Karen and brother Richard Carpenter\'s work, a union of multitracked orchestration and the unfakeable vocal talent of lead singer Karen, was a central thread in the cultural backdrop of the 1970\'s. Their version of \"Ticket To Ride\", an inverted slowdown of the rocker previously done by the Beatles and others in uptempo fashion, was the first hit single; that song charted worldwide in 1969. The next year would bring \"Close To You\", 1971 would bring \"For All We Know\" and \"Rainy Days And Mondays\"... and the output only to this point would surpass the entire careers of most acts.
\"Touch Me When We\'re Dancing\" from 1981 was the last significant single before Karen Carpenter\'s untimely death in \'82. She died young and kept her voice all the way to the end. Posthumous releases of unheard and remixed material continue to the present day, managed by producer Richard Carpenter.
Although they experimented with styles from country to disco, the pair never strayed too far from a smooth, unadorned crooner style reminiscent of the 1940\'s. Karen Carpenter\'s performances, whether in close harmony with Richard or out front alone, remain benchmarks for those singers attempting to find their own individual voice, rather than fit into some established format (latter-day examples of this approach would include the Alanis/Avril method or rap cliche\').
Bio written by: Pete_Jamison |
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