Carpenters

: This article is about a musical group. If you are looking for information about the skilled trade, see carpenter.

After Carpenters

Karen's death from anorexia nervosa shocked America; although many had noticed her increasingly frail appearance, few realized she had been starving herself for so many years. Before Karen's death, nobody really knew about anorexia or its devastating consequences. Young girls were starving themselves, not knowing that there were millions of others like them doing the same thing. Karen's death brought a lot of media attention to anorexia. More research was conducted to understand this disorder. Karen's death encouraged celebrities to go public about their eating disorders. Medical centers and hospitals began receiving a massive amount of phone calls from people who were suffering from these disorders. Karen put a face on a disease that many had been afraid to acknowledge or discuss.

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Following Karen's death, Richard Carpenter has continued to produce recordings of the duo's music, including several albums of previously unreleased material and numerous compilation albums. In 1987, Richard released his first solo album, Time http://www.vex.net/~paulmac/carpenter/albums/time_lp.html, which generated one hit single, "Something in Your Eyes" (sung by Dusty Springfield). His dedication to protecting the Carpenters' image and recording legacy has sparked criticism from some quarters, as Richard has insisted on substantial project oversight as the price for his cooperation in any documentary or drama focusing on them. In 1987 he intervened to limit the distribution of the Todd Haynes short film ' (which used Barbie dolls to relate a perspective on Karen's untimely death). Although numerous critics found Karen's portrayal to be sympathetic, the film depicted the Carpenter family in an unflattering light, and Richard prevailed in pulling the film from distribution on the basis that Carpenters tracks were used on the soundtrack without permission.

Related Topics:
1987 - Time - Dusty Springfield - Todd Haynes - Barbie

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A 1989 TV movie, The Karen Carpenter Story, produced with Richard's cooperation, gained favorable notices and reached a wide audience. In the first few weeks after the movie's airdate, many record stores reported selling out of their Carpenters stock. A critical reevaluation of the Carpenters' musical output followed during the 1990s, as interest in and appreciation for the duo's recorded work increased. The superior technical quality of the recordings, the sorrowful undercurrents in many of their songs and the pain in Karen's voice as well as her life attracted many divergent fans, especially gay men and grunge rock groups. Even '90s R&B group Boyz II Men list the Carpenters among their biggest influences. In 1990 the avant noise rock band Sonic Youth recorded, "Tunic (Song for Karen)", which depicted Karen saying goodbye to her relatives as she got to play the drums again and meet her new "friends", Dennis Wilson, Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin. A 1994 biography, The Carpenters: The Untold Story, by respected music journalist and biographer Ray Coleman, covered the arc of the duo's career and personal lives. A tribute album, If I Were a Carpenter, by contemporary artists (such as Sonic Youth and The Cranberries) also appeared that year and provided an alternative rock interpretation of numerous Carpenters hits. Karen Carpenter, Karen's solo album, was released in October 1996.

Related Topics:
1989 - Grunge rock - R&B - Boyz II Men - 1990 - Sonic Youth - Dennis Wilson - Elvis Presley - Janis Joplin - 1994 - Ray Coleman - The Cranberries - 1996

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Several of their songs have achieved the status of popular standards. In particular, "Close To You" is frequently sung in karaoke bars, while the duo's signature tune, "We've Only Just Begun", continues to be performed at weddings and receptions. Both recordings have been honored with Grammy Hall of Fame awards for recordings of lasting quality or historical significance: "We've Only Just Begun" was inducted in 1998, while "Close to You" followed in 2000. "Superstar" has been covered by numerous artists, with extremely popular recordings from Luther Vandross and most recently Ruben Studdard. Clay Aiken performed "Solitaire" on American Idol and introduced the song to a whole new generation.

Related Topics:
Karaoke - Grammy Hall of Fame awards - 1998 - 2000 - Luther Vandross - Ruben Studdard - Clay Aiken - American Idol

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Today, Richard Carpenter lives with his wife Mary Rudolf-Carpenter and their four daughters and one son in Thousand Oaks, California, and the couple are prominent supporters of the arts there. In 2004, Carpenter and his wife pledged a generous $3 million gift to the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza Foundation in memory of Karen Carpenter. He is also affiliated with the Carpenter Center in Long Beach where, in January 2002, he presented Petula Clark, who had discovered him and his sister so many years before, in concert. She repaid the favor by including him as a guest on her acclaimed PBS special the following year. Carpenter is also today an avid collector of award winning classic cars, including a black Chrysler 300 convertible from the '60s, which he has owned and maintained for over 25 years.

Related Topics:
Thousand Oaks, California - 2004 - 2002 - Petula Clark - Chrysler

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