Profile of the Day: Karen Carpenter

Today we remember singer Karen Carpenter, who died on February 4, 1983. She is best known as the lead singer of the Carpenters – a duo act with her brother, Richard Carpenter. They had two hit singles “(They Long to Be) Close to You” and “We’ve Only Just Begun”.

Karen was born on March 2, 1950 in New Haven, Connecticut. In June 1963 her family moved to Downey, California. She attended Downey High School where she joined the school band and began to learn to play the drums. She was an avid drummer and started out as the drummer as well as the lead singer of the Carpenters. However, due to her height not many audience members could see her behind the drums and eventually became just the lead singer.

Did you know that when Karen and her brother Richard signed their record contact with A&M Records, Karen’s parents had to co-sign for her? She was technically underage at the time to be able to sign a contract.

She made a solo album in 1979 which had a different musical styling than the Carpenters and it did not interest the record company, so it was shelved. The complete solo album was finally released in 1996, 13 years after her death.

Karen died at the young age of 32 from heart failure caused by complications of anorexia nervosa. The eating disorder was not widely known at the time and her death brought awareness to the illness. The “Karen A. Carpenter Memorial Foundation” (now called the “Carpenter Family Foundation”) was started by her family to raise money for research on eating disorders. It now also funds the arts, entertainment and education.

View Karen Carpenter’s Geni Profile

Image: Wikimedia Commons