Carpenters
Carpenters



Richard Carpenter was born in New Haven, Connecticut on
October 15, 1946. His sister Karen was born March 2, 1950.
In 1963, their family moved to Downey near Los Angeles.
 
In 1965, Richard and Karen teamed with Wes Jacobs, a bass
player who doubled on tuba, to form The Carpenter Trio, who
played mostly instrumental jazz. Their first record was a vocal
credited to Karen Carpenter issued by the small Magic
Lamp label in 1966.
 
In 1969, the Carpenters signed as a duo to A&M Records and
released the album “Offering”, which contained their innovative
arrangement of the Beatles’ “Ticket To Ride”.
 
After touring with Burt Bacharach, they recorded “Close To You”,
a song he had written with Hal David that had originally been on a
Dionne Warwick album. Within six weeks of its release in 1970
it reached #1 and eventually sold three million copies. The song won
a Grammy, as did the Carpenters as Best New Artist. From the
“Close To You” album, a song written as a bank commercial
“We’ve Only Just Begun” became their second million seller.
“Merry Christmas Baby” was released at the holiday season
and quickly became a standard.

The following year “For All We Know”, “Rainy Days And Mondays”
and “Superstar” all became million selling singles. Their album
“Carpenters” won the a Grammy that same year.
 
Their 1972 hits included “Hurting Each Other” and “It’s Going To
Take Some Time” and “Goodbye To Love”. In 1973 they were on the
charts with “Sing”, “Yesterday Once More” and “Top Of The World”.
In 1975, the Carpenters’ version of “Please Mr. Postman” was another
million seller and their biggest selling worldwide single.
“Only Yesterday” was another hit that year and their album
“Horizon” sold over a million copies.
 
Other Carpenter hits include “Kind Of A Hush” (1976), “All You
Get From Love Is A Love Song”, “Calling Occupants Of
Interplanetary Craft” and “Sweet Sweet Smile” (all 1977). That
same year their “Passages”LP earned a gold record. “Touch Me
When We’re Dancing” became their final top ten hit in 1981.
 
The Carpenters are regarded as the biggest selling group of the
70s. Ten of their singles were million sellers and their combined
worldwide sales are more than 100 million units.

Visit The Carpenters web site here.

Amazon Carpenters Store

iconicon