The Carpenters

The Carpenters, brother and sister, Richard Carpenter and Karen Carpenter. Born in Downey, California to a very musical family (as can be seen in the picture on the right).

In 1963, the Carpenter family moved to Los Angeles suburb of Downey, hoping it may provide better musical opportunities for talented Richard.

Richard and his younger sister Karen improved their music skills and formed “The Richard Carpenter Trio” with Wes Jacobs on the tuba, Richard on the piano and organized the music, and Karen played the drums.

together they won the “Battle of the Bands” a prestigious amateur talent competition in 1966 at the age of 19 for Richard and only 16 for Keren. During that time Richard helped Keren develop her vocal abilities.

In 1968 Keren and Richard heard of  a new national televition that was looking for musical groups, it was called “your all-american collage show”

The Carpenters aced the audition on their first appearence on national TV.

they WOWed the audience with their version of the song “dancing in the streets”

lets enjoy this amazing audition:

But despite their victories Richard and Keren were not optimistic and the trio brock.

They started to record demo tapes together, and one of those demo tapes ended at Herb Alpert at A&M Records who loved what he herd and signed them as the “Carpenters”.

On April 22nd 1969 the fairy tale came true for the brothers, and their first major record was signed, and they started to work on their first album.

Six mounth after signing their contract the first album, “Offering”, came out.

The album did not make much of a splash and the pressure from the record company to let them go was high. Luckly, Herb Alpret believe there was something more.

Alpret found for the brothers their first hit, a 7 year old song made by the composer Burt Bacharach. After making their on version, and less than 8 weeks later “Close to you” was number one on the Billboard chart.

The second hit was not late to come, “It only just began” became a number one hit and a standard at weddings for many years to come.

“Close to you”, the second album, released on August 19 1970 and including both their hits.  Less than 3 years after signing at  A&M Records, the album earned several Grammys and the duo found themselves at the 1971 Grammys as winners for best new artist and contemporary vocal group.

From that moment on they became very well know and demand everywhere

The following  years brought many more albums.

But as many things in life it came with a cost.

The constant round of recording and touring was beginning to take its toll on Karen Carpenter. Slimming and health foods were becoming fashionable in the early 1970s.

When Karen saw pictures of herself in concert in Lake Tahoe in August 1973 she was appalled. An unflattering dress revealed her paunch, and she hired a “workout guru”. But what happened frighten her, as due to the diet and exercise she began to bulk up. This threw her into a muddle and could have been the trigger for her problem.

She stopped most of the exercises, which she believed to be too muscle-building, and began what she considered to be a normal diet, nothing remarkable or even noticeable by others.

Karen suffered from the eating disorder anorexia nervosa for years, which was little known at the time. She died at age 32 in 1983 from heart failure, caused by complications related to her illness. Her death led to increased awareness of eating disorders.

The Carpenters never officially broke up as a band. They went on a break at the end of the 1970s, as Karen was battling anorexia and Richard was undergoing treatment for addiction to the sedative Quaaludes. Their final album ‘Made in America’ was released in 1981.

After Karen’s death, Richard has produced a number of Carpenters compilations, and released his first solo album ‘Time’ in 1987, sharing vocals between himself, Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield. He married his (adopted) first cousin Mary Rudolph in 1984, and they have four daughters and a son.

We will finish this eBook with my favorite song of them, that always make me happier and hopefully you too dear reader.

there is so much more to say about the carpenters and I’m inviting you to continue enrich you knowledge by yourself in the following page.

bibliography:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjBNI5ge1Xg
• https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1135559/bio
• https://www.carpentersofficial.com/content/about
• https://www.richardandkarencarpenter.com/