Carpenters

Downey and Spectrum

Richard and Karen Carpenter were born in New Haven, Connecticut, and moved to Downey, California, in 1963. Richard studied piano and met the lyricist John Bettis at California State College at Long Beach. Karen took up the drums at Downey High School. With Wesley Jacobs on tuba and bass they formed the Richard Carpenter Trio, which won the Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands on 24 June 1966 and was signed by RCA. RCA chose not to release its recordings.

The bassist Joe Osborn let Karen and Richard use his garage studio, and Richard began overdubbing their voices into a large choral sound. In 1967 Richard and Bettis lost their job as the piano and banjo act at Disneyland's Coke Corner for playing the modern songs patrons asked for, and they wrote Mr. Guder about their supervisor. After a spell in the band Spectrum, the two decided in 1968 to become a duo. They signed to A&M Records on 22 April 1969 and dropped the word the from their name, which they thought sounded hip.

Breakthrough

Their first album, Offering, came out on 9 October 1969 and sold only 18,000 copies at first. Its slow version of the Beatles' Ticket to Ride reached number 54 on the Hot 100. Burt Bacharach heard it, and Herb Alpert, who ran A&M, then handed Richard a little-known Bacharach and David song. Alpert suggested that Hal Blaine play drums at the second session. (They Long to Be) Close to You was released in May 1970 and spent four weeks at number one in July and August.

The album Close To You followed on 19 August 1970. It also held We've Only Just Begun, a song first written for a bank commercial, which reached number 2. At the Grammys they won Best New Artist and Best Contemporary Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus.

The seventies

Carpenters (14 May 1971) reached number 2 on the Billboard 200. It carried Rainy Days and Mondays and Superstar, which Richard first heard Bette Midler sing on The Tonight Show. In 1971 Richard and their manager persuaded Karen to step out from behind the drums and sing the popular numbers at the front of the stage.

A Song for You (1972) held Goodbye to Love, whose fuzz guitar solo by Tony Peluso angered some fans, and Top of the World, which the duo first judged a pleasant album cut. Lynn Anderson had a country hit with it before the Carpenters' own single reached number one in December 1973. Now & Then (1 May 1973) put an oldies medley on its second side, staged as a Top 40 radio show. The compilation The Singles: 1969-1973 topped the American chart for the week of 5 January 1974 and the British chart for 17 non-consecutive weeks. They toured Japan for the first time in May 1974, playing to 85,000 people, and in January 1975 Please Mr. Postman became their third and last number one single.

The last years

Karen and Richard played their last concert together at Long Beach on 3 December 1978. Made in America, released on 16 June 1981, was their final album as a duo, and its single Touch Me When We're Dancing reached number 16. Karen Carpenter died on 4 February 1983. The Carpenters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that October, and Richard has since overseen posthumous releases, beginning with Voice of the Heart in late 1983. Some of their master tapes were among the material destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Reputation

Critics sometimes dismissed the music as bland and saccharine. Richard said he got upset when the label squeaky clean was tagged on to them. Ken Barnes wrote in Phonograph that it was less than revolutionary to admit liking them. Rolling Stone's list entry says the chaste elegance of Close to You and We've Only Just Begun influenced many cooler, scruffier indie bands. Sonic Youth recorded Tunic (Song for Karen) in 1990, and the 1994 tribute album If I Were a Carpenter gathered Sonic Youth, Shonen Knife, the Cranberries and others. Karen appeared on Rolling Stone's 2010 list of the 100 greatest singers. The book Carpenters: The Musical Legacy, drawn from interviews with Richard, appeared in 2021.