The Carpenters

Nathan Hale School, Wilbur Cross High, Downey High School, Long Beach State College

KC:singer&drummer RC: pianist,singer

The Carpenters Band

Karen does beautiful needlepoint, enjoys shopping, cooking, playing pool. Richard likes to listen to records, watch science fiction films, drive sports cars, and read about old classic cars.

Richard's favorite was Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea. Karen loved Heidi.

The Rose

The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Neil Diamond, Mel Torme, Anthony Newley, Glen Campbell, Ella Fitzgerald, Jim Croce and Barbra Streisand are among their favorites.

All in the Family

Richard Lynn Carpenter (Libra) was born at 12:53 a.m. on Tuesday, October 15, 1946. Blonde hair, hazel eyes. Height 6 ft. His voice range in low E for two octaves. His favorite colors are yellow, black and gold.

Karen Anne Carpenter (Pisces) was born at 11:45 a.m. on Thursday, March 2, 1950. Brown hair and eyes. Present height 5 ft. 4 in. Her voice rang is C below middle C to G above height C. Her favorite colors are red, black and yellow. She loves horses, and her love of them convinced her to make the move to California for New Haven, Connecticut where she and Richard were born. Karen was rather disappointed when her parents bought a house in the city of Downey, where she discovered there was no room to house a horse. However, she settled for a second love - a dog. She has a beautiful Belgian Shepherd she calls "Lady" and a Sammoyed pup she has named "Mush". Karen's private collection consists of a variety of stuffed animals.

The Richard Carpenter Trio:

With Karen still in high school, her seventeen year-old brother, Richard entered California State University as a music major in the fall of 1964. He soon became buddies with a tuba and bass player named Wes Jacobs, who joined Richard and his drum-playing sister to form the Richard Carpenter Trio. Growing accustomed to playing for dances and weddings, the trio reached the finals of the prestigious talent contest "The Battle of the Bands" at the Hollywood Bowl. Playing Richard's "Iced Tea" along with "The Girl from Ipanema," Richard, Karen, and Wes took top honors and were soon approached by an RCA Records representative. The trio was signed to the label and cut 11 tracks, but the deal was soon dissolved with no commercial release.

Magic Lamp Records:

On May 13, 1966, Karen, just discovering her vocal capabilities, was signed to Magic Lamp Records, a small, independent label. The label was owned by Joe Osborn, a well-known session bassist in the L.A. area. It was in Osborn's garage studio that Karen recorded "Looking for Love," "I'll Be Yours," "The Parting of Our Ways," and one other. Karen was drummer, of course, while Richard played keyboards and Joe played bass. A lone single was released in the summer or 1966. With a pressing of 500 records, a lack of distribution is credited for the unsuccessful release. That Magic Lamp 45RPM is today reportedly worth $500-$1,000!

The Carpenters:

After two vocal groups (summer chimes and Spectrum) folded, Karen and Richard went duo and decided to record all the vocals themselves, employing the multi-track overdubbing process. A demo tape ultimately made it to Herb Alpert, who, with Jerry Moss owned A&M Records. Alpert liked what he heard and in April of 1969, Jerry Moss signed "Carpenters" to the label.
The Carpenters' debut album, offering, was released in November of 1969 and featured their first single, a ballad version of "Ticket to Ride," which peaked nationally at #54. "Close To you," which would become Karen and Richard's breakthrough recording, took just six weeks to reach #1; it remained for four consecutive weeks. The song was the first of 17 Top 20 singles - ten of them Gold - for the duo that have now become standards, including "Superstar," "Rainy Days and Mondays," "Sing," "Top of the World," and "Yesterday Once More." From "Close To You" in 1970 to "A Kind Of Hush" in 1976, Karen and Richard had a string of 16 consecutive Top 20 hits.
Over the following years, Carpenters became one of the most popular groups in history, selling to date nearly 100 million units worldwide. They toured internationally through the 70s, and their 1976 tour of Japan was the largest grossing tour in that country up to that point. Karen's voice is considered by many to be the finest and most expressive in popular music. She is praised for her control, sense of pitch, and the subtle nuances of personal expression she introduced to a melody.

Karen died unexpectedly at her parents' home on February 4, 1983 from heart failure, the result of years of suffering with anorexia nervosa. Since then, Richard has remained active, releasing a solo album, TIME, in 1987. In 1989, Richard served as executive producer for the TV movie "The Karen Carpenter Story," which painted a stark and honest picture of the duo's personal lives and Karen's struggle with anorexia. He has gone back into the studio to remix (and sometimes re-record parts of) the Carpenters' repertoire for such compilations as 1991's boxed set From the Top.
1994 saw the publication of a new Carpenters biography, researched by Ray Coleman, and the release of If I Were a Carpenter, an album of songs made famous by Karen and Richard recorded by alternative rock artists, including The Cranberries and Sonic Youth.

All the people and fans of the carpenters! Please visit these cool carpenters site: karencarpenter.com, leadsister.com, and richardandkarencarpenter.com

Did You Know?

Tid-bits you might not know about Karen Carpenter:

* Favorite drink was iced tea.
* "A Star on Earth - A Star in Heaven" is written in her mausoleum.
* Among her friends were Petula Clark, Olivia Newton-John and Dionne Warwick.
* Dedicated her solo album to her brother Richard.
* She never liked the song "Superstar", one of the hit Carpenters songs she was famous for.
* Her favorite Carpenters song was "I Need To Be In Love".
* The song "Now", recorded in April 1982, was the last song she ever recorded and was made in one take!
* Collected Disney memorabilia.
* Loved to play softball/baseball.
* Had to have surgery on her ear, during the late 1970s.
* Was married by televangelist Dr. Robert H. Schuller.
* Went to Bora Bora, for her honeymoon.
* Cross-stitched to pass the time.
* Karen's boyfriends/dates
o Terry Ellis, co-owner of Chrysalis records and temporary manager to Karen and Richard after Richard fired Sherwin Bash. Karen moved in with Terry in 1975 but this only lasted a week because she liked staying at home watching TV and cross-stitching while Terry liked late night dinners and clubs.
o Dated Alan Osmond, Mark Harmon and Bill Hudson (Kate Hudson's dad)
o Serious relationship with John Adrian (of BBC's "Softly, Softly") while on tour in England in 1976. He was with A&M in England.
o Serious relationship with Tom Bahler in 1978 or 1979.
o Relatinship with David Alley. Was Richard's manager until fairly recently when he was let go. He was also a pall bearer at Karen's funeral
* Both Elvis and Gene Simmons of kiss tried to seduce Karen?
o Petula Clark's quote on what Happened with Elvis:
+ " She reveals: "We were just doing sort of a girls night out and we
went to see him and we went backstage, of course, and we had a very
nice time with him. Little by little all of his chums and, you know,
hangers-on disappeared from the dressing room and it was just Elvis,
Karen and myself.

"After awhile I realized that Elvis was coming on quite heavily to
both of us. Karen was very innocent, at the time anyway, and I was
sort of like the older sister. I said, `Karen, we've got to get out
of here' and she said, `What?' and I said, `Come on, we're leaving
Karen.'

"So eventually I more or less dragged her out. Elvis looked a bit
downtrodden by this. He wanted us both.

Karen's Star

Did you know that Richard Carpenter purchased the rights at the International Star Registry to name a star after Karen?
On the 14th anniversary of her death, February 4th 1997, a star was officially named Karen Anne Carpenter.

The official certificate from the International Star Registry


The print reads: In witness whereof we hereunto set our hands and affix the seal of the International Star Registry this 4th day of February 1997. Know ye
herewith that the International Star Registry doth hereby recognise Star Number Andromeda Ra Oh42m 57sd 36 35 to the name Karen Anne Carpenter.
Know ye further that this star will hereforth be known by this name. This name is permanently filed in The Registry's vault in Switzerland and recorded in a
book which will be registered in the copyright office of the United States of America * *.

The location of the star named Karen Anne Carpenter