Karen Anne Carpenter was born at 11:45 a.m. on
 Thursday, March 2, 1950 to Harold Bertram 
(b. 11/8/08, d. 10/15/88) and Agnes Reuwer (Tatum) Carpenter 
(b. 3/5/15, d. 11-10-96), of New Haven,
 Connecticut. 
Karen's brother Richard had arrived four years
 earlier on October 15, 1946


 "They Long to Be Close to You," which became
 their best selling single in the United States.
 In late 1969, A&M co-founder Herb Alpert asked the 
Carpenters to cover this little-known 
Burt Bacharach/Hal David song. 
Richard found just the right approach to the song, 
and with their unforgettable vocals, "(They Long to Be) 
Close to You" raced to #1 in just six weeks.
 It was the first of many hits for Karen and Richard, 
and established the Carpenters as a household name.

The two arrangements on display are "Goodbye To Love" 
and "Yesterday Once More." These were the first two
 Richard Carpenter/John Bettis songs to be released as
 singles. Both became Top 10 hits in both the U.S. and
 the U.K.-as did two subsequent Carpenter/Bettis originals: 
"Top of the World" and "Only Yesterday."


Their musical career gained momentum after 
winning the Battle of the Bands at the Hollywood Bowl 
on June 24, 1966, as an instrumental group called the 
Richard Carpenter Trio - Richard on piano, Karen on
drums and Wes Jacobs on bass and tuba. 


Within the first two years of recording, the Carpenters
 were nominated for five Grammy Awards-and won two.
 They went on to win another Grammy the following year. 
The Carpenters' #1 hit single, "(They Long to Be) Close to 
You" is in the Grammy Hall of Fame, as is
 their million-selling single "We've Only Just Begun." 


In 1971, the Carpenters were awarded a Trendsetter Award
 from Billboard magazine. In early 1974, they received the 
first American Music Award ever presented for Favorite 
Pop Group.
 Like the Beach Boys before them, the Carpenters created an
 all-American sound that became internationally famous. 
They were recognized for breaking box office records at the
 London Palladium in 1976. The Carpenters have enjoyed 
tremendous fan loyalty through the years. Their appeal was, 
and still is, especially strong in the United States, 
Japan and England. 



 


Karen Carpenter died February 4, 1983 of heart
 failure caused by chronic anorexia nervosa.

 

STAR SHINES, FOREVER BRIGHT,
IN HEAVENLY SKY

Richard's Site For Karen

Richard and Carpenter Performing Arts Center
When you are in Southern California, plan to go to
The Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach.

" ...Featuring dazzling architecture, a majestic facade of sweeping
glass and a sumptuous lobby, the center’s visionary design
became a reality in 1994 on the campus of California State University, Long Beach.
The 1,065-seat facility was the first performance space of its kind to be constructed
on a California State University campus.
In addition to housing a conventional concert hall, the center is also equipped for dance,
theater, live television broadcasting, and 16-, 35- and 70-millimeter film presentations.

The Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center opened in 1994,
and proudly serves as home to South Coast Chorale,
Long Beach Opera and the Long Beach Community Concert Association
as well as Musical Theatre West.
Designed by local architect Donald Gibbs, the center features more than 1,000 seats
in its comfortable and state-of -art performance hall.
The extremely large performance area - 70 feet deep by more than 100 feet from wing to wing -
was modeled after Lincoln Center's New York State Theater of Arts.
The performance hall provides the surrounding community with hundreds of music,
dance, film, and theatre events. The web site provides a calendar of events,
online ticket purchase, an online newsletter and contact information.

Last season, the Carpenter Center became the permanent home
for a display of memorabilia from the pop music career of the Carpenters.
Each season, more than 100,000 patrons visit the Carpenter Center
for the best in live entertainment and cinema presentations.

To give visitors a behind the scenes glimpse of The Carpenters’
creative process, Richard lent the group's original instruments to the exhibit,
along with lead sheets and original scores of some of their greatest hits.
The center now showcases Richard's Wurlitzer 140-B electronic piano,
which he bought in 1967 from Jeff Hanna of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,
as well as Karen's 1965 Ludwig Super Classic drum set.
These instruments were used by the Carpenters
during the early years of their career......

The Carpenters