Kim Carnes

**Kim Carnes** is an American singer. She performed with The New Christy Minstrels for a short time.

## Minstrels History

In 1966, Kim Carnes joined The New Christy Minstrels, although she didn't like Folk music. Endless lonely days on the road made her long to be back home. Although she left and rejoined the group three times in the first year, she made a friend in Kenny Rogers, and she became even friendlier with another Minstrel, Dave Ellingson, whom she eventually married.

Kim had little regard for the music of the New Christy Minstrels, but she thought a stint in the group might be a useful stepping stone. In a 1981 interview, Kim recalled her early days with the group:

"An agent friend of mine told me they needed a replacement for (one of) the girls in the group (Ann White), and suggested I try for the job. He said it would be good experience for me because I'd never been on the road. I didn't like folk music, and I especially didn't like the New Chisty Minstrels. I always thought it was ridiculous - the idea of young kids standing up there singing songs about slavery and what it was like. But I got the job, and the next morning I was on a plane to Lake Tahoe to join the group."
Her time with the group did not become one of her most treasured memories. "First of all, the girl (Ann White) I replaced was a soprano, and I'm not a soprano. And then, I was real lonely. The only other girl (Kiyoko Ito) in the group was Japanese and barely spoke English. She didn't stay very long anyway. She couldn't take it. There was no regard for the performers at all. People stayed with the group until they were so exhausted they had to quit, I think."

In early August, the group was in New York to record two songs for consideration for their next single. A light, pop rock song called "Dream of Summer" and a new show tune called "Beautiful, Beautiful World" from *The Apple Three*, a musical which had opened recently on Broadway. The song were lightweight fun, but the group's vocal blend paled in comparison with prior years and Kiyoko's thick Japanese accent was rather evident. Once again, there had been no time allowed for rehearsals. Nonetheless, "Beautiful, Beautiful World" was released as a single. As it turned out, this was the last session for Bob Buchanan and the one and only session for both Kim and Kiyoko. Bob was the first to leave, just a few weeks later. He was replaced by a singer by the name Dave Ellingson. This was actually the second time Dave had been offered a spot in the group. In the fall of 1961, he had been the earliest recruits invited by Randy Sparks to join a new group that he described as "a combination of the Norman Luboff Choir and the Kingston Trio." Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts they had to bow out just before the recording of the Grammy-winning debut album. Now, Dave was finally going to be a New Christy Minstrel, but he had missed a wild ride in the intervening years.

Kim and Kiyoto left shortly after Dave's arrival. Both hated the grueling schedule and the loneliness on the road. Michael McGinnis remembers: "(As for Kim,) my sense is that she really never liked very much about it all. She did, however, find her husband there." Kim and Dave Ellingson did not have an opportunity to spend much time together during her first stint with the group - she left at almost the same time he joined. However - perhaps at Dave's coaxing - she rejoined the group in the spring of 1967, and that's when their relationship bloomed. Looking back, Kim may not have many positive professional memories of the New Christy Minstrels, but she acknowledges: "In retrospect, it was a good thing. I joined the Minstrels. I broke in the hardest way you can. Now, any tour seems easy."

In September, Kim was replaced by a young singer by the name of Susan Pack. Susan left the group in February. She was replaced by a singer by the name of Sue Austin, who in turn was replaced when Kim Carnes agreed to rejoin the group in April.

Kim Carnes remembers: "A day or so before he was leaving the group to join the First Edition, Kenny and I were having breakfast in Cincinnati, and he said, 'A year from now, I'm gonna have a hit record.' I said, 'Yeah, sure, me too.' In those days, everybody in the group was sure that they were going to be big stars real soon. But he said, 'No, I'm not kidding. It's all going to work. ' And it did."

Along the way Kim broke off her engagement to a GI stationed in Germany and married with Dave.