I watched Tina Turner's HBO documentary the other day. Included within that program was a clip from the time period during which Tina Turner was recovering from her marriage to and divorce from Ike Turner. Tina joined Olivia Newton-John on a TV special she did around 1980 or so. It was quite the epic party, and also included Elton John, Andy Gibb, and it looks like Cliff Richard was also on hand.
Check out Toni Tennille, Tina, Olivia, Karen Carpenter, and Peaches from Peaches and Herb. Crazily enough, as I played this, my husband thought Peaches was me.
Dayum! Lots of talent up there!
What do you know? Someone uploaded the whole show! Wonder if I want to watch it?
Now THIS is entertainment! I think this aired in April 1980; so I would have been seven years old.
I actually kind of miss these sorts of shows. They were fun to watch, and the people behind them were legitimately talented. Yes, they were often corny, but they allowed us to escape life for awhile. I was as child at the time these aired, though, which may be why I liked them so much. There's no accounting for taste, especially when you're a little kid.
I think most of these folks had the odd TV special... well, the women did, anyway. I know The Carpenters and the Captain and Tennille did them. And poor Tina was once on The Brady Bunch Hour. Now THAT is an embarrassing way to make money! But at least they didn't make her wear a skin tight polyester jumpsuit.
I haven't updated this blog in awhile. I haven't found any crap from the past worthy enough to immortalize on this blog. Nevertheless, I'm still getting hits out the wazoo lately. For some reason, people are fascinated by my post about Mindi Carpenter.
Mindi is Richard Carpenter's third child. She sings. No, she doesn't sound like her famous Aunt Karen. Yes, she does cover Carpenters' songs. From what I can tell, she's very poised and game and she no doubt gets a lot of comparisons to Karen. Although I am careful to remind everyone that I have no idea what being Mindi is like, nor do I know her personally, as a fellow human being, I can only guess that the comparisons to Karen must get old.
Anyway, over the past few days, I've been getting a lot of hits on my post about Mindi. Sometimes, they seem to be from people legitimately interested. Other times, I just don't know.
I don't think she has a bad voice. It's got a theatrical character to it... but she's no Karen.
Apparently, people are fascinated by Mindi. My post about her is far and away the most popular one on this blog, followed closely by my posts about Karen.
Anyway... I don't know what is so interesting about this young woman. It's not like she's even a particularly famous celebrity child. I'm going to have to scout for some new material so I can get people reading something other than my Mindi Carpenter post.
since Karen Carpenter was married to Tom Burris. She died February 4, 1983, the day their divorce was to be final. I happened to find her wedding video on YouTube and watched some of it. It's pretty interesting, given that Casey Kasem was one of the groomsmen. Lots of pipe organ and Robert Schuller officiating.
Have a look.
Interestingly enough, the second part, in which Karen sings "Because We Are In Love", is not available. There must have been a copyright claim.
I have already written a tribute to Gerry Goffin on Pop Rock Nation, but I feel the need to write something about him here on my personal music blog. I usually try to dedicate the stuff I write here to fun and silliness from the past, but every once in awhile a more serious topic comes up. Gerry Goffin's death is sad in that we've lost a wonderful lyricist. Though I didn't know him personally, I think Goffin must have had a wonderful soul. He came up with lyrics to songs that so many people could relate to. His death at age 75 on June 19th was a surprise and shock to me. I guess 75 no longer seems that old to me.
I mostly know Gerry Goffin's music through listening to songs he wrote with his first wife, Carole King. King and Goffin wrote many amazing classics. One of my favorites was "Will You Love Me Tomorrow." This song was made famous by the Shirelles, but I actually preferred hearing Carole King sing it.
The Shirelles sing "Will You Love Me Tomorrow"…
The song was covered by a lot of different people, including Amy Winehouse…
Amy's rawer version of this classic keeps it real…
I love how Carole King and James Taylor do this song...
I recorded my own version of it, though given the limits of not having a band, my version is kind of like Carole's.
My version was recorded months ago, before I got sick with this crud.
I also love "One Fine Day", a song Goffin wrote with Carole King. It was covered by so many different people, but I actually love Carole King's version from the early 80s, even though it sounds really dated now. I think I love it because it was the first version I heard.
The Chiffons sing "One Fine Day"…
I love watching Carole King play piano. She obviously loves to.
Even Karen Carpenter sang it…
Natalie Merchant stripped it down into something a little more wistful…
And finally, there's the song that introduced me to James Taylor's music, "Up On The Roof".
Originally sung by The Drifters
An early live version by James…
A duet version with Carole King...
Carole King sang it solo, too…
James even sang it on Sesame Street…
I guess, in a sense, Gerry Goffin will always be with us because he left behind so many wonderful songs. In my other post about him, I highlighted more recent hits that he wrote with other songwriters. I had no idea that he had a hand in writing "Nothin's Gonna Change My Love For You" or "Saving All My Love For You". The man was a genius with lyrics. Judging from all the songs Carole King has been posting on Facebook in remembrance of him, I'm guessing she's missing him too.
Saving these book reviews before they fade into oblivion! People are interested in The Carpenters, so I'm reposting these Epinions reviews before they go poof!
Karen Carpenter's life and death...
Jun 22, 2010 (Updated Aug 30, 2010)
Review by knotheadusc in Books
Rated a Very Helpful Review
Pros:Well written and comprehensive. Up to date. New perspectives.
Cons:Relies heavily on Ray Coleman's work.
The Bottom Line:I would rate this higher if I felt the work were more original.
It's hard to believe that Karen Carpenter, who had one of the most recognizable voices of the 1970s and early 80s, has now been dead for 27 years. I remember quite clearly the day she died, February 4, 1983. I was ten years old and riding in a car with my dad to visit my sister, who was at that time a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University. An announcer came on the air and said that Karen Carpenter had died that morning. I asked my dad what had killed her and he said "Starvation." He didn't elaborate, but it wasn't much longer before I first heard about anorexia nervosa, the eating disorder that plagued Karen Carpenter's final years and eventually led to her sudden death at age 32.
Karen Carpenter was, of course, part of the brother-sister pop duo the Carpenters. The other half of that duo was her older brother, Richard. While Karen had that magical voice that made their music so appealing to so many listeners, it was Richard who was known as the "brains" behind the outfit. He wrote and arranged songs, occasionally sang, and played piano like a genius. And in their very close-knit family, Richard was apparently the most important child, especially to their mother, Agnes Carpenter.
Author Randy Schmidt has just published Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter (2010). I happened to find it two days ago, while playing with the Kindle my husband Bill just gave me for my birthday. Karen Carpenter's story has always fascinated me and I do enjoy the Carpenters' music, saccharine as it often is. I downloaded it and managed to finish it within several hours of dedicated reading. Considering the fact that this book is well over 300 pages long, that was quite a feat and a testament to my interest in the book.
Overlapping biographies
Back in 1994, the late author Ray Coleman wrote The Carpenters: The Untold Story. Coleman was a well known biographer of rock worthies as well as the editor-in-chief of Melody Maker magazine. Coleman's book about the Carpenters was very comprehensive, so I was somewhat surprised to find Schmidt's new book. Having read Little Girl Blue, however, I did notice that Schmidt had consulted many of Coleman's works in Melody Maker and Coleman's biography of the Carpenters in order to write this book. In fact, I even recognized a couple of paragraphs that appeared to come verbatim from Coleman's book, which I have read several times since 1994. Coleman's biography of the Carpenters, which Schmidt does list in a very comprehensive bibliography, obviously served as a major source for Schmidt's Little Girl Blue. Why, then, if Ray Coleman had already written the Carpenters' story, did Randy Schmidt need to write another book specifically about Karen Carpenter?
What I think Little Girl Blue offers...
What sets Little Girl Blue apart from The Carpenters: The Untold Story is that Schmidt managed to get information from sources other than those approved by Richard Carpenter. In particular, Randy Schmidt interviewed Karen Carpenter's close friends, Frenda Franklin, Olivia Newton-John, and Karen Ramone. Karen Ramone was also interviewed for Coleman's book, but from what I gathered in Little Girl Blue, Schmidt got more details, particularly about the time period when Karen Carpenter was in New York City in 1979-80, recording her one and only solo album, Karen Carpenter, with Karen Ramone's husband, Phil Ramone.
Schmidt also updates Carpenters fans on things that have happened since Coleman's book was published. For one thing, Karen Carpenter's solo album, which had been shelved back when it was created, was finally released in 1996. For another thing, Richard Carpenter has become the father of five children-- only three of them had been born when Coleman's book was published. Schmidt also writes about why the Carpenters' remains have been relocated from their original resting place at Forest Lawn in Cypress to Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California.
What's good about Little Girl Blue...
Besides the fact that Schmidt updates fans on all things Carpenters, this book includes some photos-- a few of which I had not seen before in Coleman's book. Schmidt writes well and I appreciated the fact that he spoke to a lot of different people in order to give readers a less whitewashed version of events. Schmidt provides more details about Karen Carpenter's ultimately doomed marriage to Tom Burris, making him out to be an enormous gold-digger. If what Schmidt writes about Burris is completely true, it's tragically ironic that she married him. One of Karen Carpenter's biggest fears was, allegedly, marrying a man who was a gold-digger.
Schmidt also makes Karen Carpenter's mother out to be an extreme control freak, who refused to let either of her children grow up and be normal adults. Schmidt even interviewed actors Mitchell Anderson and Cynthia Gibb, who famously played Richard and Karen Carpenter in a 1989 movie of the week called The Karen Carpenter Story, which played on CBS on January 1, 1989.
What's not so good about Little Girl Blue...
Like I mentioned before, Ray Coleman had already written a superior biography about the Carpenters. I am very familiar with Coleman's book, which is unfortunately now out of print. I do think there's room for two biographies about the Carpenters-- but-- it was pretty clear to me that Randy Schmidt leaned on Ray Coleman's work quite heavily. In fact, there were a couple of instances in which it appeared to me that he'd actually copied some paragraphs or at least paraphrased them to the point at which I knew I had read them several times before. I didn't have Ray Coleman's book next to me as I read Schmidt's efforts on my Kindle, but I feel pretty confident that I'd be able to find the text in question. Reading Schmidt's work pretty much felt, to me, like the literary equivalent of a re-run.
Should you read Little Girl Blue?
If you are a diehard fan of the Carpenters' music, you may already know a lot of the information Randy Schmidt reveals in his biography, especially if you've already read Coleman's work. However, if you missed Coleman's book and can't get a copy of it, Little Girl Blue is definitely worth reading. Personally, I think I liked Coleman's book better, though Schmidt does offers some new information, particularly on things that have happened since 1994. And I do think his interviews with Frenda Franklin give this book a perspective that is lacking in Coleman's book. I do wish, however, that I didn't feel like I had already read parts of Little Girl Blue.
For more information: http://www.karencarpenterbiography.com/
The almost complete Carpenters story...
Feb 22, 2007 (Updated Jul 30, 2007)
Review by knotheadusc
Rated a Very Helpful Review
Pros:Very comprehensive, well-written accounting of the Carpenters' career.
Cons:May be hard to find and a bit outdated.
The Bottom Line:This is a great source of information for Carpenters' fans.
For years I've enjoyed listening to music by Richard and the late Karen Carpenter, popularly known as The Carpenters. The Carpenters will forever be known for their ability to create and cover 70s era pop confections like "Top Of The World", "Close To You", and "Superstar". Richard Carpenter provided his considerable arranging talents and piano playing. Karen Carpenter contributed her unforgettable voice. Together, the Carpenters were a musical force who reached fame and fortune while they were still in their 20s.
In April 1994, the late Ray Coleman published an authorized biography called The Carpenters: The Untold Story. I was quick to purchase a hardcover copy of this book and I've read it several times. Unfortunately, it seems that Coleman's very comprehensive and informative biography is no longer in print. Nevertheless, I think it's a must read for anyone who is interested in the Carpenters' careers.
Coleman includes brief information about Karen and Richard Carpenters' ancestry and childhood, as well as information about the time they spent in New Haven, Connecticut before they moved to Downey, California to pursue their music careers. The biography continues with the story of how the Carpenters were discovered, their meteoric rise to fame, and Karen's and Richard's legendary demons. Karen Carpenter was, of course, afflicted with anorexia nervosa, whereas Richard developed a drug addiction which led to a stay at the Meninger Clinic in Kansas. There are two photo sections with pictures of the Carpenters as kids and adults. There's even a copy of an essay Karen Carpenter wrote for school.
The Carpenters' story has been told and retold by different sources. The television movie The Karen Carpenter Story was shown for the first time in 1989. There is also an independent unauthorized film called Superstar available, which was made with Barbie dolls. Check out YouTube and you'll find plenty of news and interview clips documenting the rise and fall of the Carpenters. In my mind, Coleman's book is the only source that really provides a glimpse into who Karen and Richard Carpenter were as people. Although this book was written with the Carpenter family's cooperation, it doesn't cast the family in a perfect light. Though Karen had the voice of an angel, she didn't always behave like one, especially when it came to Richard's love life. And Richard Carpenter, talented as he is, also comes across as a bit stodgy and demanding.
This is not a short book, but I always enjoy reading it; Ray Coleman had a way with words. The only drawbacks I can think of are that this book is not as easy to find as it once was and the story ends in 1994. Richard Carpenter is still around, having married his cousin Mary Rudolph (she was the adopted daughter of his aunt) in 1984 and fathered five children. He still performs and he's always tweaking the Carpenters' sound and repackaging their music. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who wants the lowdown on the Carpenters' career.
Richard Carpenter grew up to marry his first cousin, Mary Rudolph, his mother's sister's daughter. Mary Rudolph was adopted, though, so there was no biological tie… and they went on to have five kids: Kristi, Traci, Mindi, Colin, and Taylor. The Carpenters are still pretty popular in Asia, as evidenced by this video I found of Richard and his daughter, Mindi, performing in Japan…
I have always loved "Little Altar Boy" as done by The Carpenters…
First thing I notice when I listen to Mindi sing is that she has a good voice. She doesn't sound like Karen and, poor thing, probably is often expected to sound like her or is compared to her. It must be hard to live up to that, though she does come across as charming and poised in this video. She does have a nice voice, strong, clear, and tuneful. It sounds like a voice that would be good on stage, though, not so much as a pop singer. It has character, like one might expect from a Broadway performer. She projects well and has very precise diction, though I also hear just a trace of her father's lisp. I'm sure she's always wondered about Karen, especially since she was named after her.
I remember when this film first came on TV back in 1989...
I couldn't wait to see it. I have watched it over and over again, despite the cheesy wigs Cynthia Gibb and Mitchell Anderson wore. What I really think is interesting is the trivia surrounding this movie. Richard Carpenter was the producer and in charge of the music. The musical selections in the movie are great, but from what I understand, this was a very whitewashed version of the Carpenters' story.
The Karen Carpenter Story is a TV movie that aired on CBS on January 1, 1989, telling the story of the rise and fall of the brother-and-sister pop music duo, The Carpenters. It was directed by Joseph Sargent. Richard Carpenter served as a producer for the film as well as the musical score.
The movie was very popular in the ratings; it was the highest-rated two-hour TV movie of the year and the third highest rated such program on any network during the 1980s. Although the film's attempts to show the life of Karen Carpenter are usually accurate, there are a few minor dramatic factual inaccuracies. This movie was not easy to make. The idea for a movie based on Karen's life had been floating around since about 1985 or 86. However, it was impossible to find someone to write the script for it. Once it had been approved by the studio and Richard Carpenter, there where daily script "rewrites or entire scenes were removed" according to Cynthia Gibb and Mitchell Anderson, in an attempt to soften the image of Agnes Carpenter by her son in real life. The final movie in, Gibb's opinion, gives a "white-washed" account of Karen's life. Gibbs also said that a lot of the information in it was "watered down or removed altogether" at the demand of Richard Carpenter.
A further example of this appeared in an article in 1988 where it's mentioned Richard produced a bag containing Karen's musty clothing and ordered the actress playing her to wear them then demanding Cynthia Gibb lose the required weight in order to fit into these clothes. Cythia Gibb states: I lost weight as Richard wanted and he was there watching over me in every scene. It was unnerving having to wear Karen's clothes, right down to her clingy T-shirts and crumpled bell-bottoms. I donned a wig and used Karen's make-up. By the time I was finished I felt I WAS Karen.
She was also quoted as saying "there was no time to research and I had my drum lessons during my lunch hour". Even though she had starred for two years in Fame, she said it was still insisted upon her to take voice lessons to do the lip synching.
A crew member talks about the experience: Frankly, we were very glad he (didn't play himself). He was a pain in the backside, so oversensitive and close to the action he almost screwed things up. When we spotted him on his knees praying to Karen he was saying: "Forgive me, forgive me..." The misgivings he had were painfully obvious. You could almost see him wrestling with things in his mind. It was as if he felt that Karen would never have approved. He whispered to one of the boys: "I'd give my right arm if she were here now." The guy just hasn't been able to let go (and now) the film lacks an independent balance.
I have also read the books about the Carpenters and they verify that Cynthia Gibb wore Karen's clothes and Richard was constantly telling her how Karen would say or do things. At the beginning of the movie, when Karen is shown being carted off in an ambulance, the actual guys who picked up the real Karen Carpenter were cast as the paramedics.
Richard has said that he's sorry he ever got involved with the TV film, even though it was a very popular made for TV movie. Frankly, I think it would be interesting to see their story retold in a more objective manner. Based on what I've read, the Carpenter family was quite rigid and there's probably a lot of psychology that could be explored in an interesting way.
I do think Louise Fletcher was a great choice to play Agnes Carpenter. They should have let her have a little more artistic license with that role.
Karen Carpenter sang a gorgeous version of the same song in 1969, accompanied by the choir at California State University at Long Beach and her brother, Richard.
I love the way Karen sings this song, but I also love the addition of the choir, which gives the song depth and texture. It's beautiful. I remember when I bought The Carpenters' box set From The Top and heard that deep cut for the first time. It was stunning.
Years later, I bought a CD of lullabies put out by... Martha Stewart! The funny thing is, the liner notes had little to do with the music. They were all about decorating the nursery and breast milk. I have a hard time believing Martha breastfed her daughter, but I digress.
Linda Ronstadt's cover of "Goodnight" was on that collection by Martha Stewart. It was breathy and kind of ethereal and I liked it less than Karen's take, even though I generally like Linda Ronstadt's music.
It would be interesting what Karen Carpenter would have done if she hadn't died so young. I would have been interested to hear her voice change as she aged.
George Carlin once famously said, "That's my job, thinking up goofy shit..."
And here, he talks about goofy boy names...
This morning, a friend of mine introduced me to something totally goofy... Are you ready for Ethel Merman singing disco? That is some totally goofy shit!
Yes, it's true... Ethel Merman, who was once Ernest Borgnine's wife for about a month and reportedly divorced him because of his propensity for putting her in a "Dutch Oven", made a disco album back in the 1970s. She must have had quite a sense of humor. She was on Airplane! for God's sake...
But getting back to her disco album... Yeah, I'd like to know whose bright idea this was. Actually, I'm glad they did it, because it's very funny and weird.
It's almost as funny as Paris Hilton singing pop music...
I actually prefer the parody version of this song...
I'm in sort of a goofy mood today. I was writing a blog post about actors who sing and it led to someone passing on that revelation that Ethel Merman once went disco. That's about as inappropriate as Karen Carpenter going disco... which sadly, she did...
Holy shit... in this video, she fucking disco dances! The 70s were so strange!
But hell, even James Taylor did a little disco. Here's his cover of The Beatles' "Day Tripper". Hot mess.
At least he had the good sense not to dance.
Unlike "Ponch" (Erik Estrada) on CHiPs...
I think I'm going to have to hang out on YouTube for awhile and see what other goofy shit I can dig up.
Karen Carpenter died. I have already written a lot about Karen, but it seems like a music blog about crap from the past should make mention that yesterday was the 30th anniversary of her death. She was less than a month shy of turning 33 at the time of her passing and a lot of people were shocked that she had died.
Here's a news report about Karen's death. It's fun to watch, not because Karen died, but because the early 80s seem so damn long ago now... and yet not that long ago!
In all seriousness, Karen Carpenter joins a long list of music stars who died too young... people like Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, and Jimi Hendrix. She was a few years past the "27 Club" and her death had nothing to do with illegal drugs or alcohol. Okay... so maybe it DID have something to do with drugs. She did abuse syrup of ipecac and thyroid medication, after all. But Karen Carpenter was not a stoner or a boozer. Her eating disorder would have prevented her from getting involved with drugs or booze... booze has too many calories and narcotics cause too much of a loss of control. And Karen Carpenter was nothing if she wasn't rigidly perfect.
I still love to hear her voice, even if I can admit that some of the songs she sang were corny and insipid. She had a lovely, unique, gorgeous voice that no one has really replicated in thirty years. There are a few Japanese singers who have given it a go, but they haven't been as successful as Arnel Pineda, the guy who replaced Steve Perry of the awesome 80s band, Journey.
I do sometimes wonder what Karen would be like if she were still around today. She'd be almost 63 and maybe a grandmother... or maybe just an aunt to Richard's five kids who never got to meet her. Would she still be making music? Or would have faded from the limelight and gotten involved in something totally different?
Anyway, RIP Karen Carpenter. Many people still miss you.
When I was a little girl, my dad would play cassettes in the car. My dad and I have a very complicated relationship, but one thing we have in common is a great love of music. We're also both singers, though my dad can't sing anymore because his voice was ruined by a tracheotomy and prolonged time on a respirator. When I was little, he would play music by Jim Croce, Olivia Newton-John, Patsy Cline, and yes, the Carpenters. As I got older, his tastes turned to Muzak, which I hate with a passion.
Anyway, it was my dad who first introduced me to the Carpenters' music. I don't remember liking them that much when I was very young. I was more into Olivia Newton-John. But as I got older, I started listening to Karen's voice and determined that she had a very unique sound. Herb Alpert described it as "phonogenic"-- it was as if she were in the room singing to you and only you, even if you were listening to a recording. I'm not sure if I would describe it that way. There's something very personal, unusual, and moving about her voice, though. She had a way of sounding like she'd lived some of the lyrics of her more melancholy songs. She and Richard also did some very cheesy songs, though, that showed a lighter side.
Karen Carpenter died on February 4, 1983. She was about a month away from turning 33 years old and had suffered from anorexia nervosa since at least 1976. She had endured exhausting schedules, a starvation diet, laxative abuse, ipecac abuse, and thyroid medication abuse. According to Ray Coleman's book, The Carpenters: The Untold Story, Karen was taking about ten times the recommended dose of thyroid medication in an attempt to rev up her metabolism and lose more weight.
Things finally came to a head in the early 1980s and Karen sought help from Steven Levenkron, a New York City based psychotherapist who, in 1978, had written a best selling novel called The Best Little Girl In The World. Levenkron's novel had helped introduce the American public to anorexia nervosa at a time when doctors didn't know that much about it or how to treat it. Anorexia nervosa has been identified as a disorder for centuries, but it's only been within the last 30 years or so that people have known much about it.
Anyway, the book made Levenkron famous and in 1981, Aaron Spelling produced a made for TV film based on the book. If you want to talk about television dramatizations, The Best Little Girl In The World made for TV film is a pretty good example of one. The TV film doesn't bear that much resemblance to the book. The lead character's name was changed, as was her family and the circumstances surrounding the way she got sick with anorexia nervosa. I was curious about it for years because I missed it when it originally aired. I finally saw it-- mad props to Jennifer Jason Leigh, who had the starring role, though it's definitely an Aaron Spelling creation! Here's a link to the first part.
Karen read the book and decided Steven Levenkron was the only person who could help her, even though her friend Cherry Boone O'Neill had been successfully treated by Dr. Raymond Vath in Washington State. According to Ray Coleman, Karen originally told Levenkron that she wasn't anorexic; she just had some sort of intestinal disorder. He didn't believe her. He had seen her on TV, though he wasn't a particular fan of her music. But he took her at her word and wished her well. Then when one of her agents tried and failed to get an appointment for Karen on her behalf, Karen called Levenkron herself and proposed that he treat her for a year. She would come to New York and have several sessions with him every week. Levenkron initially resisted, but finally agreed to treat Karen. She moved to New York.
According to Coleman's book, Karen and "Steve" got along very well. He had a very parental style that she seemed to respond to. She even needlepointed a sign for him that said "You win. I gain."
Regarding Richard's disdain for Steven Levenkron... I guess I can understand why Richard would dislike him. Richard and Karen were unusually close and had come from a very close-knit family system. I got the sense that maybe Richard resented the way Steven Levenkron learned so many personal things about their family. Levenkron sought to upset the apple cart by teaching Karen how to be assertive and take care of herself. I think people close to Karen mostly just wanted her to be physically healthy so she could keep making music. I don't know that they wanted her to change the way she related to them.
Although Richard is a brilliant musician, it was Karen who was the face of the Carpenters. When she died, his career went downhill. He has released a couple of solo albums using different vocalists, but none have the chemistry that he had with Karen. So I can't blame him for being bitter about her death-- not just because he lost a beloved sister, but also because when she died, his livelihood was threatened.
On the other hand, he did get married after she died (to his cousin by adoption) and has five kids. And he's made a career out of repackaging Carpenters' albums and greatest hits collections. According to Ray Coleman's book, Karen wasn't above sabotaging his relationships with women. In fact, she and Agnes supposedly would work together to alienate the women in Richard's life.
I have read most if not all of Steven Levenkron's books. I used to admire him a lot because he seemed very insightful and caring. But as I've gotten older and had my own experiences with a therapist and in getting social work training myself, I started to see him as condescending and egotistical. I have no doubt that he's helped many people with eating disorders, but I no longer see him as a "guru". Maybe Richard was turned off of him because he saw the same things in him that I see.
As to whether or not Karen got substandard care from Levenkron, I would guess she didn't. I think there's a good reason why Levenkron is so successful. In fact, Karen had set a goal to "kick" anorexia in a year. Levenkron reportedly told her that it would be impossible to do that, even if she got therapy every day. Karen went back to L.A. after a year in New York anyway. Even if she hadn't done that, I doubt Levenkron would have been responsible. She died of medical issues-- she didn't purposely take her own life. And even if she had committed suicide, any therapist will tell you that a person who really wants to kill themselves will find a way to do it eventually.
I don't think it's Steven Levenkron's fault that Karen died. He was working against a lot of things with a client who was used to getting her own way. And he was not in charge of the medical side of her treatment.
There is another book about Karen's life called Little Girl Blue. It was published in 2010 and was written by Randy L. Schmidt. It updates a lot of Coleman's book, which was published in the 1990s. Unfortunately, having read both books, I noticed that Schmidt borrowed a lot from Coleman's work to the point of including paragraphs that were in Coleman's book. It's worth reading though, since Coleman's book is now out of print.
Here's a song that I think is pretty poignant, given Karen's situation...
Gotta love the late Tony Peluso's fuzz guitar in this gem, "Love Me For What I Am".
