| Karen Carpenter |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT KAREN CARPENTER | |
| 1950 births | |
| 1983 deaths | |
| deaths from anorexia nervosa | |
| american drummers | |
| american pop singers | |
| american female singers | |
| the carpenters | |
Karen Anne Carpenter ( March 2 , 1950 – February 4 , 1983 ) was a very successful American Singer and Drummer . She and her brother, Richard , formed the duo The Carpenters . Karen suffered from Anorexia and eventually succumbed to this illness at age of 32 years, in 1983. She is regarded by her peers as one of the finest female singers ever. Madonna and K.D. Lang among other singers have cited her as a musical influence.http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1999/vh1women.htm EARLY LIFE Carpenter was born in New Haven, Connecticut , U.S. to Agnes Reuwer Tatum and Harold Bertram Carpenter.http://www.wargs.com/other/carpenter.html Richard had developed an interest in music at an early age, becoming a piano prodigy. The family moved in 1963 to the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, California . The move to Southern California , home of many recording studios and record companies, was intended in part to foster Richard's budding musical career. When Karen Carpenter went to Downey High School , she didn't care for gym class, so she asked Richard to ask the conductor of the band if she could substitute band for gym class. The conductor agreed to take her into the band, and gave her the Glockenspiel . She didn't like the Glockenspiel , and upon admiring the performance of a friend who played the Drums , she asked the conductor if she could play the drums instead. Drumming came naturally to Carpenter, and she practiced for several hours a day—her drumming can be heard in many of the Carpenters' songs. When she was 17, Carpenter went on " The Stillman Diet " with a doctor's guidance, and lost between 20 and 25 pounds. In 1968, John Wayne met the Carpenters on a talent show called "Your All American College Show." He urged Carpenter to try out for a role in the film " True Grit ." Carpenter auditioned, but Kim Darby was selected instead. Music career From 1965 to 1968 Karen was a part of The Richard Carpenter Trio, with Richard and their friend Wes Jacobs, a Bassist and Tuba player. The trio played jazz at numerous nightclubs, and also on TV show "Your All American College Show," though Bill Sissyoev and not Wes Jacobs played bass for the TV appearance. Karen, Richard, and other musicians, including Gary Sims and John Bettis , would also perform as an ensemble known as Spectrum (1967-1968). Carpenter signed with " and " We've Only Just Begun ." The former was a certified #1 smash record.The song was written by songwriter Paul Williams and was originally used in a Crocker bank commercial,which showed a young couple moving into their first home. Karen's drum playing ability was praised by fellow drummers 's reader poll: Best Rock Drummer of 1975. By the mid-1970s, extensive touring and lengthy recording sessions had begun to take their toll on the duo and contributed to their professional difficulties during the latter half of the decade. Karen started out as both the drummer and singer. Since Karen was the lead singer on the albums, she was pressured to only sing, while another person played the drums. It was then agreed that she would only stand up for the popular ballads, and would perform from behind the drums on other songs. Karen rarely selected the songs she would sing, and often felt she had very little control over her life. The rock-and-roll press did not like having to write about the middle-of-the road act and often wrote bad reviews. Carpenter dieted obsessively and developed the disorder Anorexia Nervosa , which first manifested itself in 1975 when an exhausted and emaciated Karen Carpenter was forced to cancel concert tours in the UK and Japan (and at one point, fainted on stage while performing " Top Of The World "). At the same time, Richard developed an addiction to Quaaludes , which began to affect his performance by the late 1970s and led to the end of the duo's live concert appearances for several years. On September 4 , 1978 , the Carpenters gave a concert at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas . They would not perform on stage again until the 1981 Made In America album, which would include their final live performance together. Solo Album In 1979, Richard Carpenter took a year off to cure a dependency on quaaludes Ray Coleman's "The Carpenters The Untold Story" page 242 , and Karen decided to make a solo album with producer Phil Ramone . Richard wanted his sister to see a doctor about her eating disorder, but Karen refused. While staying at the home of the Ramones, Karen took half of a quaalude tablet and passed out on the floor. Ray Coleman's "The Carpenters..." page 268 She soon recovered. Karen's choice of more adult-oriented and disco/dance-tempo material represented an effort to retool her image. "Something's Missing (In My Life)", which didn't make it on to the final album, remains unmixed and without strings. The resulting product met a tepid response from Richard and A&M executives in early 1980, and Karen wavered in her dedication to the project. The whole album was shelved by A&M executive Herb Alpert . Quincy Jones tried to get Alpert to change his mind, but he wouldn't. Carpenter had to pay $400,000 for the cost of producing an unreleased album. Ray Coleman's "The Carpenters..." page 274 Carpenters fans got a taste of the album in 1989 when some of its tracks (as remixed by Richard) turned up on the compilation album ''Lovelines''. Seventeen years later in 1996, the entire album, featuring mixes approved by Karen before her death and one unmixed bonus track, were finally released. There are 10 unreleased tracks from the album: eight of them are work-leads, while the remaining two are considered outtakes: "I Love Makin' Love to You," and "Truly You." When A&M Records folded in 2000, six out of the eight demos began surfacing on the Internet. PERSONAL LIFE Carpenter lived with her parents until she was in her mid-20s. After the Carpenters became successful in the early 1970s, she and her brother bought two apartment buildings in Downey. Called "Close To You" and "Only Just Begun," the "Close To You" apartment can still be found at 8356 East 5th, Downey, CA. In 1976 Carpenter bought two Century City apartments, gutted them, and turned them into one condominium. Located at 2222 Avenue of the Stars, the doorbell chimed the first six notes of "We've Only Just Begun". As a housewarming gift, her mother gave her a collection of leather-bound classic works of literature. Carpenter collected Disney memorabilia, loved to play softball and baseball, and listed Petula Clark , Olivia Newton-John , and Dionne Warwick among her friends. After a whirlwind romance, on August 31 , 1980 Carpenter married real estate developer Thomas James Burris. At the time they met, Tom was 39 years old and divorced with an 18-year-old son named Mike. Carpenter was 30 years old. The couple were married at the Beverly Hills Hotel in the Crystal Room. A new song performed by Carpenter at the ceremony, " Because We Are In Love ," surfaced in 1981. The couple went to Bora Bora for their honeymoon (Carpenter called her family from the island and described it as "Boring Boring"). The marriage turned out to be a disaster and the couple separated in November 1981, after going out with Carpenter's parents to celebrate her father's birthday. She and Tom returned to the Carpenters' Downey home and after a brief argument Tom told her parents, "You can keep her!" Carpenter never saw her husband again after that night. Ray Coleman's "The Carpenters...page 291 The song "Now," recorded in April 1982, was the last song Karen Carpenter ever recorded. It was recorded in California while Carpenter took a two-week intermission in her therapy with noted psychotherapist Steven Levenkron in New York City for her Anorexia , a relatively unknown disease at the time. In the midst of her therapy, she befriended recovered anorexic Cherry Boone , and embroidered a sign that read, "You Win, I Gain!" which she gave to Steve Levenkron. (It still hangs in his office.) After her recovery, she planned to go public about her battle with anorexia. Carpenter returned to California permanently later that year, determined to regain her professional career, finalize her divorce and begin recording a new album with Richard. Carpenter had gained a total of 30 pounds over a two-month stay in New York, but the sudden weight gain (much of which was intravenously fed) further strained her heart, which was already taxed and weak from years of dieting and abuse. At the height of her illness, Carpenter, who had a normal thyroid, was taking ten times the normal daily dose of Thyroid Replacement medication (equivalent to 1 Milligram , as opposed to the normal 100 Microgram dose) in order to speed up her metabolism, which combined with large amounts of laxatives (between 90 to 100 a day), weakened her heart, digestive and nervous system even further. On December 17, 1982 Karen Carpenter made her last public singing appearance at the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, CA. She sang Christmas carols for friends. In early February 1983, Richard and Karen took part in a group photograph of Grammy winners, Los Angeles, CA. A few weeks before Karen died, Richard tried to get his sister into a hospital for medical treatment, because in his words; "She didn't look well... there was no life in her eyes". Two weeks prior to her death at a meeting with Werner Wolfen, the Carpenters' financial advisor, Karen told Richard to mind his own business and that she had her problem under control. DEATH On February 4 , 1983 , shortly before her 33rd birthday, Carpenter experienced heart failure at her parents' home in Downey and was taken to Downey Community Hospital , where she was pronounced dead twenty minutes later. Carpenter was planning to finalize her divorce papers on the day she died. The autopsy stated that Carpenter's death was the result of emetine Cardiotoxicity due to Anorexia Nervosa . Under the anatomical summary, the first item was heart failure, with anorexia as second. The third finding was Cachexia , which is extremely low weight and weakness and general body decline associated with chronic disease. Emetine cardiotoxicity implies that Carpenter abused Ipecac Syrup , an easily obtained Emetic medicine that is only meant to be taken by persons who have accidentally swallowed poison. This finding was debated by both her late mother and her brother Richard. Both have stated that they never found any empty vial of ipecac in her apartment nor was there any evidence that Karen had been vomiting. Richard believes that Karen was not willing to do this because it could damage her vocal cords. So she relied on laxatives alone to maintain her low body weight. Her funeral service took place on February 8 , 1983 , at the Downey United Methodist Church. Carpenter, dressed in a rose colored suit, lay in an open white casket. Over a thousand mourners passed through to say goodbye, among them her friends Dorothy Hamill , Olivia Newton-John , Petula Clark , Cristina Ferrare , and Dionne Warwick . Carpenter's estranged husband Tom attended her funeral, where he took off his wedding band and threw it into the casket Ray Coleman 's "The Carpenters: The Untold Story". AFTER DEATH Carpenter's death brought lasting media attention to Anorexia Nervosa and also to Bulimia . Carpenter's death encouraged other celebrities to go public about their eating disorders, among them Tracey Gold and Diana, Princess Of Wales . Medical centers and hospitals began receiving increased contacts from people with these disorders. The general public had little knowledge of anorexia nervosa and bulimia prior to Carpenter's death, making the condition difficult to identify and treat. Her fame and her "wholesome" image may have made people reluctant to confront the possibility that she had a problem, much less to intervene directly. Her family started the "Karen A. Carpenter Memorial Foundation," which raised money for research on anorexia nervosa and eating disorders. Today the name of the organization has been changed to the "Carpenter Family Foundation." In addition to eating disorders, the foundation now funds the arts, entertainment and education. On October 12 , 1983 , the Carpenters received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame . It is located at 6931 Hollywood Blvd, a few yards from the Kodak Theater http://web.singnet.com.sg/~tonytay/wof.htm. Richard, Harold, and Agnes Carpenter attended the inauguration, as did many fans. In 1999, VH1 ranked Karen Carpenter #29 on their list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll. http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1999/vh1women.htm. In 2001, VH-1 ranked Karen Carpenter's death from anorexia nervosa at #93 on their 100 Greatest Shocking Moments in Rock and Roll. http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/the_greatest/62199/episode_about.jhtml. In the fall 2001; "GuitarOne" and "RockrGrl" magazines published their alphabetical list of "Women Who Rock-100 Essential Women in Music". Ms. Carpenter made the list for her drumming and singing. http://www.smoe.org/lists/oztori/v01.n275 In 2003, ranked Karen Carpenter's death from anorexia nervosa at #3 on their list of the Top 25 Stories in 25 Years since the program debuted on tv in 1981. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0139389/bio On and re-interred at the Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California . Their mausoleum is a 46,000-pound, Partenope-style structure and was constructed in Texas over seven months. It is polished sunset red, and features crystal patterns. It is located in the Tranquility Gardens section of the cemetery. Similar structures constructed at the time had a price range around $600,000. ''"A Star on Earth - A Star in Heaven"'' was written on Carpenter's mausoleum stone. ALBUMS Studio albums
Solo albums
FOOTNOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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