An accomplished drummer, and, accidental singer....IIRC, her brother’s band allowed her to chime in...and, the rest is history.
Yes, very true... and Richard apparently was only letting her sit in as drummer ‘til he found a better fit. He was also looking for a lead singer and it was the other people in the band who told him.. ‘hey, your kid sister you have playing drums, she’s a pretty good singer...’ apparently before then he hadn’t really noticed her talents.
The Carpenters (unknown at the time) won a “Battle of the Bands” at the Hollywood Bowl. Those were big in LA at the time.
The music executives wanted HER because of her voice - completely untrained and they’d never heard anything like it - not her brother.
She said they came as a duo or not at all. Glad she stood up for her brother, and the rest is history.