"Hungry Eyes" is a song performed by American musician Eric Carmen, a former member of the band Raspberries, and was featured in the film Dirty Dancing (1987). The song was recorded at Beachwood Studios in Beachwood, Ohio in 1987. "Hungry Eyes" peaked at 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 3 on the Cash Box Top 100 in 1988. The power ballad was not released commercially in the UK, but it managed to peak at No. 82 in January 1988, having charted purely on import sales.
Songwriters Franke Previte and John DeNicola wrote the song, as well as another hit from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life"."Hungry Eyes", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved February 3, 2014)
Background Eric Carmen, the lead singer on "Hungry Eyes", had been the vocalist of the Raspberries. In 1975, he released his first solo album Eric Carmen, spawning the worldwide hit "All by Myself", but subsequently faced declining chart fortunes.
"Hungry Eyes" was written in 1984 by John DeNicola and Franke Previte, and originally recorded by Previte's band, Franke and the Knockouts for their album Makin' the Point, but it did not appear on the original version of the album; it was, however, included on a 1998 reissue of the album. Jimmy Ienner, Raspberries' producer, asked Carmen to sing this song for the Dirty Dancing album because he was familiar with Carmen's musical style. Carmen was initially hesitant to produce a song for another film soundtrack because he believed that soundtrack music died "horrible deaths"."Welcome to EricCarmen.com." Welcome to EricCarmen.com. N.p., n.d. Web. February 3, 2014.
The song, Carmen's second Top 40 song of the 1980s, was his biggest hit since "All by Myself". A few months after the success of "Hungry Eyes", Carmen released the Ienner-produced "Make Me Lose Control", which also reached the Top 10 in the US.
Releases The song was released commercially on 7" vinyl in many countries; plus, a 3-track 12" maxi single and 2-track cassette were produced. CD singles were a relatively new format; however, a 2-track Japanese mini CD single was commercially released in 1988.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts + 1988 weekly chart performance for "Hungry Eyes" Chart (1988) Peakposition Australia (Australian Music Report) 4 Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles) 53 Europe (European Airplay Top 50) 15 Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 10) 6Italy Airplay (Music & Media) 9 South Africa (Springbok Radio) 10 US Cash Box Top 100 Singles 3 US Contemporary Hit Radio (Radio & Records) 6 US Adult Contemporary (Radio & Records) 1
+ 2019 weekly chart performance for "Hungry Eyes" Chart (2019) Peakposition
+ 2024 weekly chart performance for "Hungry Eyes" Chart (2024) Peakposition Canadian Digital Song Sales (Billboard) 15
+ 2025 weekly chart performance for "Hungry Eyes" Chart (2025) Peakposition Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100) 48
Year-end charts + Year-end chart performance for "Hungry Eyes" Chart (1988) Position Australia (ARIA) 39 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) 88 Canada Top Singles (RPM) 49 US Billboard Hot 100 25 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) 7 US Cash Box Top 100 Singles 30
Certifications
Eyeopener version British dance music group Eyeopener covered "Hungry Eyes" and released it as a single on 8 November 2004. Their take reached number 16 in the UK and number 25 in Ireland.
Charts Chart (2004) Peakposition
Certifications
Other versions New Found Glory released their version on their 2007 album of film covers, From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II.
A reworked rendition with altered lyrics by James Radford appeared in a 2017 commercial for Sheba cat food in the UK.
John Denicola, co-writer of the song, released his own version in 2019 on his debut album The Why Because on Omad Records. It reached number 22 on Billboards Adult Contemporary chart.
Tobacco covered the song in 2020.
References