Everyone remembers the eyes. Those "Bette Davis Eyes" that dominated 1981 and turned Kim Carnes into a household name with a voice like sandpaper and honey. But if you look just a year earlier, you'll find the real turning point in her career. It wasn't a synth-pop powerhouse. It was a soulful, shimmering cover of a Motown classic that most people—wrongly—assume was just a filler track.
More Love by Kim Carnes wasn't just a hit; it was a statement.
Honestly, by 1980, Carnes had been grinding in the industry for years. She’d written for Barbra Streisand. She’d been a New Christy Minstrel. She even wrote an entire concept album for Kenny Rogers called Gideon. But as a solo artist? She was still looking for that one "thing" that would make the public stop and listen to her own records.
Then came Romance Dance.
The Motown Connection: Reimagining Smokey Robinson
The original version of "More Love" was released in 1967 by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. It’s a gorgeous, delicate piece of Northern Soul. Smokey wrote it as a message of support for his wife, Claudette, after she suffered several miscarriages. It’s heavy stuff.
When Carnes decided to tackle it for her fifth studio album, Romance Dance, she didn't try to out-sing Smokey’s falsetto. That would’ve been a mistake. Instead, she and producer George Tobin leaned into her natural rasp. They slowed it down just enough to let the yearning in her voice take center stage.
It worked. Like, really worked.
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- The song peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1980.
- It hit No. 6 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
- It stayed in the Top 10 for three consecutive weeks.
Interestingly, Smokey Robinson himself was so impressed by what she did with his song that he later wrote "Being with You" specifically with her in mind (though he ended up recording it himself and having a massive hit with it). That’s the ultimate industry "thumbs up."
Why the Production of More Love Was Ahead of Its Time
If you listen to the track today, it doesn't sound quite like the disco leftovers of 1979 or the neon-soaked synth-pop of 1982. It’s in this weird, beautiful middle ground.
Basically, the track uses a very "clean" California pop production style, but Carnes’ vocal performance is pure grit. You’ve got these polished background vocals and a steady, almost yacht-rock beat, and then Kim comes in sounding like she’s been up all night drinking whiskey and reading poetry.
It was the first time the world really "got" her sound.
"Carnes' voice is a delight: Sorghum and whiskey and a howl of the heart." — Peter Cooper, Nashville music journalist.
That "howl" is what turned "More Love" into a Top 10 smash. It proved she wasn't just a songwriter who happened to sing; she was an interpreter of songs. She could take a Motown staple and make it feel like a contemporary West Coast confession.
The Stepping Stone to Superstardom
Without the success of More Love, we probably don't get "Bette Davis Eyes." That sounds like a stretch, but think about the mechanics of the music business in 1980. EMI America needed a win. Romance Dance gave them that win, peaking at No. 57 on the Billboard 200—her first album to ever chart.
It gave her the leverage to experiment.
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When George Tobin brought her the demo for "Bette Davis Eyes," she originally hated it. She thought it sounded like a "Jackie DeShannon country song" (which, to be fair, it was). But because she had just come off a Top 10 hit with "More Love," she had the confidence—and the label's trust—to completely dismantle "Bette Davis Eyes" and rebuild it into the synth-heavy masterpiece we know.
Beyond the Charts: The Legacy of Romance Dance
A lot of people skip over Romance Dance because they want to get straight to the "Mistaken Identity" era. That’s a mistake. The album is a masterclass in early 80s pop-rock.
Beyond "More Love," the album featured:
- "Cry Like a Baby" (a cover of The Box Tops) which hit No. 44.
- Original tracks like "In the Chill of the Night" co-written with her husband, Dave Ellingson.
- A vibe that sat somewhere between Linda Ronstadt and the coming New Wave wave.
She was essentially testing the waters. She was figuring out how much "rock" her pop audience could handle and how much "soul" her raspy voice could carry.
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Actionable Insights for Music Lovers
If you're looking to dive deeper into this era of music history, don't just stop at the greatest hits. Here is how to actually appreciate the Kim Carnes transition:
- Listen Back-to-Back: Play the 1967 Miracles version of "More Love" and then immediately play Kim’s 1980 version. Notice the "space" in her version. The way the bass carries the melody allows her voice to crack in all the right places.
- Check the Credits: Look for the name Dave Ellingson. He was her husband and long-time collaborator. Their songwriting partnership is the backbone of her career, even on albums where she leaned heavily on covers.
- Track the Evolution: Listen to "More Love," then "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" (her duet with Kenny Rogers), then "Bette Davis Eyes." You can literally hear the production getting colder, sharper, and more modern as she moves through those three years.
Kim Carnes didn't just appear out of nowhere with a pair of famous eyes. She built that house on the foundation of songs like More Love, proving that a great voice can find new life in an old soul classic.
To fully understand the 1980s pop transition, your next move should be exploring the Gideon album by Kenny Rogers. It was written entirely by Carnes and Ellingson just before her solo breakout, and it provides the lyrical "DNA" for everything she did in the decade that followed.