Eric Carr - Death

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 and according to Paul he gave it his all, doing the song over and over again until he got it right even as weak as he was. 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 an aneurysm 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. Carr also died on the same day as Queen Frontman 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. Template:KISS Alliance fanzine November 1991 Carr is interred in Cedar Hill Cemetery in the Town of Newburgh, New York.