The Carpenters | Carson Tonight Show 

Absolutely correct STUPENDOUS comment. SHINE ON 💎 🎼☮️🤝👊🇨🇦

Let's not forget she was a great drummer also. Keep Shinning 🎼☮️👊

Agree100%

Scotty , beam me back to 1973

Amen. 🙏

Very true your right

Amen!

None of these people have talent!! What are you talking about?

The most truthful statement I have seen in YEARS !

Not just talent, but dedication. Karen and Richard practiced their butts off, rehearsed, and really worked. Lots of performances, too.

Linda Ronstadt has her beat.

I've always said she just had such a unique voice, heavenly. I know it's an opinion but to me she's the best female voice of all time.

@@robertreese3523 Linda is very good but didn't quite find the right character for her talent. She's nowhere close to the icon that is Karen and her voice. I'll look it up but I'm guessing that Karen beat her record sales ten to one.

@@TheLarryBrown That’s like comparing Mozart to Salieri. Linda could sing anything Karen could sing equally as well. Karen however would not be remotely able to cover the various genre’s of music that Linda did. I’m a fan of Karen’s myself but overall musically, she doesn’t hold a candle to Linda.

No, that title belongs to Linda Ronstand.

Oh wow! That's awesome! 😊

Born and early raised in New Haven Connecticut..parents move to Downey California in 1963…about 20 minutes from my neighborhood in Connecticut..I loved playing their tunes when I was in radio in Hartford..a pleasure..😊

Wow that must’ve been something else living next to them.

I lived in Downey too. I met Karen twice in the last two months before she died. The second time was the week before. I worked at the Los Cerritos Mall. I helped Karen and her mother shop for presents for her father. She seemed really shy and humble when I complimented her.

@@bricks1012 Thank you for sharing that! 🤗

She just doesn’t miss a note. She’s musically unmatched.

Yes Karen had a great singing voice even obviously live.

The best

She looked so much happier at the drums. Thank you Karen, may you rest in peace

Hard to disagree with that.

Divas are like that. 😊

@@renarga6886 What's a diva??

Love your comment.❤

A gold couch for me, or possibly laying on the shag carpet😔😮‍💨

Best elevator music ever!

I'm getting a weird sinking feeling knowing those days are gone forever.

Yes, me too! Wonderful memories!!

We have another great one rising, Tori Holub. And Richard Carpenter knows of and has met her.

I feel the exact same, pure chills. She was one of a kind and no one will ever compare. She had a God given talent… you don’t experience that these days.

You need to hear Tori Holub sing Karen Carpenters. 99.99% the same. Gave me major goosebumps.

​@@kinezo1961Who's Tori Holub?🎉🎉🎉😢😢😢

I feel the same right now

In the studio she was known as "one take Karen" and just never made mistakes.

Once Karen was leaving a restaurant while John Lennon was walking in. He said to her, "I want to tell you love, I think you've got a fabulous voice." And he just walked on. Surprisingly, she asked her friend if he thought he really meant it. He kept telling her, yes, he really meant it.

@@paulk9985 Heard that story, I thought it was in a building but perhaps not. LA it was perhaps when JL lived there for a bit.

They both were right.

Too bad he was so critical of her, but he obviously got it from his mother.

In Heaven.

I hear she may be a back up singer for Elvis.😃

​@philippesauvie639 your mother would know 😊

Yeah she’s the best they’re the best. But it’s bittersweet listening to their music knowing everything she went through. I remember hearing it on the radio when she passed away. Some guys I was riding with were chuckling and I thought that was so horrible that they would laugh at that. Anyway, you know it was a men’s world back then and that’s another reason that she had to get off the drums I think. And they wanted her to just perform mainly you know take that microphone, but they also weren’t very familiar with good women drummers either

@@rayshuler7293 And away from her &^%$! mother.

That is a perfect and beautiful way to describe Karen’s voice. I only wish we had many more years with her on this earth.

@@JL-zn7meThank you. I wish she was still here too.

Dione Warwick a close friend said her music was like silk ❤

Agree. The Warning is a hard rock band from Monterey, Mexico, comprising the three Villarreal sisters. Paulina ("Pau"), the drummer, can play percussion and sing like nobody's business. It's a different genre, but her talent is the closest I've seen to Karen Carpenter's in the past 50+ years. Pau currently is 22, about the same age as Karen when this Tonight Show appearance was recorded.

She was not fighting at this time. That came late 1974...

I know... So sad. I've read the Ray Coleman book, and 'Little Girl Blue' by Randy Schmidt. It's a tough read in some places that will bring a tear to your eyes. I recommend it.

Watching this and knowing she has only 9 years left, combined with her sweetness, causes me sadness. Funny that I should have these emotions evoked 41years later

@@MrAdvance2go Only 4 days in losing 4 icons I know by memory, and I'm sure you know who each one is: Feb. 3, 1959. Sep. 20, 1973. Dec. 8, 1980. Feb. 4, 1983. "Rainy Days and Mondays" and 'Goodbye to Love" are my favorites of those she sings here, and her Christmas classic, "Merry Christmas Darling" of all she did. "Goodbye to Love" and "Merry Christmas Darling" almost always sends me to tears, and that was when I heard the songs in the early-1970s. I never feel that way from any song in the pop-rock era, but her exquisite, 3-octave, rare contralto voice does that to me. An expert drummer, that people forget she was praised by many of the best, but it was her voice that was the best of any female singer I've heard, or ever will hear. She deserved better in her marriage, never having the children she desperately wanted, and then losing her life over something almost nobody heard of until that day I'll never forget where I was, hearing it on the radio news.

Many lost to the demon's since then. Delores O'Riordan is one, sad

Her voice was wonderful.

yeah absolutely I’ve been married for 32years I was 22 and he was 26. he got cancer in 2020 I was totally lost without him. He took a major hit the treatment was horrible for him. I could not do nothing to change any thing so I felt helpless I miss Him everyday.. seeing this makes me miss him even more I come to this page all the time just to have that nostalgia

Me too..what an angei

yeah absolutely I’ve been married for 32years I was 22 and he was 26. he got cancer in 2020 I was totally lost without him. He took a major hit the treatment was horrible for him. I could not do nothing to change any thing so I felt helpless I miss Him everyday.. seeing this makes me miss him even more I come to this page all the time just to have that nostalgia

I prefer to bask in the lovely memories of her life.

How'd she die? Home comfortably in bed with mom? How awful. 😅

Me too!

I cry not because she died so young but because her vocal timbre just reaches all humanity. Everyone cries when they hear her sad 😢songs cuz she's amazing. No one can touch her where she takes in a song.

How about she died alone from heart failure. Her mother found her dead on the floor.

They should have let Karen play the drums as much as she wanted. She LOVED playing drums and not allowing her to drum was a serious amount of stress on her. The sessions drummer, Hal Blain, sure was an excellent drummer though.

In this clip, I could swear her singing is stronger when she's drumming. Strange as that sounds.

@@lisaburns8597 Karen got upset when she couldn't play drums. She loved playing drums, almost more than singing. The record companies gave her a hard time, they wanted her to stand there and sing only. It caused stress that she didn't need.

​@@TheBandit7613 Yes, she is reported to have considered herself "a drummer who sings."

Karen is a drummer who sings. In the seventh and even today she is considered one of the best drummer ever.

One of the few times a performer died that brought tears to my eyes.

Sad to think that she could easily have been alive all these years, born same year as my younger sister, Cheryl.

Lots of people can sing well and play an instrument as well. Ronnie James Dio was told that he can be a good singer and bass guitarist or he can be great at one. He chose to be one of the greatest metal vocalists. Karen dropped drums to sing better than anybody in recordings and stage. There are probably so many more like them out there.

Phil Collins….

Beautifully said! 🤍🩷🤍

Your comment is very touching ..”definitely blessed with a kiss on the cheek from God”..”Rest in Paradise, little drummer girl” wow❤️👍🙏🌈🥲 thank you.

I had that feeling back in '74 when I first heard her, I couldn't have been six, and I never forgot

I might have been a year or two older but who's counting

I can't remember how old I was when I saw them at Circle Star Theater either. Who knew what would have happened to Karen 😢

Me too, brings a tear to my eye because her voice is ever so beautiful to our minds and souls, thank God that she existed ❤

The Whitney Houston of that generation.

I was very little during the pinnacle of the Carpenters' popularity. Even at that young age, when one of their songs was played on the radio, I remember thinking the little kid equivalent of, Holy ____! That's incredible! What does this woman look like?

She was amazingly down to earth as many have attested.

What? You had a signed picture of Karen and you lost it??? You should still have it and it should have been framed!

Thanks for sharing. Can you remember where this occurred? Was it at the house in Downey or her apartment in Century City? Not really important I guess, I'm just curious 😆

@@vanessaconnor8775 It was the Century City apartment. I remember thinking how modest it was.

And no prerecorded backing track. The harmonies sound better here even though its live.

Seu depoimento e muito lindo um forte abraço saúde.

"Sad little girl"?

Sorry - I meant "Incredibly happy big woman." Better?@@Randysgirl

Sad and exhausted even with work load.

She truly was a beautiful woman and singer. I had heard that her mother was very hard on her..always putting her down for her "weight" and pretty much telling her she was no one without Richard.

Yes. I heard her Mother was very controlling.​@@beverlywilliams7278

Well framed ! Your verbal picture is very clear and vivid ! Would give up my “kingdom “to go back !!!!

Llamapajama If there was a way to get back to that era, I'm sure there would be multitudes of people that would go and never come back. A very descriptive way of putting it----The world has become painful.

So many of us feel that way, thought is was just me for a while. We long for those times.

I remember seeing this when it originally aired. Karen was special.. and she was 22 or 23 at the time I was so excited that my wife started laughing right along when she realized what she was seeing which Honestly has been a really good source of happiness for me ever since I lost my wife so many years ago i was married for 42years I was 24 and she was 20. She got cancer in 2020 I was totally lost without her. She took a major hit the treatment was horrible for her. I could do nothing to change any thing so I felt helpless I miss her everyday. Mothers are the glue that holds everyone together.. it broke me to pieces so seeing comments like this makes me smile.

So does Richard

Great!!! Singer!! And a nice!! Lady!! Too!!!!!!!!!!, Miss her! Bad. !!!!!!!!!!!...........

Karen is a superb and respected drummer.

@@marvinmurakami8828 She inspired the famous lady drummer Dorothea Taylor.

Do I ever agree! The closest in talent I've seen since Karen Carpenter is Paulina "Pau" Villarreal, drummer and vocalist for the three sisters who comprise the hard rock band The Warning from Monterey, Mexico. A different, hard-driving style, but Pau can bring it on the drums and singing as if Karen's soul is with her.

Karen Carpenter had a voice that's inimitable - warm, fresh and natural tone. Richard's arrangements were impeccable. Together, they crafted classic and sophisticated pop music tunes that will be loved and respected forever.

Karen Carpenter had a voice that's inimitable - warm, fresh and natural tone. Richard's arrangements were impeccable. Together, they crafted classic and sophisticated pop music tunes that will be loved and respected forever.

Karen Carpenter had a voice that's inimitable - warm, fresh and natural tone. Richard's arrangements were impeccable. Together, they crafted classic and sophisticated pop music tunes that will be loved and respected forever.

Karen Carpenter had a voice that's inimitable - warm, fresh and natural tone. Richard's arrangements were impeccable. Together, they crafted classic and sophisticated pop music tunes that will be loved and respected forever.

Oh yes! 'Now & Then'' was released in 1973. As was, ELP's 'Brain Salad Surgery'. Interestingly enough, I saw the Carpenters on February 2nd, 1974 at the Tucson Community Center, and ELP there on February 22nd, 1974. 🤠 I've often wondered how many other people attended both of those shows.

He also wrote quite a few of their biggest hits.

Richard Carpenter was a pop music genius musician as far as I’m concerned, almost on a level if not equal to ( just different music genre style wise) Brian Wilson as an arranger/ producer- he clearly is/ was the maestro of the Carpenters, who were all obviously top level musicians- what skill on display here. Karen was an absolute wonder as a drummer and vocalist of course, her once in a lifetime voice was the shining jewel at the center of all those great Carpenters songs, something in her vocal tone was universal,anyone who heard it felt it.. even if they weren’t consciously aware of it.

He was also responsible for her death.

@@tonyparrish9216 What are you going on about? Karen and Richard were very close. They had a great working relationship into the bargain. He was very protective of her image so yes, he was a tad controlling to that extent. But she looked up to him as a role model, and had massive respect for his talents.

​@@bjr4567he was more than "a tad".

@Iamdust78 Jackass

I was 12 and was always a fan of hers! I remember the day she died...so sad!

I know, I’ve never heard such perfect blend and intonation on live harmony vocals, and they were sophisticated, complex harmonies too.. amazing!

All true - Hal said as much himself. Cubby O'Brien does a good job here in the live backing band.

They wouldn’t let her. She was THE voice and they needed her out front. She wanted to play the drums because it kept her “hidden”. Her anorexia became worse when they put her out front with the increased exposure. You can tell it in this video. She was magical. I cried for hours when I heard she had passed. Her and Jim Croce. ❤️❤️

Jim Gordon and Ron Tutt also contributed quite a bit of drumming on their records.

Absolutely! She got high praise from Buddy Rich, if that says anything! 👍

​​@@kathyporter9193It's true that Richard didn't let her drum on the records, but not for the reasons you mentioned. Since they are multi-tracking the record she could have played drums and then sang on another take, which is how they did it anyway. Your reasons are why she didn't drum in concert. as shown in this video, yes, she needed to be out front. As for why she didn't drum on the records, it's because she was deemed as not experienced enough in the studio to give the needed result. That was a big mistake because 1: on the records where she does drum, she sounds great. 2: Hal Blaine is not "all that." She would have been better than him because she's a genius, she's an artist, and she's a Carpenter. 3: Many drummers were green in the studio when starting out recording, even Gene Krupa and Ringo, But with time the world gains a great drumming talent. and 4: She sounds like Karen Carpenter. I guess it's the age old concept of "how am I going to become experience in the studio if you don't let me drum on the record?"

Hang on tight because you haven't seen anything yet😢

@@JoeBilello1969 Sadly, you are correct.

It wasn't just in America, but in several countries!😮

@@Marcos5pbI cannot argue with you but I find Finland and Canada to be just as gracious and kind today as they were back in the 60's.

@@sequoiasemperviren3163 Yes and other places too, but these are isolated cases, the world in general is degrading, unfortunately!

Thank you for pointing out Cubby playing the drums, I never would have known that was him without you pointing him out!

@@floydholder597 You are very welcome. I just remember him performing with them on the drums for a time. Karen also did a GREAT job on her drumming with that final song on this show while she was singing. OMG, she could do it all and how sad that she left this life so soon. She had the voice of an angel AND could play the drums really well. She is dearly missed by her family, friends and fans! 😢😞

So nicely said “ I miss her so sadly”… and the whole group too , least we forget

John Lennon agreed regarding Karen’s voice.

@@rajsuss Yes, and Sir Paul McCartney said of Karen: “the best female voice in the world: melodic, tuneful and distinctive." (NPR, 2013)

Karen is one of my all time faves, right along with Patsy Cline and Linda Ronstadt.

That was Tony Peluso, who sadly passed away in 2010

⁠​⁠@@paulschut5873 Yep, Carpenters guitarist to the end. 😢

@@trevour Well, along with Tim May.

I'm 73 this year (2024) and that guitar solo in Goodbye to Love STILL makes me have goosebumps all over and earns maximum playback volume every time I hear it! 😂 Been that way since the first time I heard it 50+ years ago!

I’ll be 75 next week - Carpenters been my favorites since they 1st appeared- Good Bye to Love has to be one of their best - Tony’s guitar-WOW- Bob Messenger was great on woodwinds…