The Carpenters

The carpenters was an American music and singing duo in the seventies of the twentieth century. The duo consisted of brother and sister Richard and Karen Carpenter.They had countless hits both in the u.s. and in Europe with their melodic pop songs. The formation was called officially "carpenters", without the definite article "The" in front of it.



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[hide] *Youth 1  ==Youth[ Edit] == Karen (2 March 1950 - 4 February 1983) and Richard (15 October 1946) were born in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1963 the family moved to Downey, a suburb of Los Angeles. Richard was early interested in music and started to play piano at a young age. The move from Connecticut to California was partly to allow him to develop his musical career. Karen initially showed little interest in music; that interest revealed himself only in high school when they became part of the school band and taught drumming. Around that time also revealed that she had a good singing voice. ==Early career[ Edit] == Middle brother and sister tried sixty years Carpenter career in music, but to find a record company wanted to with them into the sea. In may ' 66 there seemed to be shot in the matter when Karen with Richard called me who auditioned had to do with bassist Joe Osborn. Karen was asked to sing a bit and immediately got offered a contract as a solo singer. They released two singles, "I'll be yours" and "Looking for love", but the record company went bankrupt, so the promising start came to nothing. In this period were Karen and Richard together with the friendly bassist Wes Jacobs trio "The Richard Carpenter Trio", an instrumental jazz band. In 1966they won a "Battle of the Bands" talent show and were spotted by the record label RCA. This record company eventually decided, however, to bring their record anyway no matter, and because going on the commercial potential of the trio was doubted, the contract was soon ended. Karen and Richard formed afterwards with four students from the California State University the band Spectrum, and soon played for full houses in the region. A record deal was not for this band, but Karen and Richard did a great deal of experience and kept there a text writer to about (John Bettis).
 * 2 Early Career
 * 3 carpenters
 * 4 at the beginning of the 1980s
 * 5 Karen's sudden death
 * 6 discography
 * 6.1 Albums
 * 6.2 Singles
 * 6.3 Radio 2 Top 2000
 * 7 Trivia
 * 8 external links

After the band Spectrum uiteengegaan was, brother and sister decided to continue as a duo: Karen Carpenter on drums, Richard on keys, and both of them as singers. They sent demos to various record companies and attracted the attention of Jack Daugherty of A & M Records. They signed a contract in 1969. Their first album, "Offering", contained a lot of material that Richard had written in the Spectrum-period. The most notable song on the album, however, was a cover of the Beatlessong "Ticket To Ride". This was a minor hit for the carpenters. The LP was re-released under the name "Ticket To Ride", and sold fairly. The record company arranged a gig for the duo during the premieres of the films Goodbye Mr. Chips and Hello Dolly in december ' 69. Karen Carpenter==Carpenters[ Edit] == Richard and Karen really broke through in 1970, with their rendition of the Burt Bacharachsong "(They Long To Be) Close To You". This single was four weeks on first place in the American charts. Their subsequent single "we've Only Just Begun" peaked, and thus became the second big hit for the duo. Both songs were also on the album "Close To You", which became a bestseller. The carpenters closed the year with a Christmas single, "Merry Christmas Darling". This song was released during the following years regularly around Christmas. A series of hits followed in the 1970s, including "Sing", "Yesterday Once More" and "Top Of The World". A "greatest hits" album followed, (The Singles 1969-1973) this LP was long on the first place in both the USA and in Great Britain. It became one of the best-selling Albums of the Decade, of which in the United States alone, more than seven million were sold.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">To promote their albums performed the carpenters very much at all, both during tours and during television shows. In 1973 they were invited by u.s. president Richard Nixonto play in the White House, where at that time the West German Chancellor Willy Brandt was a guest.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The intensive tour schedule led to the duo in ' 73-' 74 had no time to record new material. Instead, they chose a song from their album "Song For You" again to bring out ("I Won't Last A Day Without You"). This song reached the eleventh in the American charts. In the same year (' 74) brought the carpenters a cover of Hank Williams' hit "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", in an up-tempo version. This was not released as a single in the us, but in Europe and in Japan was one of their biggest hits. Marvellettes-their version of the song "Please Mr. Postman" was in 1975 the last number-one hit of the duo. Subsequent singles like "Only Yesterday" and "Solitaire" (written by Neil Sedaka) (American/English) still took the charts but were not major hits. The Lps were released during the period hereinafter showed the same sales pattern: they still sold, but the real "sales records" were left out. The disco-age was deployed in the us, and the easy listening was out of fashion.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Although the really big hits turned up further, the duo remained very loved by the audience. In 1978 they scored another minor hit with country-like song "Sweet, Sweet Smile". They released the same year in Europe again a "greatest hits" album, with singles from the years 1974-1978. In the us they released simultaneously a Christmas record, "A Christmas Portrait". This turned out to be an exception to their declining popularity and was a season stopper. They kept their television shows do in the US and thus becoming even scored good ratings. In 1980, the carpenters for the last time in the American/English charts with the song "Touch me when we're dancing" submitted by what would later turn out to be their last studio LP "Made in America".

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Mid-seventies began the intensive action and the lack of free time take their toll. Karen developed an obsession with her weight and suffered from anorexia nervosa. This came to light in 1975 when there are performances had to be cancelled because of oververmoeidheids manifestations of the singer, after she was at a gig in Las Vegas passed out during the singing of "Top Of The World". In turn was Richard addicted tomethaqualon, a barbiturate. These events led to the end of the live performances by the duo in 1978. ==Early years eighty<span class="mw-editsection" len="340" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Richard was in 1979 in a clinic in Topeka to by his addiction to come off. Karen decided to solo to go further, and went into the sea with producer Phil Ramone. Her lp with more disco-oriented material, however, was stopped by the record company and remained on the shelf until 1996. Eventually the duo came together again when Richard once of his addiction was healed. Their LP "Made In America" was released in ' 81 and the single "Touch Me When we're Dancing" reached the top twenty in the us.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The personal problems of the duo, however, obstructed the possibilities. The effects of Karens anorexia nervosa became ever more clearly noticeable. After a short, intense romance married Karen with Thomas j. Burris, in August 1980. This marriage however, ran on a disaster and the bunch early in november ' 81 all a separation. In ' 82 decided to go to Karen in therapy of her eating disorder to come off. It was rumored that Karen used emetics, which taxed and damaged her heart. Karen, who had a perfectly normal thyroid, also took another ten times the allowable dosage of any thyroid medication to speed up her metabolism. This combined with the huge amounts of laxatives that she took, weakened her heart strong. ==Karen's sudden death<span class="mw-editsection" len="339" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">After Karen in therapy had gone, she came in one week time five pounds of. This sudden weight gain, however, turned out to be a heavy burden on her heart, which was already weakened by the many diets that they followed. On 4 February 1983, at the age of 32, Karen got a cardiac arrest at her parents ' House. She was rushed to the hospital, but there could still be adopted only the death.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">On 12 October of the same year, the carpenters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The death of Karen Carpenter made sure that much attention came for eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Karen's death also ensured that celebrities for any eating disorders dared to come out.Hospitals and therapists were more and more applications from patients who wanted and dared to get treatment. For most people it was for the death of Karen Carpenter completely unknown that eating disorders existed, which made it difficult to make a diagnosis and treat. ==Discography<span class="mw-editsection" len="332" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Albums<span class="mw-editsection" len="327" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===Singles<span class="mw-editsection" len="328" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===Radio 2 Top 2000<span class="mw-editsection" len="337" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ==Trivia<span class="mw-editsection" len="328" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The b-side of the single was the song Top of the world Heather. This was the song during the last hour of pirate radio Veronica was heard during the speech by Rob Out. Next, the offshore radio from the ether. Later, the same number used as background music for the item the plate and his story in various programs of the now legalized Radio Veronica