The Carpenters: The Untold Story : An Authorized Biography

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We don't like to eat before a show because I can't stand singing with a full stomach… You never get to dinner until, like, midnight, and if you eat heavy you're not going to sleep, and you're going to be a balloon. In fact, her walks to and from sessions with Levenkron kept her body weight beneath the six stone mark. You know you're in for a treat as a Carpenters fan to have a book that's actually approved and was worked on by Richard Carpenter himself! I won't say I'm disappointed in this because it's wonderfully detailed if you like Billboard charts, out of focus photos (including the cover shot of Karen), and discographies. Levenkron explained that the family's attempts to threaten or bribe Karen out of her behaviours would never make them go away.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. We had so many hit singles, and usually right in a row, that we tended to be dismissed again by our detractors as a singles band,” Carpenter said. It was the focus on the music itself, that's primarily it,” Carpenter told the AP as he sat at his piano in his Southern California home.The finding of emetine cardiotoxicity (ipecac poisoning) revealed that Karen had poisoned herself with ipecac syrup, a well-known emetic commonly recommended to induce vomiting in cases of overdose or poisoning. This compendium of interviews, concert reviews, and critical essays spans the duo's career and beyond.

And I question why the co-authors devoted so little space to some of the biggest hits, while wasting too much on some totally insignificant songs or albums. After becoming multi-million selling, Grammy-winning superstars with their 1970 breakthrough “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” Richard and Karen Carpenter would win over fans worldwide with a record-breaking string of hits including “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Top of the World” and “Yesterday Once More.But as time goes on—decades, it’s still about the music, not the tabloid level stories or the sensational stories around their personal lives, Karen and her illness or her death. She cried to Agnes as she explained the deceit that left her with no choice but to cancel the ceremony. with the full cooperation of Richard and the Carpenter famiy, explores the public and private lives of the Carpenters, portraying Richard and Karen's dynamic pop music career as well as Karen's descent into anorexia nervosa and untimely death. The interviewer's continued efforts to pinpoint a reason for Karen's skeletal appearance prompted Richard to come to his sister's defence.

Like their music, it’s a book for marveling at, photo after photo after photo, everything from the most casual backstage or studio setting to album cover out-takes, foreign 45 sleeves, TV appearances, the lot. An excellent section as a reference for 'what went wrong' with Karen's therapy but unfortunately many readers just don't get or understand what was actually written there. The stuff the therapists and such were saying didn't match Karen's personality at all in most cases (from me, a guy that knows) and it was excellent with the commentary from Richard about this stuff. They were shocked to see how she could be flat on her back one minute and on stage singing the next. Karen's anorexia and Richard's addiction are mentioned but music is the focus of the book and not personal demons and such.This is a magnificent look at the brother and sister duo who captured our hearts and ears throughout much of the ‘70s. They notched up 10 gold singles, nine gold albums, one multi-platinum album and three Grammy awards. What looks on the surface like an uncritical celebration of an American pop institution turns out to be a fascinating exercise in musical archaeology .