![]() ![]() Carpenter’s drumming was praised by fellow drummers Hal Blaine, Cubby O’Brien, and Buddy Rich and by Modern Drummer magazine. She was always enthusiastic about the drums and taught herself how to play complicated drum lines with “exotic time signatures,” according to her brother. Although Karen’s guitar playing is heard on the original album(s), Richard remixed both songs (as he has done with almost every Carpenters song), and Joe Osborne’s guitar playing was substituted for later ‘greatest hits’ releases.Ĭarpenter started playing the drums in 1964. The two songs were All of My Life and Eve. She played bass guitar on two songs on Offering/Ticket to Ride (the Carpenters first album released by A&M). In addition to being a drummer and a singer, Karen Carpenter could also play the electric bass guitar. In 1981 after the release of the Made in America album (which turned out to be their last), the Carpenters returned to the stage and did some tour dates, including their final live performance in Brazil. In 1980, she performed a medley of standards in a duet with Ella Fitzgerald on the Carpenters’ television program Music, Music, Music. The Carpenters’ Very First TV Special was Richard and Karen Carpenter’s very first television special, aired December 8, 1976. ![]() The Carpenters frequently cancelled tour dates, and they stopped touring altogether after their September 4, 1978, concert at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. At this time her brother developed an addiction to Quaaludes. (Former Disney Mouseketeer Cubby O’Brien served as the band’s other drummer for many years.) After the release of Now & Then in 1973, the albums tended to have Carpenter singing more and drumming less. Because at 5 feet 4 inches tall it was difficult for people in the audience to see her behind her drum kit, she was eventually persuaded to stand at the microphone to sing the band’s hits while another musician played the drums. They peaked at #1 and #2, respectively, on the Hot 100.Ĭarpenter started out as both the group’s drummer and lead singer, and she originally sang all her vocals from behind the drum set. Their next album, 1970’s Close to You, featured two massive hit singles: “(They Long to Be) Close to You” and “We’ve Only Just Begun”. The issued single (later the title track), which was a cover of a Beatles song, became their first single it reached #54 on the Billboard Hot 100. Karen sang most of the songs on the band’s first album, Offering (later retitled Ticket to Ride), and her brother wrote 10 out of the album’s 13 songs. Finally A&M Records signed the Carpenters to a recording contract in 1969. According to former Carpenters member John Bettis, those rejections “took their toll.” The tapes of the original sessions were lost in a fire at Joe Osborn’s house, and the surviving versions of those early songs exist as acetate pressings. Spectrum focused on a harmonious and vocal sound, and recorded many demo tapes in the garage studio of friend and bassist Joe Osborn. Karen, Richard and other musicians, including Gary Sims and John Bettis, also performed as an ensemble known as Spectrum. The band played jazz at numerous nightclubs and also appeared on the TV talent show Your All-American College Show. By September 1975, her weight was 91 pounds (41 kg 6 st 7 lb).įrom 1965 to 1968 Karen, her brother Richard, and his college friend Wes Jacobs, a bassist and tuba player, formed The Richard Carpenter Trio. She was 5′ 4″ (163 cm) in height and before dieting weighed 145 pounds (66 kg 10 st 5 lb) and afterwards weighed 120 pounds (54 kg 8 st 8 lb) until 1973, when the Carpenters’ career reached its peak. She rigorously ate lean foods, drank eight glasses of water a day, and avoided fatty foods. ![]() ![]() Under a doctor’s guidance she went on the Stillman Diet. She and her brother made their first recordings in 19. After admiring the performance of her friend, Frankie Chavez, she asked if she could play the drums instead. Bruce Gifford, the conductor (who had previously taught her older brother) gave her the glockenspiel, an instrument she disliked. When Carpenter entered Downey High School, she joined the school band. The family moved in June 1963 to the Los Angeles suburb of Downey. Her brother Richard developed an interest in music at an early age, becoming a piano prodigy. Later, in the early 1970s, she would become the pitcher on the Carpenters’ official softball team. On the TV program This Is Your Life, she stated that she liked pitching. When she was young, she enjoyed playing baseball with other children on the street. Karen Carpenter was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the daughter of Agnes Reuwer (née Tatum) and Harold Bertram Carpenter. ![]()
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