This is another band I have to thank my sis P for getting me into. When we were little kids my sister used to watch the Karen Carpenter Story over and over when we were on our 6 weeks holiday from school, and I used to pretend I didn't like it for a while because it was "girly" but eventually I gave in and then we used to sing all the songs together when they came on. The Carpenters consisted of brother (Richard) and sister (Karen) and they were born in New Haven, Connecticut. Richard was born in 1946 and Karen in 1950.
The Carpenters moved to California and it was at Downey High School where Karen joined the school marching band and her teacher had also previously taught her brother. They signed to A&M Records in 1969 under the name "Carpenters" (not "The Carpenters" which most people think they were called) and released their first album (Offering) which had a cover of the Beatles song "Ticket To Ride". The Carpenters have had many popular singles over the years (We've Only Just Begun, Close To You, Rainy Days And Mondays, Yesterday Once More) and still get played regularly on radio even now. They won several awards during the early 1970's (Best New Artist - 1970, Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group - 1971) and were nominated for many more. Between 1971 and 1975 they played a total of 814 concerts and had 19 TV appearances.
Karen Carpenter became anorexic and died only a month before her 33rd birthday in 1983. She suffered from heart failure whilst at her parents home in California and was taken to Downey Community hospital where she passed away 20 minutes later. The cause of death was cardiac arrest and the coroner stated "heartbeat irregularities brought on by chemical imbalances associated with anorexia nervosa". Karen's death was possibly the starting point of the media publicising the actual effects of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia as diseases and not just mental problems and many other celebrities opened up and admitted they also had eating disorders such as Lady Diana, Princess Of Wales.
After Karen's death Richard released some new albums including some unreleased material and several compilation albums and as I mentioned there have also been several documentaries and TV shows over the years, my favourite being The Karen Carpenter Story. My Top 10 Carpenters songs are: 01. Top Of The World 02. Superstar 03.
Jambalaya (On The Bayou) 04. Please, Mr. Postman 05. Yesterday Once More 06. Sweet, Sweet Smile 07.
(They Long To Be) Close To You 08. Touch Me When We're Dancing 09. We've Only Just Begun 10. Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft.
My name is Andy I'm 31 and I'm from Manchester, UK I like to read a lot (Discworld, Sci-Fantasy) and listen to music (The Doors, Wu-Tang, Amy Winehouse, Kaiser Chiefs, Blondie, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix). I also try to be a skateboarder when I get time and dry weather. Please view and leave comments on my blog which contains lots more music reviews. http://my-top-music-reviews.blogspot.com
