Posted on 02/04/2008 8:08:54 PM PST by TBP
I can't believe it's been a quarter of a century.
Twenty-five years ago today, February 4, 1983, we were jolted by very sad news: Karen Carpenter, one of the great voices of a generation, had died at 32. She had anorexia, perhaps stemming in part from a review of a performance of The Carpenters, the band she and her brother Richard led, at the Hollywood Bowl in which she was described as "the chubby little sister."
Karen Carpenter touched many lives with her haunting vocals. Her voice has been compared to some of the great singers. Those who have never heard her owe it to themselves to find some Carpenters music and listen. Her passing was like a punch in the stomach to those of us who were her fans. All these years later, I still don't think I'm over it.
What a loss this was, and at such a young age! (Even today, she would only be 57.) How much more beautiful, brilliant music could Karen have given us had she only stuck around? She had, in the words of one of The Carpenters' hits, "only just begun." And then it was over, so tragically and suddenly.
Richard and Karen were born in Connecticut, but really flourished when the family moved to Downey, California. They won the Battle of the Bands at the Hollywood Bowl, landed at Herb Alpert's A&M Records, and had a hit with "Close to You" and they were off and running. For slightly over a decade, The Carpenters continued to produce hit after hit and they were one of the most popular bands around, in part on Richard's arrangements and in large part on Karen's magnificent voice. The Carpenters had 23 hit singles including "Top of the World", and "We've Only Just Begun", and sold over 80 million albums. Younger readers may not realize just what a phenomenon they were.
And then it all ended. Karen spent the night of February 3, 1983 at her parents' house in Downey, in her old bedroom. Sometime the next morning, Karen got up and put on a red jogging suit with a vial of Ativan in the pocket. Around 8:45, She went down to the. At 8:50, her mother entered the kitchen, where she found Karen lying unconscious on the floor. Her family called the paramedics, who took her in an ambulance, tried CPR and other techniques, and got her to the Downey Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 9:51 am Pacific Time of cardiac arrest. She was only 32 years old and weighed just 108 pounds.
Karen was one of the last great voices who could do standards, ballads, pop rock, and make them all sound good to the rock-and-roll generation. It is reported that when John Lennon heard The Carpenters' ballad version of "Ticket to Ride" he said, "Now, why didn't we think of that?" It has also been reported that Karen was out one day with one of her friends and they were singing along with all the songs on the radio. Her friend commented on Karen's great upper range and asked why she never heard it on any of The Carpenters' records. "The money's in the basement," Karen reportedly replied.
The TV movie of her life, "The Karen Carpenter Story", depicts Karen singing "End of the World" on the trip from Connecticut to California to the point that Richard complains, "Make her stop." She stopped 25 years ago today, a great voice stilled forever, and in many ways it was the end of the world for a lot of us.
We still miss you, Karen.
I always love listening to her voice. I have a CD of them somewhere. From the stories we read about her it seems like she never really found someone to truly love her although she sang the most beautiful love songs.
“The money’s in the basement” - I always like it when star status folks are candid about things like that. Waylon Jennings once told a new young guitar player he’d hired for his bamd, “You can’t make no money past the 3rd fret, son.”
I’m reminded of Karen Carpenter every seven hours when my clock plays “Yesterday One More” and I always sing along “When I was young I listened to the radio...”
Still have some vinyl of theirs. Her voice was great, and I still think of her death one of the greatest losses to popular music of the last century.
108 lbs is anorexic? What was she, 6 feet tall?
A distant {very} relative of my wife. That beautiful voice was one of a kind.
She loved her drums.
I think that she’d already damaged her heart; but was recovering as far as her weight and mental health.
That’s how I remember it, anyway.
She was a very nice looking woman until she lost all that weight, and then she looked terrible.
I can’t understand how they can do that to themselves.
Seriously self-abusive and no one around her seemed to be able to do anything about it. Thyroid meds and syrup of ipecac. Someone wondered if her weight at death was all that abnormal. It wasn't. She'd gained 30 pounds to reach it by then.
Her voice was superb. R.I.P.
As shity as I suspect the music biz was back whe Karen was still alive, It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize how cutthroat and slimy it is today.
I shudder to think how she would have fit in the mid 80s, the 90s and today. In a way, she left at the right time, and can live forever in recordings, if the people remain interested in that kind of music.
Interesting you should mention the CDs and vinyl and breathing. I got a recent compilation on CD and it sounds different. It sounds like they put reverb on the vocal tracks. I wonder if the breathing is the reason. I think Richard had a lot to do with this compilation. I prefer the original of just about everything. It’s getting hard to find original single mixes of a lot of recordings.
Richard Carpenter is notorious for not being able to leave well enough alone.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.