising!" {KISS Alliance oral history, '"Growing Up Cool" by Eric Carr' - Spring 1990 issue.}

Flasher played the club circuit in New York City and Long Island. "We did clubs all around New York and Long Island for about two months, and then the keyboard player, Paul Turino, he quit. (W)e went on as a power trio, we had three lead vocalists, I was singing lead and we were doing Joe Jackson and Van Halen, and Led Zeppelin stuff, and Oh, God, Hendrix, and you know – whatever we could play."

The band continued on despite the resignation of their keyboardist, but bookings diminished. Caravello handed in his resignation in May 1980. "At that particular point, I had already told the band that I was gonna quit. I had given them like, to the end of June, and I was gonna leave 'cause there's nothing going on. I just said you know, 'There's no money in it, and I can't do it. I don't know what I'm wanna do.' And literally for the first time in my life I really, seriously thought about giving up music completely. I'm thinking, 'Gee, you know, I've tried everything and here I am, 30 years old and nothing's happening – I'd better can it for awhile'. I would have kept doing the stoves, and probably done something else, but, knowing me, I would have gotten back into the music probably quick anyway. But, for awhile I might have given it up, just to cool out a bit."

Shortly afterwards, he had a chance meeting with Turino in a club in Queens. "Literally, I never expected to see him (Turino) again, because we really hadn't gotten to be friends you know, in that short (amount) of time." Carr remembered. "I ran into him again two months, three months later at a place called “Poets”, in Queens; that's called “Nobodys” now. I was gonna play there the next night, so I just went to just hang out to have a couple drinks, you know, nothing to do, it was a Tuesday night. So he happened to show up, this was months after he quit the band. I invited him down to see us play the next night." {1990 KA taped interview.}

Turino told Caravello about Criss' departure from Kiss and urged Caravello to audition to become Kiss' drummer. "At the end of the evening, he goes, “(Paul), you've to get out of this band,” and I said, “Yeah, I know, I already told them 'em I was leaving”.

“Well, why don't you audition for KISS?” (Taped KA interview, 1990)

Kiss audition

Caravello was working for his father as an oven repair man for Jamaica Stove in Brooklyn while playing drums in "Flasher" when Kiss dismissed Criss. Caravello, who had played in cover bands throughout the 1970s, was told by Turino that he should audition for Kiss. Along with the application, Caravello submitted a cassette tape of Kiss' current single "Shandi" but with his vocals over the music instead of Paul Stanley's.

"It sounded great!" he enthused years later. The application was put into a bright orange folder to make it stand out visually. Carr later stated that Jane Grod, a KISS staffer, told him later she had noticed the brightly colored envelope and so picked it to be one reviewed from the pile. {Taped KA interview, 1990}.

While sitting outside the actual room used for the audition, Caravello watched the three members of Kiss, Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons, and Paul Stanley, walk by to enter the room. He was one of the few people outside of the band's circle of friends, family, and music business partners, to see Kiss without make-up. "Paul, I knew right away", he told a fanzine in 1990 while interviewed on Kiss' tour bus. "The others I wasn't sure about." {Taped KA interview, 1990}.

Caravello was the last drummer to audition for the band and actually asked Stanley, Simmons and Frehley to autograph the list of Kiss songs he was to play with the band, in case he never saw them again. "But I knew I had it", he told a fanzine in 1990. According to Caravello, his audition was videotaped. He was also immediately comfortable, feeling the songs he had to play "...were a snap." He knew the arrangements better than the band did, from learning the recorded versions off Kiss' albums. "They had been on tour, and changed little things around," he said. He wasn't impressed with Kiss' performance at the audition. "They were awful!" he emphasized, "I had to remind them, "'No, I sing this harmony, you sing that one', stuff like that. It was great! Right away we were working together. I know it impressed them." {Taped KA interview, 1990}.

A significant advantage for Caravello may have been his relative anonymity, as it was important for the band to maintain the mystique surrounding the members. Said Paul Stanley, "It was really important to us that we got somebody who was unknown... We didn't want somebody who last week was in Rod Stewart's band or in Rainbow." The press release announcing the induction of Caravello into Kiss deducted three years from his actual age in order to confuse those seeking information about his true identity.

Stage makeup and persona

The Fox

After Caravello passed the audition, time was short but the band had some trouble coming up with a character persona and a stage name for him before his debut concert.

"We never actually told him he was in the band," stated Paul Stanley on USA Network's Night Flight program in 1983, "We just said: "In two weeks we're playing.'"

Caravello was alleged by Gene Simmons to have originally considered going by the name "Rusty Blade" until Simmons dissuaded him. He decided on "Eric Carr" quite carefully. He noticed that while all four members' full stage names were each three syllables long, Criss' name was the inverse of the other three band members' name syllable pattern - 'Peter Criss' was two syllables followed by a single syllable. He decided to make his stage name sound the same rhythmically as Peter Criss' by choosing a double syllable first name and a single syllable last name so when people said all four names together it would still fit the same to the ear. Carr was shortened from his birth name Caravello, and he chose Eric from a list of first names his girlfriend at the time had given him. Paul Caravello remained his legal name.

For his Kiss persona, Carr initially tried "The Hawk"; this concept was apparently very difficult to realize in greasepaint – a suitable make-up design was never created, and the "Hawk" costume was a "bright ORANGE-YELLOW!" The idea was dropped after Paul Stanley mentioned that it looked like Big Bird . With the band on deadline (only two weeks before Carr's stage debut), Carr came up with the make-up design for the persona of "The Fox"; Simmons liked it and thus the character was born. The original design was modified within days of Carr's initial photo sessions and debut concert as a KISS member, (See People Magazine cover photo,August 1980: "Kiss, they're Rich, Raunchy, and not so Repulsive")

Carr was introduced to the public on an episode of the syndicated television youth show Kids Are People Too! filmed in late July, 1980 and aired in September 1980. His first public performance was with the band in New York City's "The Palladium" venue on July 25, 1980. His parents, warned to not tell anyone their son was now in Kiss (to maintain the mystique that no one knew what the new member looked like without make up), attended the concert, and were recognized by a friend who actually worked with Paul Caravello at the repair shop - and had no idea the new KISS member behind the kit was his former co-worker. "'What are you doing here?'", Carr's father, Albert Caravello related in the Tale Of The Fox DVD, "'You like Kiss?' I said, "Yeah!'" Carr also, immediately after joining KISS, still did a few stove repair jobs. For Christmas in 1980, the KISS organization bought Eric a Porsche—so their new drummer would ride around in appropriate rock star-style. Ironically, the car broke down often, and caused Carr quite a bit of grief. ("Tale of the Fox" DVD).

His persona remained consistent for three years until the band's well-publicized removal of their stage makeup in September 1983, live on MTV network. The drastic move came after declining album sales and a poorly attended US tour. "I thought the band was ending, and they weren't telling me", he told a fanzine editor in a June 20, 1990 interview. Kiss slowly turned their career descent into a rebound, and the band thrived. Carr earned a reputation amongst fans for being unusually friendly and approachable. He answered more mail than other band members, and often added messages to his autographs. Despite being a replacement of an original member, his popularity soared among fans based on his personality and percussion skills.

Kiss

Carr, in his Fox make-up, from the "I Love It Loud" video in 1982.

Carr's first album with Kiss was 1981's Music from "The Elder", which marked a departure for the band toward a mystical art-rock direction. One of Carr's contributions to the album, "Under the Rose", is one of the few Kiss songs written in 6/8 time and featured a Gregorian chant-style chorus. Later, he would also have co-writer credits on "All Hell's Breakin' Loose", "Under the Gun", and "No, No, No", amongst others. Carr said he found writing lyrics harder than writing music. (1990 taped KA interview)

Besides drumming, Carr also played guitar, bass guitar, and piano and sang background vocals. Occasionally he sang lead vocals, such as "Black Diamond" and "Young and Wasted" live with Kiss. His first lead vocal in the studio was a re-recording of "Beth" (a song originally sung by Peter Criss) for the 1988 compilation album Smashes, Thrashes & Hits. Carr recorded his version of the song in the same room in the Record Plant where the song was originally recorded, using the same backing track as Criss. Carr would later claim that he regretted having to overdub what he felt was the definitive performance by Criss, but that he was so desperate to finally sing on an album that (against his better judgment) he agreed to do it.

In 1989 he recorded a demo with Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick. Carr wrote the music, played bass and drums, while Kulick played guitar. As Carr was not a proficient lyricist, he presented the demo to Simmons with the words to Marvin Gaye's 1965 classic "Ain't That Peculiar". Simmons wrote new lyrics, which Carr recorded for the subsequent Hot in the Shade release. Song was released as "Little Caesar". He performed the song a few times, but it wasn't performed beyond the first month of the tour. Carr's last live performance with Kiss was November 9, 1990 in New York City, at Madison Square Garden.

Carr's last recording with Kiss was for the song "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II", which featured him on backing vocals. The last time Carr worked with Kiss was in July 1991 when Kiss filmed the video for "God Gave Rock 'N Roll to You" with Carr playing drums. Carr's last public appearance with the band was at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 1991.

Influences and style

Carr was a powerful hard-hitting drummer and one of the first drummers to adopt the classic 1980s snare drum sound : a highly reverberated and low-tuned sound. In his 1980 resume sent to Kiss, Carr stated that his drumming style ranged from heavy metaland hard rock to pop and new wave claiming that "I can adapt to most situations easily." Furthermore he listed drummers John Bonham, Keith Moon, and Lenny White as influences.

In addition, Carr was an avid fan of The Beatles and the band's drummer Ringo Starr. In an interview he recalled, "I was caught up in the whole Beatlemania thing. I guess I was attracted to the drums because of the feeling of the rhythm and how it moved you, just sitting in your seat. I loved the way Ringo moved. I identified with him at the time". Photographs of Eric during his high school years show him wearing his hair like Starr did (See Early Years above).

Carr's interest in double bass drumming came from his admiration of Ginger Baker and John Bonham, once telling 16 Magazine, "I just loved the way John Bonham played drums".{16 Magazine, March, 1983 "Rock Round-Up"} Eric also had a love of all types of music; songwriter Adam Mitchell once described Carr as knowing a lot about folk, R&B and other non-rock styles.{Tale of the Fox DVD interview} In a 1983 interview, Carr told USA Channel interviewer Al Bandero that he listened to "a lot" of Neil Young, and liked many different types of music. Simmons has stated that Carr's harder drumming style pushed Kiss into becoming a heavier band than it had been when jazz-inspired Criss was the band's drummer.

Death

In February 1991, Carr began feeling ill. Medical tests revealed what at first appeared to be manageable problems with his health. However, he was diagnosed as having an unexpectedly serious and extremely rare type of cancer – heart cancer. In April 1991, Carr underwent a series of surgeries to remove tumors in his right atrium and lungs in an effort to restore heart function and prevent the cancer's growth. He recovered sufficiently and pressed Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons to let him back in the band. They had replaced him in the studio with session drummer Eric Singer to commence new recordings. They have stated they continually told Carr to get himself healthy and when he was he would be the Kiss drummer once again. The band was ready to film the "God Gave Rock and Roll" video and he asked Gene and Paul to at least let him be in the video and they finally agreed to let him appear in the video.

He flew to Los Angeles in July 1991 to be with the band to play drums for their music video "God Gave Rock n' Roll To You". He was wearing a wig at that point because of treatment. After the video shoot he flew back to New York to try to get healthy; his health had deteriorated to the point where he was unable to play drums for the recording session for Revenge the band's next studio album, and Eric Singer (who had played previously in Paul Stanley's solo touring band) was brought in to record the album. After filming the video, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Bruce Kulick told him to go home and get well. After aggressive treatment, the cancer went into remission and Carr's health appeared to improve.

Carr's last public appearance with Kiss was at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 1991. Not long afterwards he suffered ananeurysm and was rushed to a hospital. He survived that episode, but it was only a matter of days before he suffered a brain hemorrhage caused by cancer cells transported in his bloodstream to the head, and never regained consciousness. On November 24, 1991, Carr died, age of 41. Incidentally, Carr died on the same day as Freddie Mercury.

In keeping with Carr's accessibility to his fans, his family decided to open his funeral service to the public, while reserving the interment as a private event. The funeral procession to the cemetery was very long, with New York State troopers making sure fans did not enter the cemetery for the interment. Carr is interred in Cedar Hill Cemetery in the Town of Newburgh, New York.

Rockology and Rockheads

Former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick, along with Carr's family, released Carr's first and only solo album in 1999, titled Rockology, which featured many demos that Kulick and Carr worked on together (along with songwriter and friend Adam Mitchell). The CD features several songs with Carr on lead vocals as well as on bass guitar, along with Kulick on guitars and Mitchell assisting Carr with many of the background vocals. This album includes "Somebody's Waiting" and "Tiara", a song that he originally wrote for his planned children's cartoon show called Rockheads, a rock band parody featuring four characters (Slider, Clive, Scruffy and Punky) with different characteristics and personalities.

Tributes

As a tribute, the group's 1992 release Revenge featured what is said to be the only drum solo Carr ever recorded with the band,[10]entitled "Carr Jam 1981", a jam session recorded for the Music From "The Elder" sessions (former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley's original guitar part was overdubbed by Bruce Kulick). Much of the soloing was seasoned during Kiss' 1980 Unmasked Tour of Europe and Australia, and put down during The Elder sessions, since that album was recorded following that tour. Carr had for years been trying to get his hands on a copy of the solo for his personal collection, but his request was always rebuffed by Bob Ezrin with the excuse that he did not know where the masters for the session were. Once Carr died, however, the solo surfaced as "Carr Jam 1981".

The Revenge album was dedicated to Carr. He was also homaged on the "Kiss My Ass" video, as well as Kissology 2. However, the band declined a tribute concert that was requested by a circle of fans the year after his death. Simmons stated, "We didn't want to do a tribute concert. We are dedicating the album to his name, but no concerts in his name. It's not our style." 

A further tribute was produced in 1992, called Eric Carr: The Memorial Tribute. It was first broadcast live on 88.1 FM / WCWP, where Carr had been interviewed three years earlier while doing press for the Hot in the Shade album. Running for approximately 3 hours, the tribute featured a re-broadcast of the interview, interspersed with biographical information and details of Carr's extracurricular projects, along with all the officially-released songs Carr had written or co-written. Though broadcast just once,Eric Carr: The Memorial Tribute was released several years later (seemingly in an unofficial capacity) as a two-tape box set, designed to resemble the Kiss solo albums. It featured a newly commissioned painting of Carr in his fox makeup, patterned after the rarely-seen original by Eraldo Carugati (the artist who did the paintings for the original four Kiss solo album covers, plus one of Carr that was never officially released).

Fifteen years to the day of Carr's Kiss debut, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock Walk Hall of Fame at Guitar Center in Hollywood, California. Carr's parents, Albert and Connie Caravello, accepted a plaque in Carr's honor. Former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley was inducted in the "Rock Walk" during the same ceremony. Frehley's handprint was not added to the Kiss display. Carr's acknowledgment was a bronze plaque with his name, autograph and a separate icon of the Fox makeup he wore. Both were added to the Kiss display. Also, on numerous solo tours since Carr's death, Frehley would play "Breakout" (with lyrics written by Carr and Frehley and later re-recorded as "Carr Jam '81" on Kiss' Revenge album) and dedicate it to Carr, who Frehley hopes is "checking out the show up there". Frehley also dedicated his 2009 solo album Anomaly to Carr.

In July 2005, Carr was voted in tenth place for the world's best drummer by Planet Radio Rock. No other member of Kiss was given the distinction of making the top ten in the categories of vocalist, bassist or guitarist. Carr was only the second American drummer to make the list, with all others being either British or Canadian.

There is a hidden 'easter egg' in the 2007 Kissology II DVD collection (on disc three at the end of the production credits) showing a family videotape made of Carr, on his hospital bed, speaking into the camera thanking his fans for their cards, letters, and concern about his health. Dressed in white, Carr then exits the bed, and begins walking away only to return and moon the camera in rock n' roll style.

On August 13, 2011, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Carr's death, a tribute concert was held in Atlanta, Georgia called Night of the Fox: The ERIC CARR Tribute Concert. The main act, going under the name Little Caesar, played a 90-minute set of songs related to Eric Carr. Made up mostly KISS songs from Carr's time in the band, the show also featured a song from Rockology ("Eyes of Love") plus songs written or co-written by Carr but recorded by other artists, such as "Don't Leave Me Lonely", a song recorded byBryan Adams which was written by Eric for inclusion on Creatures of the Night album, but was rejected. Also, a tribute album featuring never released songs and interviews called Unfinished Business was released by his family. The album featured members and former members of Kiss, Twisted Sister, Seether, ZO2, Europe. The album was released on November 8, 2011.

Discography

With Kiss

• Music from "The Elder" (1981)
• Killers [*] (1982)
• Creatures of the Night (1982)
• Lick It Up (1983)
• Animalize (1984)
• Asylum (1985)
• Crazy Nights (1987)
• Chikara (1988)
• Smashes, Thrashes & Hits [•] [/] (1988)
• Hot in the Shade (1989)
• Revenge [¤] (1992)
• You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!! [‡] (1996)
• The Box Set (2001)
• The Very Best of Kiss (2002)
• The Best of Kiss, Volume 2: The Millennium Collection (2004)
• Gold (2005)
• [*]non-U.S. compilation featuring four newly recorded tracks
• [¤]backing vocals on "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II" & drums on "Carr Jam 1981"
• [•]vocals on remake of "Beth" and drum overdubs
• [/]Greatest Hits with 2 newly recorded songs
• [‡]Japanese version & US Vinyl, drums on "New York Groove"

Kiss Video Albums

• Animalize Live Uncensored (1985)
• Exposed (1987)
• Crazy Nights (video) (1988)
• Kiss My Ass: The Video (1994)
• Kissology Volume Two: 1978–1991 (2007)

Solo

• The Rockheads (1999, Rock Hard Records) – EP with all four songs co-written by Carr. He also played drums on all tracks, and sang lead and backing vocals.
• Rockology (April 2000)
• Unfinished Business (November 8, 2011)

Other albums

• Lightning: Lightning (1979, Casablanca Records) – As Paul Caravello, played drums and performed backing vocals on all tracks
• Bryan Adams: Cuts Like a Knife (1983, A&M Records) – Co-wrote "Don't Leave Me Lonely"
• Wendy O. Williams: W.O.W. (1984, JEM/Passport Records) – Drums on "Legends Never Die" and co-wrote "Ain't None of Your Business"
• Frehley's Comet (1987, Atlanic/Megaforce Records), Ace Frehley: Frehley's Comet, Greatest Hits Live – Co-wrote "Breakout"
• Garbo Talks (1998, MTM Music) – Drums on "Game of Love" 
• Prophecy: A Tribute to Eric Carr (2000, Lunar Moth Records) – Radio ID and performed "Your Turn to Cry"
• Faith Circus: Faith Circus (2008, Kivel Records) – Co-wrote "Can You Feel It"

Unreleased recordings

Carr's family announced in 2006 that they would release material written and recorded by Carr between 1980–1991, including the following songs:

• "Elephant Man"
• "Dial L for Love"
• "Midnight Stranger"
• "Tiara" (Demo)
• "The Troubles Inside You"

 

Though stated by Carr's family that the recordings would be released in 2006, they remain unreleased as of 2011. Some of the songs were released on the album Unfinished Business.