FEATURE:
The Digital Mixtape
IN THIS PHOTO: Karen Carpenter photographed in 1981/PHOTO CREDIT: Harry Langdon
Karen Carpenter at Seventy-Five
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ON 2nd March…
IN THIS PHOTO: Richard and Karen Carpenter in Copenhagen in 1974/PHOTO CREDIT: Jan Persson/Redferns
the music world marks what would have been Karen Carpenter’s seventy-fifth birthday. She sadly died in 1983 at the age of thirty-two. A phenomenal drummer, she formed Carpenters with her older brother Richard. As the lead, these incredible and timeless songs were blessed with the sublime vocals of Karen Carpenter. Although she died young, her legacy will endure for generations to come. She is one of the most remarkable singers ever. One of the best and most underrated drummers ever. Because her seventy-fifth birthday is approaching, I wanted to salute her brilliance with her a mixtape of Carpenter songs. Prior to that, IMDB provide a biography of an artist that left us too soon:
“Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Karen Carpenter moved with her family to Downey, California, in 1963. Karen's older brother, Richard Carpenter, decided to put together an instrumental trio with him on the piano, Karen on the drums and their friend Wes Jacobs on the bass and tuba. In a battle of the bands at the Hollywood Bowl in 1966, the group won first place and landed a contract with RCA Records. However, RCA did not see a future in jazz tuba, and the contract was short-lived.
Karen and Richard formed another band, Spectrum, with four other fellow students from California State University at Long Beach that played several gigs before disbanding. In 1969, Karen and Richard made several demo music tapes and shopped them around to different record companies; they were eventually offered a contract with A&M Records. Their first hit was a reworking of The Beatles hit "Ticket to Ride", followed by a re-recorded version of Burt Bacharach's "Close to You", which sold a million copies.
Soon Richard and Karen became one of the most successful groups of the early 1970s, with Karen on the drums and lead vocals and Richard on the piano with backup vocals. They won three Grammy Awards, embarked on a world tour, and landed their own TV variety series in 1971, titled Make Your Own Kind of Music! (1971).
In 1975 the story came out when The Carpenters were forced to cancel a European tour because the gaunt Karen was too weak to perform. Nobody knew that Karen was at the time suffering from anorexia nervosa, a mental illness characterized by obsessive dieting to a point of starvation. In 1976 she moved out of her parents' house to a condo of her own.
While her brother Richard was recovering from his Quaalude addiction, Karen decided to record a solo album in New York City in 1979 with producer Phil Ramone. Encouraged by the positive reaction to it in New York, Karen was eager to show it to Richard and the record company in California, who were nonplussed. The album was shelved.
In 1980, she married real estate developer Thomas J. Burris. However, the unhappy marriage really only lasted a year before they separated. (Karen was to sign the divorce papers the day she died).
Shortly afterward, she and brother Richard were back in the recording studio, where they recorded their hit single "Touch Me When We're Dancing". However, Karen was unable to shake her depression as well as her eating disorder, and after realizing she needed help, she spent most of 1982 in New York City undergoing treatment. By 1983, Karen was starting to take control of her life and planning to return to the recording studio and to make public appearances again. In February of 1983, she went to her parents' house to sort through some old clothes she kept there when she collapsed in a walk-in closet from cardiac arrest. She was only 32. Doctors revealed that her long battle with anorexia nervosa had stressed her heart to the breaking point”.
When discussing Karen Carpenter, there is always this note of tragedy. People focusing on her early death and health issues. People not discussing her drumming, vocals and artistry. The people she has inspired. This Wikipedia article discusses the legacy of Karen Carpenter:
“Reacting to Carpenter's death, songwriter Burt Bacharach said that she "had a sound in her voice that was very unique, that I haven't heard before."
Carpenter's singing has attracted critical praise and influenced several significant musicians and singers, including Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Pat Metheny, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, Shania Twain, Natalie Imbruglia, and k.d. lang. Paul McCartney has said that she had "the best female voice in the world: melodic, tuneful and distinctive". She has been called "one of the greatest voices of our lifetime" by Elton John. In the BBC documentary Only Yesterday: The Carpenters Story, her friend Nicky Chinn said that John Lennon walked up to her at a Los Angeles restaurant and told her "I want to tell you, love, that you've got a fabulous voice." Her drumming has been praised by fellow musicians Hal Blaine, Cubby O'Brien and Buddy Rich, and by Modern Drummer magazine. She appeared in the drummer rankings of every Playboy annual music poll from 1974 to 1980; Playboy's readers voted her as high as tenth best drummer in 1975 and tenth best pop/rock drummer 1976”.
As this music legend was born on 2nd March, 1950, I want to mark her seventy-fifth birthday. Collate songs that are enriched by her singular vocal talent. Although she died young, what she recorded and left the world was immense. The wonderful Karen Carpenter left behind…
AN enormous legacy.