THE CARPENTERS

The Carpenters were perhaps one of the best duets of all time, and their vocal lead, Karen Carpenter, had one of the most beautiful voices ever. She formed this duet with her older brother Richard. They lived in Connecticut when they were younger, but soon moved to California in order to develop their musical talents and become renowned. During the 70's, The Carpenters recorded several number one hits on the Billboard charts. They also recorded thirteen albums and performed many concerts in many countries of the world for millions of fans. In the beginning of their musical career, they had the very important support of Herb Alpert, who gave them a contract in 1969 to be part of A&M Records. Their most famous song, and first number one hit was "Close To You". Burt Bacharach composed this song, which was enormously successful in 1970. In the peak of their careers, they came to have five number one songs in the U.S., and accordingly, The Carpenters are considered one the most successful melodic bands of all time. Also, in 1976 they got a contract with ABC, and in this way, they were able to present the famous show “The Carpenters First Television Special” in a primetime slot over five years. This show helped to increase their popularity again, after a brief time when their fame declined. Karen was a gorgeous singer, but she also had a great talent with drums, which was an underrated skill. She possessed a beautiful and crystalline voice, but her talent distracted others from focusing on her health problems with anorexia. She died in 1982 of a heart attack, which was a consequence of her serious problems with this disorder.