In fact, my entire household is divided on the issue. Yet every person who enjoys The Carpenters as much as I do knows several others who don't. 94 on its list of the Top 100 greatest singers of all time. Rolling Stone rated her velvety contralto voice at No. Today, there are more than a half-dozen websites devoted to her life and career, while several Carpenters tribute bands tour in both America and the U.K. Karen Carpenter died 30 years ago Monday at age 32, and her legacy as one-half of the singing duo The Carpenters is a source of some disagreement.
In 2016, Gerard Way, frontman for My Chemical Romance, shared a recording of him singing “Superstar,” together with this tweet: “I (heart) Karen Carpenter.” In a September interview, entertainer Kristen Chenoweth said, “Karen Carpenter was a massive influence on me musically.” Two months later, in Billboard‘s Women in Music issue, Joyce Smith, manager of The Rolling Stones, said simply, “She is vocal perfection.Karen Carpenter, of The Carpenters, performs in London in 1974.īy the time she was 24, Karen Carpenter was already famous, having released more than a dozen hit records with her brother, Richard, including "Close to You," "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days and Mondays," "Superstar" and "Top of the World." Less than 10 years later, she'd be gone, the victim of heart failure brought on by anorexia nervosa. Last month, NPR Music’s Ann Powers included Karen in a list of “ 41 Women Who Should Be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.” Here’s her pitch: “The queen of contemplative pop, whose reputation has been rehabilitated by young critics and musicians who understand the power in her soft approach, is as influential on current pop as any screaming rocker…”ĭigging through the Billboard archives, I was struck anew by the range of performers and industry power players who have sung Karen’s praises.
These young fans aren’t put off by the squeaky-clean image, the corny publicity photos, the few bad records they made toward the end (yes, I’m thinking of “Beechwood 4-5789”). Some of these new fans may even find all of that amusing, a bit of welcome comic relief before they go back to listen to another heartbreaking Carpenters ballad.Īfter Sam & Dave, Which Duo Should Get Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award? Happily, their records were so good, and Karen so unique and gifted a vocalist, that Carpenters have been discovered by a new generation of fans. Some die-hard fans knew they were better than their sticky-sweet image suggested, but with their lead singer dead, what were the odds there would ever be a meaningful reappraisal? 4, 1983, at age 32.įor a while, it felt like that was going to be that. Karen finally sought treatment for her anorexia in 1982, but it may have been too late. Legendary Producer Phil Ramone Dies at Age 79Ĭarpenters’ 1981 album, Made in America, produced one final top 20 hit on the Hot 100, the sleek “Touch Me When We’re Dancing.” But the album and follow-up singles fell far short of expectations. It took a long time to do that album and I was wearing out.” But around the time of Horizon (1975) we started to get tired. We just couldn’t wait to get the vocals on a record to hear what it was going to sound like. “From Close to You (1970) to Now and Then (1973) we were having a hell of a time. We’d always enjoyed our work, and when you get to a point that you’re not enjoying it, you have to call a halt. (Nowadays, that wouldn’t be seen as that long of a layoff, but by ’70s standards, it was an eternity.) Richard explained their long absence by saying, “I was tired. I interviewed Karen and Richard for Billboard in the summer of 1981, when they released Made in America, their first non-holiday studio album in nearly four years. 32 on the Hot 100 - about where they usually landed in that frustrating period of their career. It nearly busted through to become a big hit, but it ultimately stalled at No. In 1977, Carpenters released the oddest single of their career: a cover of Klaatu’s spacey, sci-fi epic “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft.” The single was something of a Hail Mary pass on the duo’s part.
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