- Album list
- Singer Intro
The Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter. Producing a distinctively soft musical style, they became one of the best-selling music artists of all time. During their 14-year career, The Carpenters recorded 11 albums, 31 singles, five television specials, and a short-lived television series. Their career ended in 1983 by Karen's death from heart failure brought on by complications of anorexia. Extensive news coverage surrounding the circumstances of her death increased public awareness of eating disorders.
The duo's brand of melodic pop produced a record-breaking run of hit recordings on the American Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts, and they became leading sellers in the soft rock, easy listening and adult contemporary genres. The Carpenters had three No. 1 singles and five No. 2 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and fifteen No. 1 hits on the Adult Contemporary chart. In addition, they had twelve top 10 singles. To date, The Carpenters' album and single sales total more than 100 million units.
Past members
Karen Carpenter
Richard Carpenter
Musical and lyrical style
Richard Carpenter was the creative force behind the Carpenters sound. An accomplished keyboard player, composer and arranger, Richard Carpenter was called by music critic Daniel Levitin 'one of the most gifted arrangers to emerge in popular music.' In a period when contemporary music was dominated by heavy rock, their smooth harmonies were not in step with the trends of the day. The sound the Carpenters were going for was rich and melodic, along the same vein as the harmonies found in their contemporaries The Beach Boys and the The Mamas & the Papas, but with greater fullness and orchestration. Most of Richard's arrangements were classical in style, with frequent use of strings and occasional brass and woodwind instruments as well. Richard's work with Karen was heavily influenced by the music of Les Paul, whose overdubbing of the voice of wife and musical partner Mary Ford allowed her to be used as both the lead and harmonizing vocals. By use of multi-tracked recordings, Richard was able to use Karen and himself for the harmonies to back Karen's lead. The overdubbed background harmonies were distinctive to the Carpenters, but it was the soulful, engaging sound of Karen's lead voice that made them so recognizable.
Karen did not possess a powerful singing voice, but close miking brought out many nuances in her performances. Richard Coles, a musician and broadcaster, commented: 'No singer is so closely miked up so unforgivingly as Karen Carpenter. That is frightening for singers because the closer the microphone the more unforgiving it is in exposing the weaknesses in a singer's voice.' Karen's lower register was warm and distinctive.[peacock term] Richard arranged their music to take advantage of the qualities of said lower register, even if Karen's full vocal range spanned over three octaves. Many of the Carpenters' songs are in the keys of D ('You', 'There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)'), E flat ('Only Yesterday'), E ('Hurting Each Other', 'Yesterday Once More'), F ('I'll Never Fall in Love Again'), and G ('And When He Smiles', 'Reason to Believe', 'For All We Know', 'You'll Love Me').
Richard is best known for his use of the Wurlitzer electric piano, whose sound he described as 'warm' and 'beautiful'.[citation needed] He also played the grand piano, Hammond organ, synthesizer and even the harpsichord with the band. In the recording studio, he often would overdub his acoustic piano parts with a Wurlitzer electric piano to thicken the sound. From the mid-1970s, Richard also used Fender Rhodes pianos. While touring, he often would have a grand piano as well as both a Rhodes and a Wurlitzer electric piano on stage for different songs.
Karen was an accomplished drummer and initially only played drums, but soon began to sing for the group in addition to playing the drums. Before 1974, Karen played the drums for a number of their songs, although some had session drummer Hal Blaine playing. According to Richard, she considered herself a 'drummer who sang'. However, while Karen's vocals soon became the centerpiece of the group's performances, at 5'4' tall, performing behind her drum kit made it difficult for audiences to see her and it was soon apparent to Richard and their manager that the audience wanted to see more of Karen. Although unwilling, she eventually agreed to sing the ballads standing up front, returning to her drums for the lesser known songs. As the group's popularity increased, demand for Karen's vocals at the expense of her drumming overshadowed her abilities and gradually, she played the drums less; in fact, by the time their album A Kind of Hush was released in 1976, she had not played the drums for the studio sessions at all,, although she continued to play some during concerts. From spring 1976 onward, the tours would include a drum medley for Karen to play, and a piano solo number was included for Richard. Karen made a final return to studio drumming for the track 'When It's Gone (It's Just Gone)' on the album Made in America, albeit in tandem with Nashville session drummer Larrie Londin, and she also provided percussion in tandem with Paulinho da Costa on the song 'Those Good Old Dreams'.
Karen used Ludwig Drums, Zildjian cymbals, a Rogers foot pedal and hi-hat stand, 11A drumsticks and Remo drumheads.
|
