The response at that time was something on the lines of "Richard has said that all that he wants to say. At that point I wanted it to kind of be an oral history of The Carpenters as a group and was going to focus more on the music. The book was just starting to take shape. But with me, I think I contacted him back in 2002.
![karen carpenter greatest voice of all time karen carpenter greatest voice of all time](https://dornsife.usc.edu/assets/img/news/story/2982.jpg)
I can't quite see what the pattern is necessarily. He's done quite a few over the years, but they've been very selective. I'm wondering if he feels it's just too painful to talk about or he did enough interviews in his time, or there was something going on in the family he doesn't want revealed to the public.Ī - I haven't yet figured out what makes him agree to some interviews and decline others.
![karen carpenter greatest voice of all time karen carpenter greatest voice of all time](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjcwZjkyMGUtMWFkNS00M2FhLTlhYjMtNmM5ZTlhM2E2YTZiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDUzOTQ5MjY@._V1_UY1200_CR90,0,630,1200_AL_.jpg)
Q - I've approached Richard Carpenter a couple of times for an interview and I've been turned down. He never tried to stop it actually, but he didn't want to contribute either. Q - He didn't say he was going to sue you if you went ahead with the book.Ī - No. I didn't get any trouble, if that's the right word. Q - You didn't get co-operation from Richard Carpenter for the book, did you?Ī - No. It seems like they're coming out of the woodwork for this book this time. Karen's name and image seems to attract even just the general population. I saw this as probably something that would get a little more attention. It's taken several different turns along the way, then at one point I realized I considered doing a book about The Carpenters as a duo, but there had been an authorized biography from the early '90s that was endorsed by the family. It's kind of evolved over the last decade now since I started working on it with the idea for a book. I didn't know yet what I would do with those interviews, but I wanted to jump on the opportunity. It was probably about nine years ago (2001) that I got a chance to start interviewing some of Karen's childhood friends.
![karen carpenter greatest voice of all time karen carpenter greatest voice of all time](https://www.quoteikon.com//author-images/author-k/karen-carpenter.jpg)
It was just something that I kept accumulating all this information, articles and interviews and concert reviews. I started research when I was kid in middle school, going to the local libraries. Q - How long did it take you to put this book together?Ī - It was kind of a about a twenty year thing, but like I said, not with the intention of a book. I was inspired to research and got the idea of doing a book just for my own curiosity, but I've never had the connection with a voice before. That's what inspired me to do this years and years ago. Q - What a great voice Karen Carpenter had! I love Karen Carpenter.Ī - There's never been another voice that has touched me in that way. It's attached to a lot of memories from the '70s I think. It seems to be going beyond just the die-hard circle of fans and reaching some of those people who just have an affection for the music and remember it. Q - But lately, nothing on Karen Carpenter.Ī - I'm hoping this might be a bit of a resurgence.
Karen carpenter greatest voice of all time movie#
Of course there was a made-for-TV movie about her life and a couple of documentaries, one of which was on E!, which you had something to do with. Q - Randy, we don't hear much anymore about Karen Carpenter. The Life Of Karen Carpenter (Chicago Review Pressĭistributed by Independent Publishers group Randy Schmidt talked with us about his book and Karen Carpenter.
![karen carpenter greatest voice of all time karen carpenter greatest voice of all time](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/817XgosBmfL.jpg)
What happened to Karen Carpenter? Randy Schmidt has written what can only be called the definitive biography of Karen Carpenter. Then, on February 4th, 1983, Karen Carpenter, who possessed one of the greatest voices of all time, was pronounced dead at 9:51 A.M. During their time, The Carpenters released ten studio albums, toured more than two hundred days a year, taped five television specials and won three Grammys and an American Music Award. They enjoyed sixteen consecutive Top 20 hits from 1970 to 1976, including "Close To You", "We've Only Just Begun", "Rainy Days And Mondays", "Superstar" and "Hurting Each Other", selling over one hundred million records in the process. Karen Carpenter, along with her brother Richard, created one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s - The Carpenters. Gary James' Interview With Karen Carpenter Biographer Gary James Interview With Karen Carpenter Biographer Randy L.