Description
Karen Anne Carpenter (March 2, 1950 – February 4, 1983) was an American singer and drummer who formed half of the highly successful duo the Carpenters with her older brother Richard. With a distinctive three-octave contralto range, she was praised by her peers for her vocal skills.
Her enthusiasm for drumming led to teaching herself how to play complicated lines and studying stick control, drum styles, playing technique, and grips like traditional and matched grip. She was talented, rehearsed every day and within a year, she could play in complex time signatures, such as the
in Dave Brubeck‘s “Take Five“. Carpenter began to study drum technique with Bill Douglass, a well-respected jazz drummer with Benny Goodman and Art Tatum, and soon after she acquired a professional drum kit.
Carpenter was initially nervous about performing in public, but said she “was too involved in the music to worry about it”. She graduated from Downey High School in the spring of 1967, receiving the John Philip Sousa Band Award, and enrolled as a music major at Long Beach State, where she performed in the college choir with Richard. Karen subsequently became more confident in singing and began to take lessons with Frank Pooler, the choir’s director. She worked with him on developing the upper register so she would have a full three-octave range and he taught her a mixture of classical and pop singing. Pooler later said “Karen was a born pop singer”. By age 17, her voice “was a remarkable instrument”.
Video: Karen Carpenter “Making Love in the Afternoon” (featuring Peter Cetera) Peter Cetera (1980)
Track Listing :
| 1 | Lovelines | 5:06 | |
| 2 | All Because Of You | 3:31 | |
| 3 | If I Had You | 3:54 | |
| 4 | Making Love In The Afternoon | 3:57 | |
| 5 | If We Try | 3:47 | |
| 6 | Remember When Lovin’ Took All Night | 3:15 | |
| 7 | Still In Love With You | 3:46 | |
| 8 | My Body Keeps Changing My Mind | 3:12 | |
| 9 | Make Believe It’s Your First Time | 3:12 | |
| 10 | Guess I Just Lost My Head | 3:36 | |
| 11 | Still Crazy After All These Years | 4:17 | |
| 12 | Last One Singin’ The Blues |
Credits:
- Art Direction, Design – Chuck Beeson
- Artwork [Photo Colorist] – Amy Nagasawa
- Bass – Doug Stegmeyer, Louis Johnson
- Design – Rebecca Chamlee
- Drums – John Robinson (2), Liberty DeVitto, Steve Gadd
- Engineer – Glenn Berger, James Guthrie, Ray Gerhardt
- Engineer, Remix – Jim Boyer
- Guitar – David Brown (6), David Williams (4), Eric Johns-Rasmussen*, Russell Javors
- Keyboards – Bob James, Greg Phillinganes, Richard Tee, Rob Mounsey
- Liner Notes – Richard Carpenter
- Mastered By – Dave Collins
- Mastered By [Originally] – Ted Jenson*
- Percussion – Airto Moreira, Ralph McDonald*
- Photography By – Claude Mougin
- Producer, Liner Notes, Remix – Phil Ramone
