Carman Licciardello

As a child growing up in Trenton, New Jersey, Carmelo used to play drums. He started as a member of his mother's band and then formed a band of his own during his teenage years. At around the age of 20, Domenic moved to California independently.

His evangelistic career began when he attended an Andraé Crouch concert. It was at that moment that he became a born-again Christian. In 1980, he released an album titled God's Not Finished with Me. The following year, Bill Gaither invited him to tour. Between 1987 and 1989, he was named Charisma Magazine's Readers' Choice for Favorite Male Vocalist. In 1990 and 1992, Billboard recognized Carmelo's influence on Christian music by naming him the Contemporary Christian Artist of the Year. In addition, Carmelo holds the record for the biggest attendance at a Christian musical performance.

Marriage, wife and age

For most of his life and career, Carman was known as a lifelong bachelor. According to his own account, he was briefly married once before, for only a few months, to the ex-wife of a longtime friend; that marriage was annulled after facts about her past came to light that Carman said he had not known before the wedding.

On December 16, 2017, at age 61, Carman married Dana Morrow in Dallas, Texas, ending decades as what he called a "proverbial bachelor." The couple had met on Facebook and, according to Carman, Dana had been a source of support and encouragement through his cancer treatment in the years before their wedding.

His Battle with Cancer

The evangelist faced a severe health problem in 2013, when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood that affects the bone marrow, and was told he had only three to four years left to live. Carmelo explained the struggle, "I've had so many difficult things happen to me over the last 12 years; it was almost a situation that made sense. I could see this coming to a close as I wasn't really doing anything, and I had hardly any requests for concerts. The things I needed to do best I wasn't doing. I figured my time was up." By late 2017, he announced he was 100 percent cancer-free, though the disease later returned and he continued to battle it for the rest of his life.

Carmelo felt a message from God that said to him that he should stick around a little longer. Since he is seen as a public figure in the religious community, his fans wanted him to take more responsibility, present a better example, and become a good role model for children following the faith.

Death

On February 16, 2021, Carman passed away at a hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada, due to complications arising from surgery to repair a hiatal hernia. He was 65 years old at the time of his death, which occurred 28 days after his 65th birthday. In addition to his wife and five stepchildren, he is survived by ten step-grandchildren.