February 4, 2022

Karen Carpenter: The Drummer Who Sang

She's been gone 39 years, but mention the name Karen Carpenter, and you're sure to hear everything from "Carpenters were terrific!" to everything but. Brother Richard Carpenter was the musical genius behind them, but it is lead singer ie: "Lead Sister" Karen who will be most mentioned because of her one-of-a-kind voice.  From the breakthrough hit Close to You to Yesterday Once More, Superstar, We've Only Just Begun to Top of the World and many others, Richard and Karen created music the world loved.

But did you know based on a few reports, Karen considered herself "a drummer who sang"? That is saying something! The photos above and below are taken from their 1980 television special, Music, Music, Music. Just one look, and you can see the pure joy on her face as she plays the instrument she loves. (From the same show, you must find her duet of American Songbook Standards with guest Ella Fitzgerald. Two icons and one terrific performance with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra behind it all.)

A&M Records founder Herb Alpert (of Tijuana Brass fame) gave the duo their big break, ands even today, music company executives are reaping the benefits of the duo's incredible, world-wide music success. In England, Japan, and the United States, their fan base is strong. So beloved are they that Richard has recently released a new album, Richard Carpenters Piano Songbook, and the duo has been the subject of not one but two excellent books in the last few years. 

Randy L. Schmidt's in depth Carpenters: An Illustrated Discography looks at their art from the perspective of industry insiders and fans- of which I'm one! I had the pleasure to discuss A Kind of Hush with Randy and a couple of great men who interacted with Karen and Richard around the same time this album came out. (And Hush happens to be the next album I'll review on the blog as I go chronologically through their records.)

The second book, Mike Cidoni Lennox and Chris May's incredible Carpenters: The Musical Legacy provides detailed interviews with Richard himself. In this epic volume, he goes album by album giving insights, personal stories, and more. It comes with a very detailed song by song discography, listings of concert and television appearances, and chart listings. 

Today marks 39 years since Karen left this earth, but her legacy lives on, and Richard is as busy as ever. Will there be more music to come in the future? There's rumors of a reworking of their classic holiday album Christmas Portrait due at the end of the year. Fans like me know there are more than one or two handfuls of songs still in the vaults. These could make the basis for one beautiful career retrospective, helping create new fans and continuing their legacy. May it be so. The world is waiting.

The music of Richard and Karen Carpenter impacted my life in a big way, and I've written so many articles about them on this blog that I've lost count! Articles about the music, their career, and more with rare photos to boot.

Here are just a few very popular posts on this blog about Karen Carpenter and Carpenters:


Below is the list of my initial album reviews and then my "Revisited /Fresh Look" reviews a decade later. 

My Initial Reviews of the albums:

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