"She was a little girl who wanted a normal life. You can't be a superstar and have a normal life." John Adrian interviewed on UK TV 'Lorraine' ITV 30th july 2014. All Rights Reserved to ITV.
I went to school with Karen and Richard. Karen always had a smile and help anyone without being ask. She is one of the greatest and most pleasant persons I have ever met.
+Norm Friedlander That is interesting to hear. Karen always came across as very genuine in interviews. I always liked how softly spoken she seemed to be.
Karen is without a doubt in my opinion one of the greatest female singers that ever lived. I get chills to this day when I hear her phenomenal voice. My favorite Female singer of all time. Deeply missed and forever Loved!!!!
@@blackonyxtv823 B.S That "cute" voice was an absolute powerhouse. One of the best ever recorded. Whitney was brilliant and one of the best gifts god ever gave humanity but there are many that would put Karen right there with Whitney.
@@MD-ii3kw Karen was very talented in her own right and had a beautiful voice. She could sing. I will give her that but when it came to Whitney, Whitney Houston could sang. You see there’s a difference. Karen could sing. Whitney could sang her face off. 🤷🏽♂️
@@blackonyxtv823 you’re comparing apples and oranges. That’s why they were both such superstars. In their genre and voice range, they were both phenomenal.
Her husband was nearly a decade older than Karen was, which does not mean that is always bad, but she was kind of looking for the life she dreamed of, having a family, children, but it just wasn't to be (her husband's vasectomy could not be reversed, as we understand it). Very sad that Karen (in her own mind) was forced to have another life when she really was wishing for the simple life. She was really quite shy, seemed to have domineering people around her and it took it's toll on her. People who are not happy often abuse themselves like Karen did, and not eating, may have been something she thought she could control about her body when she may have felt she was TOO controlled by others. Sad, any way you view it, to lose such a sweet, talented girl.
@@mikey3800 well yeah if the alpha male looks like Paul Newman or something but no point being alpha if you look like Ed Sheeran lol you know what women can be like!!
I now have my own daughter, of 33...I can't imagine losing my girl in this way, Karen played such a big part of my youth and my heart aches to this day if I watch anything like this x
my late wife took care of Karen's mother in the hospital once and she gave my wife all her records free and invited our family to go see her Christmas lights which we did every year and strangely I was working in the emergency room of the Downey Community Hospital when they brought around I went into the cardiac arrest room but a detective from the police department stop me and said she was going to go right to the funeral parlor so my last sight of her what's under a white sheet and I felt absolutely terrible and will never forget that
Thanks so much for this interview! I am so happy to know that John Adrian cared so deeply for Karen. I just wish that things would have been different for Karen. Your music lives on Sweet Angel.
Anorexia , I still struggle to this day & im 57 years old, is about control . Controlling some part of your life because you feel that you have no control over the rest of ur life so food you can control.
Yes, you got that one right. Karen's anorexia was her protest against an overbearing, over-ambitious mother and brother. A protest against the numerous tours and performances driven by her drug abusing brother, who couldn't get enough of the showbiz. Karen had no control over this and in the end resolved to develop an eating disorder, over which her brother had this time no control. That's the true Carpenter story, but seldom mentioned. Read the facts.
True, it started when I was 12, parents had a bad mariage, divorce, things where never good enough for my dad, we always had to do better. Now I'm 42,almost 43 and it is still a part of my life, sad huh.
My Uncle worked for A&M RECORDS from 1969-1995.I visited every summer~it was always so cool to be visiting the A&M STUDIOS and see Richard & Karen when I was 7,8,9 years old.
I remember hearing she passed away. It was like we lost a dear friend. Even though she was a big star and so successful I always got the sense that she was very down to earth and didn’t look down on people. As though you could just walk up to her and start a conversation so easily. We lost a great one that day.
I think karen and her brother were genuine loving people and loosing part of that team is a tragedy. I thank them for their music as i grew up in a dysfunctional family to extreme scales. Listening to them took me to another world. Thank you!! Now my children are growing up listening to them and so they will never be forgotten for the wonderful contribution to the world and the impact that they had in my life and now the life of my children. God Bless YOU!!
let us all sit back and take a moment!! Stop ranting, stop assuming, stop being experts. WE do not know the true facts, no one does but the people that really knew. Let US stop focussing on the gossip, hearsay, ,media and false claims. Why does everyone rant on an on about her eating disorder, her mental state, her problems. I bet aside all this she was sweet, funny, GSOH, a great friend to have, so so talented, loved to sing, loved music, loved her family, her amazing talented brother ( who wouldnt?) . Look at what they achieved together??? WE will never know the truth, their life was PRIVATE, they were real people with feelings and problems and pressures like us all. Being in the limelight and that TALENTED and adored my millions has huge impact on any human being. Let us remember them, Karen & Richard Carpenter for the pleasure they brought into our world, their music, that fantastic unique voice that still lives on and on. I am sure that Karen would hate all the debating that goes on about her anorexia, what she did, what she didnt do, slating her family, and especially Richard. Come on....... Take from them their love and passion for Music, not from the tragedies. they worked so dam hard to get where they did, and to this day their work is still amazing!!!
toni lee I so agree! I hate that this family is put through a microscope and picked apart. No one is perfect. Mum wasn’t perfect. Richard wasn’t perfect. Even Karen wasn’t perfect. But I think they tried to do best with what they knew. Remember, Richard wasn’t that old when they became successful. He looked so young in those early years of success. I believe the love these two had for each other was VERY deep. He protected her as an older brother and she even protected him when he was bullied as a young lad and later when he was so sick with addiction. He tried to help her with her anorexia. He was scared to death for her. I don’t blame him for not understanding everything about her illness. It is still super confusing.
OosunshineWomanoO: Thank you very much for posting this video. Its great to get some personal insights of Karen by someone who was a close friend. Thank goodness for the audio and video recordings that still exist of Karen's performances. I agree with band member Tony Peluso, who said that Karen was the greatest singer who ever lived. She was also a very sweet and nice person who never let money and fame go to her head. That, in itself, marks what a great soul she was. Though she has been gone for almost 33 years now, I still miss Karen. And, I still love her a lot. What a rare and beautiful person.
It's been 38 years since we lost this sweet, special lady. Her voice will NEVER be matched on this earth. Thank you, Karen, for the wonderful legacy you left us. You are still remembered,loved, and missed.
What a terrible void Richard Carpenter was left with. He must have felt helpless to help his sister. A woman with a velvet voice who was not afraid to hit low notes, beautifully so. What a lovely soul she was.
Yes, but people don't just "decide" get one. It kind of dawns on them that "Hey, you might control what I do, where I go, who I date, but you WON'T control what I eat. THAT'S ONE THING I CAN CONTROL" and they do.Anorexia Nervosa is an EXTREMELY complicated illness and must be dealt with at so many levels. A pill won't mask the symptoms, change your brain chemistry, or get you back where you can at least function. Anorexia has to be dealt with like peeling layers off an onion.
Okay, it's now been "41" years since Karen's passing, and it's almost eerie that it "still" feels so recent, like yesterday. It's almost unsettling. We still can't believe it or get over that she's gone. And her voice sounds like it was recorded just yesterday. She simply won't slip into the past because we won't let her. She haunts us, but in a beautiful way. I still cry when I hear her voice.
What a shame we're in the year 2021 I had the music channel on and guess who came on Karen Carpenter oh do I love listening to her I even have her on my tablet I listen to her often I grew up with her back in the day I miss her I do I still have her music though such a sad tragic life she had and died so young if only there was somebody who could have helped her.R.I.P Karen you are free now and out of pain that's the only blessing 🙏🙏🙏🕊️🕊️🕊️💖💖
Thank you John for doing this very candid interview. I recently finished "LGB - the life of Karen Carpenter", and I've been "re-acquainting" myself the past 6 months with all the wonderful music Karen & Richard produced and sang back in the 1970's. I've always been a fan of The Carpenter's. I was somewhat sad to read about some of the treatment you received from A & M (London); and truly believe that had Karen been left alone a little more by her managers, sub-managers, executives, producers, and mother, that things might be much different today. Besides, all of these people that were supposedly looking out for Karen's interest, were being paid by Karen & Richard. Sadly, they didn't allow you and other guys to get through all of those "moats", but yet they allowed Tom B. to break through and "fall through the cracks". Someone at the top (a.k.a. WW), who was getting paid handsomely by the Carpenter's, didn't do a very good job of screening and scrutinizing Mr. TB. Very sad.
Addendum to the above: Most Carpenter fans know how much KC loved to sing. Her schedule with concerts, A & M recording time, interviews, T.V. appearances, etc. was very demanding. She loved her work very much. Yes, it was a brother/sister group, but yet KC was, for the most part, "the cash cow"; which is why so many other people (i.e. RC, band members, managers, producers, A & M, mother, and others) wanted to "protect" her - more like isolate her. WHAT IF?? KC developed a strong relationship with someone, long before Tom B., and decided that a relationship was more important to her than singing, or she wanted to cut back? I don't think that some of the guys KC dated were just after her money like Tom B. was.
@@isu-7822 The parents specifically the mother were the ones who benifitted from Karen and Richard and sadly they were the result of one getting hooked on drugs and got the other self esteem issues and that costed her her life. I realy wonder if that death taught them something. It sure taught me to love my 2 kids no matter what and I was a kid when Karen died I was 13 yrs old.
Tina Moore I think so too, Tina. If you read “Little Girl Blue” by Randy Schmidt, there John Adrian speaks so warmly of Karen. But we all know how difficult long-distance relationships are (London-LA!), and there was KC’s superstar status and Adrian’s own career to complicate it all. He seems like a lovely man... too bad they couldn’t have worked it out!
@Daniel Stetson The 'crockumentary' I think you are thinking about is "Goodbye To Love" (2016). 'Dramatized' is right. I liked the part with Dionne Warwick and the recreation of Karen and Thomas Burris meeting but I feel most of the rest of that should have been left on the cutting room floor for maintenance to deal with in the morning. Most of the crockumentary is reenactments based on what a therapist or such felt happened and not really like Karen at all. Drama is fiction, not truth. For instance, the Adrian romantically referred to in Karen's diaries starting September 1978 were for a guy whose first name was Adrian, not last. John and Karen broke up in 1977. Adrian and Karen met in September 1978. Two different guys. Adrian's last name was actually Downing and he was the Adrian Karen referred to in her diaries from 1978 onward.
I want to hear the Karen Carpenter Story louder!I remember when she came to Binghamton NY years ago ..not long before she died.My parents couldn't give me the money to go but I went near the Broome Co.Arena just so I could hear her voice a little outside the building.I love to sing her songs and sound like her a little too!😊 We miss you Karen!💐
Karen Carpenter is my favorite and in my opinion Best Female Singer of All Time! ! I’m sure that they’ll never again be another one like her ! Rest In Peace & May God Bless You Always !
All I can say is she was taken by God after she finished her mission on earth cause she was a kind and loving person ! I miss her ! I couldn’t sleep while I was watching this videos of her ! God rest your soul Karen C. Amen! We miss you! We sing your songs always ! We will always remember you ! Thank you for your music and beautiful angelic voice! Amen
Yeah, god wanted her dead. He's a great "god". On average, 9 million children die each and every year, before they reach the age of 5. Imagine the pain and grief from the families that lose a child. God wants dead kids, and he wants their families to suffer and feel the pain and loss of losing a child. What an awesome god. So, children are murdered, molested, tortured, abused, and I prayed to god to fix aunt Bertha's toenail fungus, because that was more important than a kid, and guess what? HE CURED HER TOENAIL FUNGUS! So blessed.
Behind the drums she could hide her body. Singing In front: the focus of the performance meant her sickness became obvious but everyone needed for her to be in front to sell their band.
Karen Carpenter is the Maid of Lorraine. "Karen Carpenter is the preeminent martyr of easy listening, the Joan of Arc of soft rock.". "I AM the drum upon which God is beating out his message." -- Maid of Lorraine/Orleans.
I had always hoped in my life I would be able to see her and Richard in concert but it was not to be. I cried and cried when her death was announced on the radio. It was announced of course then followed by the song "Superstar".
1:50, he mentions his bosses were Jewish not as a dig, but to explain why they were in a concentration camp. Duh... This is what happens when y'all don't listen...
Nous se souviendrons toujours de toi très belle karen Carpenter depuis 33ans tu nous a quitté mais ne t'avions jamais oublié avec tes très belles chansons tu a habité nos coeurs sans que tu puisses le savoir nous t'aimons toujours ta belle image ne quitte pas nos yeux ta belle voix retenti dans nos oreilles une très belle mélodie qui ne s'arrête pas que Dieu puissant clément te garde dans son paradis que tu reposes en paix auprès du grand Dieu clément nous t'aimons beaucoup love
John "Softly" Adrian must be the greatest guy close to Karen. He must know the true Karen. How I wish he would share much more of what he knows about Karen. But he seems to shut his mouth basically. This interview seems to be the only interview that he has appeared in. Despite being her brother close to her, Richard Carpenter thinks of her only through his bias, from his own perspective only. The brother loved her sister solely because she was convenient and useful to him. He didn't and still doesn't think of her from her own perspective. But this guy "Softly" seems to know the real Karen, from her own perspective. I admire him. The more I delve into Karen's life and mentality, the more frustrated I feel, unable to grasp really the way she truly may have felt and thought. I wish even more people, like this "Softly" guy and Frenda Franklin Leffler would be more expressive about what they know about Karen.
Try this The OED Loves Me Not - www.theeaceman.com/karencarp.html - I also knew about Karen's "Past lives" through her regressive therapy. Karen and my past lives apparently coincided as witnessed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and Sir Nicholas Boehr (Second Assistant to the Archdeacon of Canterbury). I didn't cut my 'talk' short though.
Read Little Girl Blue by Randy Schmidt if you haven't already. It tells a lit. Yes, I think Softly loved her,too. I think Richard loved Karen as a sister and best friend, but he also was her business partner and that can make things hard. He knew her talent, and he appreciated it. He also loved and appreciated her for who she was as a person, but when it is a mother's love and approval you seek and don't ever get it, everything else falls short. Even her husband- who had NO IDEA who she was professionally when they met-let her down and hurt her terribly.
I say if Richard had truly loved his sister in the full sense of the word he would have helped her put out her solo album that meant so much to her instead of working against it. When Karen was in New York seeing Dr. Levenkron Richard should have there at her side doing everything possible to get her truly well. Instead she was dragged away before her treatment was complete. Shame on Richard and you John, if you were such a great friend, where were you in all this?. When she needed support the most she did not get it.
Richard didn't want her to release her solo album because it would have bombed and reflected poorly on her. Although Phil Ramone did an adequate job with the production, the mix was horrible, the song selections were mostly dull and none of the songs had the wow factor that so many Carpenters songs had. Karen wanted the album to prove she was good without Richard. Unfortunately, it didn't do that and Richard knew that would devastate her. And just for the record, Karen recorded her solo album while Richard was getting treatment for his own addiction. She loved Richard and Richard loved her- mistakes were made but there was nothing shameful in any of this.
@@timconnelly1957 recent documentary talked to those involved with the solo album & they said it was really good, but Richard & their mother didn't like her going solo (Richard was her favourite) or the, 'sexy' lyrics or that it was mostly disco: they felt it was 'unwholesome' & felt her inage should be sugar & spice, not sexy.
Yes it was the medicine she took that tore down her heart muscles that killed here but take a deep breath she had no idea and nobody else did till afterwords what a great loss but her death told us a lot about the medicine.
Had she not got started on ipecac syrup she could have recovered. Overtime ipecac will damage your heart from abuse. Had it not been that syrup she probably would be alive.
The autopsy stated that Karen's heart was normal and not damaged. The Toxicology Report listed her blood sugar level as being over 1100 which would stop any person's heart from beating. The emetine drop found was only .46 ml and listed as 'residua' which means leftover and not 'recent' or 'active'. No one seems to know how long it takes for emetine to be digested or if it even gets digested at all.
He astonishingly also looks a little like the late Rutger Hauer in his older age! Karen had good taste regarding men’s looks! Even Tom was attractive and blond (a bastard though unfortunately)
He seems like he would have been good for Karen. Sometimes it only takes one thing in life that can change the whole ending. In the end, karen must have been going through all that emotional and physical pain alone. It’s still so sad to think about….. Karen deserved so much better. I’m sorry , but Karen always seemed to be there for everyone, especially Richard…..I just think he should have had her back. Should have had her back on her solo album, he was afraid she would leave the Carpenters, which I don’t think she would have…..Karen respected her brother too much for that. They would have still did Carpenters music too. So yeah, Karen is still very much loved and missed!! 💜💜
Karen Carpenter's father was English with a watered down English accent. Two of her grandparents lived in England. She appears to have gravitated towards English guys.
Her record should have been praised it led to her bigger problem with anorexiA. Also let her stay behind the drums like she wanted. Too much taken out of her control thus controlled her eating
Karen Carpenter could be a legend nowadays if she we're alive, Richard? Maybe, but Karen as a solo artist that's I would like to listened, sadly it didnt happened.
0:52 Who are the ten pallbearers? At left is Werner Wolfen. The four on the right are Steven Alpert, Herb Alpert, John Bettis, and David Alley. (Lists include manager Ed Leffler, manager Ed Sulzer, guitarist Gary Sims, and engineer Roger Young).
Karen Carpenter died of not eating and went into cardiac arrest and died. Karen was truly gifted and talented and she was an excellent drummer. The Carpenters did some amazing songs. So sad she died her family should have helped her more.
Jon Boltinghouse Karen took OTC laxatives dozens at a time, Synthroid (though she had a normal thyroid), and worst of all, she drank syrup of ipecac routinely to facilitate bulimia. Most parents have a dusty bottle of ipecac around, just in case, and an occasional dose does far less harm than whatever toxic a kid might have ingested by mistake. However, regular use of ipecac destroys the heart muscle tissue. That, coupled with the stress on her heart from the rapid and unnatural weight gain in the hospital from tube-feeding proved too much for her... and just when the weight gain fooled people into thinking Karen was “getting better.” Sad forever!
Except for the over the counter laxatives, the ipicac, and the synthroid thyroid med(her thyroid was functioning normally) she was not taking meds like a doctor might prescribe. Pills don't do much for such a deep, complex illness.
Grew up hearing her songs and still do. Karen had the most beautiful and haunting voice of all time! Rip..I'd like to send my best wishes to John Carpenter from Turkey. İf somebody know his mail adress I'll be glad. I am 60 yo
After reading LGB and the Ray Coleman book, it seems that Karen had dated many men, to what extent no one will know. Many celebrities have so many "handlers" that they get lost and their lives can become dictated. I believe this happened to Karen. The books go on to say that Agnes felt that no one was good enough for her and then Karen learned that behavior in turning it on Richard whenever he dated. Terry Ellis was very successful, but it is possible that Karen didn't really care much about these men either. Perhaps to some level because those were the men available to her. She may have viewed them as "industry types" and part of the same controlling caliber, however, she was cautious in dating someone not in her financial background either which must have left her conflicted and explains why she chose Tom Burris.
supposedly Tom Burris had been background investigated....With all their resources, no red flag? Richard and friends were definitely cautious in KC choice to marry. Ive read KC wanted out but her Mom made her go through with it
I think she needed a lot of privacy, and not be so controlled, seemed like she was thrown in at the deep end. Anorexia was her coping mechanism, and downfall, she went too soon.
Thanks for your opinion. Try this www.theeaceman.com/karenlastdays.html . So many stories out there and so much left "on the cutting room floor" so to speak. If it wasn't for opinions like yours MonsterMunch prr, the community wouldn't realize that there are so many problems out there. The biggest problem being those trying to push that 'anorexic profile' that was nothing like Karen Carpenter but was based on Cherry Boone (Starving for Attention book). It is such a shame that they keep trying to make Karen's life story match Cherry Boone's story when Karen and Cherry weren't anything alike. It's become such a mess. As far as John Adrian, Karen and John saw each other around 1977 and three months after they broke up, John married someone else. Karen wrote some very romantic stuff about an Adrian in her diaries (and also in an unpublished part of her Will) but that was about another Adrian (first name not last) that Karen met in September 1978. The web page link I am sharing is from that other Adrian, not John Adrian.
I really wish people who knew her could go beyond saying "she was nice/sweet... she was fun to be with... she had a great sense of humor..." Either no one really remembers or everyone she was friends with had a very surface level relationship with her. I just can't believe that's true.
try this www.theeaceman.com/karencarp.html . Honest, I did not have just a surface level relationship with her. Karen was really like that in real life. Karen really was the 'girl next door' and it wasn't really an image or whatever. I honestly do not recommend Little Girl Blue by Schmidt. I don't think Schmidt ever met Karen in real life. If you do read Little Girl Blue, consider the sources Randy used and a LOT of those sources are very questionable. Many things said in the book tend to be the opposite of what Karen told me personally and a few claiming to be friends really weren't that close to Karen or ones that Karen didn't really trust or had things they were trying to hide because they used Karen in all honesty. And also, Karen had her secrets too. Only Karen and Mush knew all of Karen's secrets and Mush passed away in 1984 a year later.
@@janedoh2625 The truth is that the only thing that honesty hurts is a lie. Myself included. I can be honest. I'm fine. Obviously you've got some issues with reality Jane. Read again, I haven't talked with Karen in a long time, but a LOT of people knew that Karen and I did talk and that Karen and I were honestly very close. They just couldn't figure out why. So why not?
John and Karen broke up in 1977 and three months later John married another woman. On September 6, 1978 Karen met a different guy whose first name is Adrian.
Carpenter's anorexia could have been treated. Her brother had hired a therapist, she saw doctors, the whole family knew that she was wasting away. All she had to do was EAT,EAT,EAT. All the money in the world couldn't save her. But the stroke was a shocker--too little nutrition (plus too many road trips), can be deadly. Look at the fate of many other pop stars.
it was heart failure, and she had gained weight too fast. Little was known about anorexia nervosa back then. Even now it's notoriously hard to treat and it has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
@@SueRosalie hello Sue interesting comment about Carpenter I think her heart lacked nutrients and that was the main problem but lacking proper nutrients also many people die of it but why do rock stars get all be noticed anyway a tragic loss cheers
Great interview thank's for sharing. So his bosses where Jewish and they wanted to send him to help Karen in what way, why would they be interested in Karen's well being?
***** "What's that got to do with the price of tea in China." You forgot the question mark. What does the price of tea in China have to do with the price of toilets in India?
Elvis Presley was identical in his life elvis hated anyone trying to control n tell the king how to live his life only difference was elvis was addicted to prescription medication but both contributed to each other's death as karen felt the one thing in her life she could control.... Was how she ate n when ... A very sad way to go ... As karen sang in one of her songs so much of life ahead a kiss for luck and we're on our way if only more could have been done to assist karen