Today is one of those cloudy, cold spring days that tend to cause me to reflect on my past, present, and future. And it’s on days like today that the music of the Carpenters always comes to mind. A good topic for my second post in the “A Tribute to an Enduring Past” series!
The Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Richard and Karen Carpenter. Richard was the creative force behind the Carpenters sound; an accomplished keyboard player, composer, and arranger whom music critic Daniel Levitin once called “one of the most gifted arrangers to ever emerge in popular music”. Karen has been called one of the best female vocalists of the 20th Century by a number of influential media outlets as diverse as Rolling Stone Magazine and National Public Radio. Sir Paul McCartney has called her the best female vocalist ever saying that she was “the best female voice in the world: melodic, tuneful and distinctive”.
Karen’s beautiful contralto voice made the group’s music instantly recognizable. Karen did not possess a powerful singing voice but, when miked closely, she conveyed a great deal of feeling. Tight miking required perfect pitch which came easily to her. Richard Coles, a musician and broadcaster, commented: “No singer <was> so closely micked up so unforgivingly as Karen Carpenter. That is frightening for singers because the closer the microphone the more unforgiving it is in exposing the weaknesses in a singer’s voice”. Though Karen’s vocal range spanned three octaves, Richard skillfully arranged their music to take advantage of the rich quality of Karen’s lower range.
Also, through the then unique use of multi-tracked recordings, Richard was able to use Karen and himself for the harmonies to back Karen’s lead. This overdubbing of background harmonies became a distinctive part of the Carpenters musical style; rich and melodic, along the same lines as the harmonies found in their contemporaries The Beach Boys and The Mamas & the Papas but with greater fullness and orchestration. The combination of Karen’s haunting voice and Richard’s classical arrangements, with frequent use of strings and the occasional brass and woodwind instruments, made their songs timeless.
During their 14 year career, the Carpenters produced ten studio albums (Offering later retitled Ticket To Ride, Close To You, Carpenters, A Song For You, Now and Then, Horizon, A Kind of Hush, Passage, Christmas Portrait, Made in America), released 31 singles, and starred in five television specials. Twelve of those singles made the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart with three reaching No. 1 and five reaching No. 2. To date, the group’s album and single sales have totaled more than 100 million units.
Between 1969 and 1981, the Carpenters released such memorable hits as Ticket To Ride (Offering – 1969), (They Long to Be) Close To You (first No. 1 single), We’ve Only Just Begun (Close To You – 1970), For All We Know, Rainy Days and Mondays, Superstar (Carpenters – 1971), Hurting Each Other, It’s Going To Take Some Time, Goodbye to Love, Top of the World (second No. 1 single), I Won’t Last a Day Without You (A Song For You – 1972), Sing, Yesterday Once More (Now and Then – 1973), Please Mr. Postman (third No. 1 single), Only Yesterday (Horizon – 1975), There’s a Kind of Hush (All Over The World Tonight), I Need To Be In Love (A Kind of Hush – 1976), All You Get From Love is a Love Song (Passage – 1977), and Touch Me When We’re Dancing (Made in America – 1981).
Both We’ve Only Just Begun and (They Long to Be) Close to You have been honored with Grammy Hall of Fame awards for recordings of lasting quality or historical significance. Although the duo’s music was often dismissed by critics as being bland and saccharine, they were nominated for 18 Grammy Awards between 1970 and 1977 winning two Grammys in 1970 (Best New Artist, Best Contemporary Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus) and one in 1971 (Best Pop Vocal Performed By a Duo or Group). They were also voted Favorite Pop / Rock Band, Duo, or Group at the first annual American Music Awards in 1974.
Unfortunately, by the mid-1970s, extensive touring and lengthy recording sessions had begun to take their toll on the duo contributing to professional and personal difficulties that were to haunt both Karen and Richard throughout the remainder of their career. Karen dieted obsessively and developed the eating disorder anorexia nervosa which first manifested itself in 1975 when she collapsed during a show in Las Vegas. Around this same time, Richard developed an addiction to Quaaludes (sleeping pills) which began to negatively affect his performance. Exhausted, the Carpenters were forced to cancel concert tours in the Philippines, UK, and Japan during the remainder of 1975. By 1978, Richard’s addiction and Karen’s eating disorder would lead to the end of the duo’s live concert appearances.
Richard subsequently has said he regrets the six and seven day work weeks of the early 70s adding that, had he known then what he knows now, he wouldn’t have agreed to it.
The duo’s personal issues combined with changing musical tastes led to a significant decline in the group’s popularity during the latter half of the decade. Beginning with 1975’s Horizon, no Carpenters studio album would again reach the Top 10 of the Billboard Album chart. 1976’s A Kind of Hush was the first Carpenters studio album to not be certified platinum since Offering seven years earlier. Neither their 1997 studio album, Passage, nor their last studio album, 1981’s Made in America, would achieve gold status.
Both Richard and Karen would receive treatment for their respective maladies during the late 70s and early 80s. Richard sought treatment for his addiction for six weeks starting in January 1979. He then decided to take the rest of the year off for relaxation and rehabilitation. Karen, at this time neither wanting to take a break from singing nor to seek help for her anorexia, decided to pursue a solo album project with renowned producer Phil Ramone in New York. Her choice of Ramone and the more adult-oriented and disco / dance-tempo material represented an effort to retool and update her image as well as expand her audience. The album was finished by Spring 1980 but Richard and A&M executives voted to reject it, which reportedly devastated Karen. It was subsequently released 13 years after her death, in 1996.
At this point, Karen finally decided to seek therapy for her eating disorder with noted psychotherapist Steven Levenkron. In September 1982, she called her therapist to say her heart was beating ‘funny’ and she felt dizzy and confused. Admitting herself into a hospital later that month, Karen was hooked up to an intravenous drip; she ended up gaining 30 pounds in eight weeks. In November 1982, Karen left the hospital and, despite pleas from family and friends, announced she was returning home to California and that she was cured.
However, unbeknownst to Karen or anyone else, the damage was already done. On February 4 1983, Karen Carpenter died from heart failure brought on by the complications of anorexia just a month shy of her 33rd birthday.
An era in music history had ended.
Karen’s tragic death robbed us all of the opportunity to experience what might have been. Karen would have turned 65 on March 2 of this year and, with their unique sound, I’d like to believe the Carpenters would still be producing and performing music to this day. They were one of the few groups I actually had a chance to experience live in concert during the ’70s and, given the short time Karen was with us, I feel fortunate to have had that experience!
Which brings me back to today. I can’t think of a better way to end this post than with a video of the Carpenters performing their fourth gold single Rainy Days and Mondays released April 23 1971. Not only does it highlight the best of what this group had to offer during their all too short time together, it personifies my feelings on this cloudy, cold April afternoon.
As always, your feedback is appreciated!
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