I still get the impression that Richard still feels less than Karen. He seems to boost himself up in every interview I've watched. He was very talented at what he did but I believe that the Carpenter's were popular because of Karen's beautiful voice.
her solo album was and is awesome and was perfect for the time and disco era,a shame really that it was never released,and the best reason i have heard on it is,they did,nt want to lose the goose that layed the golden eggs,being richard and a&m and clearly denounced it,she realized this in the end,hence the call right before she died stating that was a freakin great album,i agree karen
It's all subjective but I really didn't like her solo album. I understand that making a solo record would have been good for her in terms of a therpautic effect , but I'm afraid I agree with Richard and many at her record company that disco just wasn't her genre. I would love it to have worked, but for me it didn't.
@@dreemsnake1 I didn't like it. I don't mind disco. I didn't then. I like a lot of things. But she didn't even play drums. I remember absolutely ZERO OF the album, other than I was bored. I never liked young women needlessly sexualizing their music. She was like 30+ when she did this. I didn't see the point. You don't need to debase yourself like that or by acting skeezy to prove you're grown. It's childish. It's bad when a MUSICIAN remembers none of your album. No hooks. No chart makers. Nothing catchy or interesting. I think she should have thought about it more in that, maybe tell Richard that she'd quit without his help or take more initiative herself. He was a great arranger. He'd have to go along with her. He wouldn't have to like it. Or maybe just give her a single of her own and go from there. If it bombs, it's no major. But an album is a huge investment.
Karen Carpenter was a great singer. It's really sad to see what happened to her. I wouldn't want a brother like Richard or better yet, the family that Karen Carpenter had... It's obvious they didn't care enough to get physically involved with her condition. Richard needs to get over it... he was not the lead singer and no matter what he did he would never have the same stage appearance as Karen did and he would have never gained the amount of recognition Karen got. He was a bad minded brother and didn't want his sister to go solo because without her his career would have been over. It was all about Richard and never about Karen which is a shame. The family is to be blamed for what happened to her :(
It wasn't Richard's fault. He loved his sister dearly. Her parents were also innocent. Richard had asked Karen if she wanted to release the album but she had said no. Richard had realised that she had anorexia nervosa, and had told her to try to cure it.
yes I agree her family did not love her as compare to Richard it's looked throughout her life she was looking for love which was a property of Richard I don't see any sign of sadness on Richard face is he really a selfish brother who is still using his sister after her death?
I post this for people who are going to codependently try to cure someone's addiction. Can't be done. If you knew her and you weren't that close and had recovered, you could say something and she might hear you. Anyone else? Nope. Not a word.
Imagine if you will, the famous Karen "eye-roll" if she actually heard all this claptrap. The CONCERN of Jerry Moss over the frail Karen Carpenter almost brings tears to my eyes. How big of him to guarantee the loses of the 1975 Asian Tour due to his critically ill superstar. Oh by the way, Jerry Moss' current net worth is estimated at $800 million. RIP sweet Karen...
--> gvallye07. Yes. We love you, Karen. You're legend. Just like Hollywood, the music industry is a design to use people and then discard. Generations of fans have to "keep up." And look at Polley and "Badfinger." Where is that scum, anyway? He caused Badfinger to commit suicide when many thought "these could be the next Beatles." "No matter what you are-are. I will always be with you! Doesn't matter what you do girl. Ooh girl. With you--ooh."
Everyone notice how many of these people interviewed and speaking say "Karen's just not good enough or that's quite up to par for Karen" . That's who killed her.
They really should examine themselves and their self righteous. Karen Carpenter stand out among all of them as the greatest female vocalist in the history of music. 💙
One has to wonder if they would have started out and stayed with gospel music being a church going family [how devout they were i have not any info on that] would karen still be with us today ? nevertheless, they left us with hours of very beautiful sounding recordings to listen to. Let us be grateful to our Creator who gave us the voice of Karen Carpenter be it too short of time.
No...any number of addicts, drunks and eating disorders are NOT cured by running off to any church. Ask around. The only cure is someone who had it and you wanting what they have, period. Quite a few drunks and addicts of all stripes in church. It doesn't work if you are too close to or too invested in their recovering, either
Church and religion do nothing but condemn and separate people from the truth of who they are. So, no, doing gospel music would not have helped. Perhaps it's time to accept that Karen Carpenter was not supposed to be helped. She was supposed to go through what she went through in order that her story could make it possible for OTHERS to be helped.
Its so sad, I think if Karen had found a somewhat meaningful long term relationship with someone, perhaps she could have somehow gotten some support to cure this relatively unknown disease at that time, and perhaps we could still hear her sweet voice alive and well til this day.
I would say this is probably one of the BEST documentaries done on the carpenters to date, except they used too much footage from other documentaries, and I'd have rather heard more new interviews from perhaps the same people, or new people, to get a different feel to the story behind this amazing duo (music life and personal life.)
John Bettis talks about grabbing the money while they could, which was true, but Karen and Richard had seen their parents striving to earn enough money to get Richard's career launched, as his father worked an extra part-time job, so a strong work ethic was thoroughly instilled in them. There also was likely a feeling of therefore being obligated to their parents to make the most of their opportunity. He overlooks their enjoyment of performing their music, though.
@shoponline831 you are correct from what i understand her weakened heart from yrs of starvation and abusing laxatives was further aggravated by the sudden weight gain.. they say you should only lose or gain 3-4 lbs a mth..for a reason..
She weighed just over 80lb, not that much difference and enough to hospitalise her. If you watch her comeback after that, she was very thin and she had gained weight at that point so she must've being extremely thin before. Watch the Goodbye to Love documentary.
I was only in Vegas 7 months had a replacement for Richard after a few shows. I Wasnt an adult yet. I was already a proclaimed opera singer, had already won at the winter Olympics ice skating. When I was Darci Lynn a few years before I stayed in neighborhood around Vegas went to home in VA. after contract was up didn't want to continue after like 11 shows. Went back a couple years later was asked to play drums for a band in Vegas first they didn't know I sang. They named us carpenters. I had nothing to do with why we were named this. Before that I was Marie Osmond, Out of scoops office that show was managed. I also made appearances on day time television. Won the Nobel peace award twice. First time for native peace treaty Second time for my war song. No one thinks there's anymore I should tell about myself because the people that are with me through the years already know. A few that weren't somehow got into my tutorials and private documents illegally. I'm the only aclaimed opera singer of our generation. I hit my goal for my family and sponsers all over the world. Anyone caught using my recordings on stage face federal charges.
I think that her death was caused by Manny years of all the damage that she had done to herself. But in the end of her days I think the last thing that she took did the most part of the damage and made it worse.
Syrup of Ipecac. It ate her heart. Anorexia/bulimia must be a mental illness like alcoholism (in the determination that "This time will be different!") B/c people STILL try to find/order it online!!
Poor, thing. It breaks my heart to know how unhappy she was. Had she been happy, she would've been able to recover. Supposedly she did in '82. But putting on 30 lbs in 6 weeks after years of starvation killed her.
No, try the autopsy report. Syrup of Ipecac overdose. It ate her heart. Addicts are mentally ill. You STILL see people LOOKING for it online! Any addict is, just ask one that recovered. Thats the only cure, talking to someone who recovered but isn't invested in their getting better or not.
I just wish some of what she is trying to pass off as truth was substantiated by the interviews with the people who knew them, yet none of those people ever say that Richard was controlling of her, or that she felt unloved by her mother. I don't know if they edited those clips out, but it really does look like she is just pushing an agenda of the poor controlled woman who needed feminism to save her.
Neal M - There are a few documentaries that say, and childhood friends say, Richard and their mother controlled her. The Goodbye to Love documentary shows this and ends with "The two things she valued most in the world, her voice and her mothers love, were exclusively the property of Richard."
Also, perhaps back then (late 70's/early 80's) people didn't know what bulimia and anorexia were...and it certainly wasn't recognised as a mental illness...
Karen died February 4th, 1983 at the age of 32, and yes she had been in recovery the year of '82 and had gained, and that combined with years of starving herself as well as supposed abuse of ipecac (not sure if that's been officially proven) and she had abused laxatives, so all of that cointributed to a cardiac arrest which sadly took her life...
Seems like everyone around her was in a perpetual state of concern about her. That'd drive anyone up the wall, and might drive someone onto a destructive path. Every testimonial about her feels so patronizing. "She got married, and I thought, this would finally be something normal for her." Jeez. Did anyone just think of anything she did as just something she was doing?? It always had some deep, mystifying implications. Did anyone just leave her the hell alone to be herself?
Message to Frank Pooler: I paraphrase you, "Everything Karen Carpenter did was SUPERVISED by Richard. HE was the BRAINS." During all the decisive years Karen fought Anorexia because of "depression", this occurred throughout the years Richard was f*cked up on Quaaludes. His brains were virtually scattered. Reminder for Pooler: Richard would have NEVER gotten a recording contract if it wasn't his kid sister's vocalization. You back-handed critics make me sick.
Well, I think it's highly unlikely Agnes supplied Richard's pills at the height of his addiction. In Ray Coleman's biography of the Carpenters, he tells of the huge number of quaaludes he took; he could have died of an overdose.
the best point - they should have released it, and taken the "critical jabs" than to not release it. it must have hurt her (in Petula voice) in a profound way.
why do i feel that that same record company who wouldn't release karen's solo record back then has released it since her death? the hypocrisy is crazy.
Yes. You ever deal with an addict when they don't have their drug of choice? I have. Sometimes it can kill you, as with alcohol or benzodiazipes, or you just have to listen to them be VERY abusive, if not physically so.
If Jerry Moss was so concerned....Why did Karen do interviews during the promotion of Made In America? She looked terrible around then, and needed good treatment.
That's kind of like saying a drunk needed to get sober in 1926. There was no good treatment. And even now, the objective is to push crap like suboxone and methodone FOREVER. The latter turns your brain to mush. No joke. Can't even talk coherently.
The song choices on her Solo Album were beneath her & didn't compliment her angelic vocals. Even back then, it woulda failed because people expected MORE, not less from this incredible artist
I didn't like it, either. I remember zero of it and I'm a music major. Should have done a single, basically tell Richard or ask for his help and tell him you'd quit if he didn't help. He'd have to at that. Album is a huge financial liability. The record company ain't gonna pay for it. If it bombs, YOU pay them back at exorbitant rates.
Failure to use her middle finger. That's what I say. Had she put her foot down, Richard et al, would have no choice but to go along. Not like he could replace her.
