The Carpenters were a vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter. With their brand of melodic pop, they charted a record-breaking score of hit recordings on the American Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts, becoming leading exponents of the soft rock or easy listening genre and ranking as the #1 Adult Contemporary recording act - with their record fifteen #1 songs - of the entire decade of the 1970s. It has been estimated that the Carpenters' album and single sales total more than 100 million, easily putting them high on the list of best-selling music artists.
Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Early career 3 Carpenters 3.1 Promotion 3.2 Later 1970s 4 Early 1980s 5 Karen's sudden death 6 After Carpenters 7 Legacy 8 Albums 8.1 Studio albums 8.2 Live albums 8.3 Compilations 8.4 Richard Carpenter solo albums 8.5 Karen Carpenter solo album 9 Singles 9.1 Carpenters singles 9.2 Christmas/holiday singles 10 Grammy awards 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 External links
Early life Born in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, (Richard Lynn on October 15, 1946, and Karen Anne on March 2, 1950), the Carpenter siblings moved with their parents Harold (1908-1988) and Agnes Carpenter (n?e Tatum, 1915-1996) to California in 1963 and settled in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, California. Richard developed an interest in music at an early age, becoming a piano prodigy. The family moved to Southern California because Karen and Harold were tired of cold winters as well as to foster his budding musical career. Karen, meanwhile, did not manifest her musical talents until high school, when she joined the Downey High School band. She soon taught herself to play and master the drums. Around this time, she also realized her singing ability.
Richard and Karen hanging around at the piano in their childhood years. Early career In the mid to late 1960s, the two attempted to launch a musical career but failed to gain a successful recording deal until the decade's end. In May 1966, Karen joined Richard in attending a late-night session in the garage studio of L.A. bassist Joe Osborn, where Richard was to accompany an auditioning trumpet player. Asked to sing, Karen performed and landed a short-lived recording contract as a solo artist with Osborn's fledgling Magic Lamp label. The resulting single included two of Richard's compositions, "Looking for Love" and "I'll Be Yours", but the label was soon defunct, bringing this promising start to a close. This single is now considered to be a rare collector's item. Only 500 copies were pressed at the time of release. Richard Carpenter owns five in near mint condition.
During this period, the pair, joined by bassist friend Wes Jacobs, formed the Richard Carpenter Trio, a jazz instrumental group. Winning the Hollywood Bowl "Battle of the Bands" in 1966, the trio was picked up by the RCA label. The label chose not to release their songs however, and doubting their commercial potential, RCA soon dropped them. Richard and Karen next teamed with four other student musicians from Long Beach State to form the sextet Spectrum. Although the new group landed club dates at such venues as the Whisky a Go Go, no record deal was forthcoming. Nevertheless, the experience proved rewarding for the siblings, as Richard found a lyricist for his original compositions in fellow Spectrum member John Bettis. Richard and John were hired to play music at Disneyland, (at "Coca-Cola Corner" near the park's entrance), but they did not get along with talent supervisor Vic Guder and were soon let go. The supervisor inspired the song: "Mr. Guder".
After Spectrum disbanded, the Carpenters decided to continue as a duo, with Richard on keyboards and Karen on drums, and both contributing vocals. They sent out demo tapes and attracted the attention of A&M Records co-owner and trumpeter/vocalist Herb Alpert, who signed the duo in 1969. Their initial LP, titled Offering, featured numerous selections that Richard had written or co-written during their Spectrum period. The most significant track on the album was a ballad rendition of The Beatles' hit "Ticket to Ride", which soon became a minor hit, reaching #54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 20 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. The resulting LP was subsequently repackaged and retitled Ticket to Ride a few years later with somewhat improved sales. Following the autumn release of Ticket to Ride, their label arranged for the duo to perform at the film premieres of Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Hello, Dolly in December.
Carpenters
The cast sings the theme to "Make Your Own Kind of Music" on the first episode that aired on July 20, 1971.Richard and Karen finally broke through with the 1970 release of the Burt Bacharach-Hal David song "(They Long to Be) Close to You", which rose to #1 and stayed atop the pop charts for four weeks.
Ironically, the song was almost never recorded. At the request of Alpert, Richard Carpenter worked up an arrangement, but was less than enthusiastic about it, hoping that Alpert would forget about it. Word got back to him and Karen that Alpert definitely wanted the song recorded.
The Carpenters' version of "We've Only Just Begun" (written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols) reached #2 on the Hot 100 - and spent 7 weeks at #1 Adult Contemporary - to become the duo's second major hit in the fall of 1970, and is considered by Richard Carpenter as the group's signature song (it has been commercially re-recorded over 100 times by other singers). Richard Carpenter had heard Williams sing the song in a television commercial for Crocker Bank, and asked him if he had a full version of the song, to which Williams replied yes. It was the first hit single for Williams and Nichols.
Both songs were featured on the album Close To You, which became a bestseller, earning Richard and Karen two Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist.
The duo rounded out the year with a holiday release, "Merry Christmas Darling", which Richard co-wrote with Frank Pooler, who had been the duo's choral director at Long Beach State. The single scored high on the holiday charts in 1970 and made repeated appearances on the charts in subsequent years.
A string of hit singles and albums kept the Carpenters on the charts through the early 1970s, including "For All We Know", "Rainy Days and Mondays", and "Superstar" (all from the LP Carpenters - their best-selling studio album, with sales of well over 4 million US copies) in 1971; "Hurting Each Other", "It's Going to Take Some Time", and "Goodbye to Love" (an early example of the power ballad, from the LP A Song for You) in 1972; "Sing" and "Yesterday Once More" (from the oldies-oriented LP Now & Then) in 1973. "Top of the World", an album selection on the Song for You LP, was covered by country artist Lynn Anderson, became a #2 country hit for her and was rerecorded by Karen and Richard for single release in 1973, becoming the Carpenters' second #1 single on Billboard's Hot 100 chart late that year. A greatest hits LP, titled The Singles: 1969-1973, topped the charts in the U.S. and the United Kingdom and became one of the best-selling albums of the decade, ultimately selling more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone.
During the first half of the 1970s, the Carpenters' music was a staple of Top 40 playlists and middle-of-the-road, easy listening and adult contemporary radio. The duo produced a distinctive sound featuring Karen's expressive contralto on lead vocals, with both siblings contributing background vocals that were overdubbed to create densely-layered harmonies. To his role as vocalist, keyboardist, and arranger, Richard added that of composer on numerous tracks. Several of his compositions with lyricist John Bettis became hit records, including "Goodbye to Love", "Yesterday Once More", and "Top of the World".
Promotion
Karen sings "(A Place To) Hideaway" on their television show Make Your Own Kind of Music in the summer of 1971.The Carpenters maintained a demanding schedule of concert tours and television appearances. Among their numerous television credits were appearances on such popular series as American Bandstand, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, and the The Carol Burnett Show. In 1971, the duo appeared in a television special on the BBC in the United Kingdom and were the featured performers in a summer replacement series, Make Your Own Kind of Music, which aired on NBC-TV every Tuesday at 8:00 PM in the United States. In May 1973, the Carpenters accepted an invitation to perform at the White House for President Richard Nixon and visiting West German chancellor Willy Brandt.
The Carpenters' popularity often confounded critics. With their output focused on ballads and mid-tempo pop, the duo's music was often dismissed by critics as bland and "saccharine". The recording industry, however, bestowed awards on the duo, who won three Grammy Awards during their career (Best New Artist, and Best Pop Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus, for "Close to You" in 1970; and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group for the LP Carpenters in 1971). In 1973, the Carpenters were voted Best Band, Duo, or Group (Pop/Rock) at the first annual American Music Awards.
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