newvillefan
I Know My First Name Is Stephen
http://www.angelfire.com/music4/alvinlu/chapterfive.htm
Check out this amazing amazing story !!!!!
Quite timely considering my last post was wondering what they'd be up to now!!!
From that television performance on the famed Tonight Show, Karen started being invited to celebrity functions, fundraisers, and parties, more than she had in the past. She started to hang out with former celebrity friends like Suzanne Sommers, Barry Manilow, Donna Summer, John Davidson, among many others.
The last few years, had not been a big priority for her, as she was trying to save her life, marriage, and career. Now, she was being treated like a superstar again. She was now independent from Richard, and she didn't know what to feel. It kind of scared her. She and Richard still talked, but nothing was really brought up about the solo album. She could feel his resistance to it. She felt that she had to walk on egg shells around him, as he was quite touchy about it. So they talked about the new Carpenters album, that was on the verge of being released.
The title was called TOGETHER AGAIN and the debut single was MAKE BELIEVE IT'S YOUR FIRST TIME. On the Adult Contemporary Chart it hit #32, and had a bullet by it, meaning that it could hit near the top of the chart, and probably would, considering that the Carpenters had had 15 # 1 Singles on the Adult Contemporary Charts. The album cover showed them on an outside bridge, but on separate sides, very similar to the Singles 1969-1973 inside cover. The only difference was that this photo was in color, and they were both wearing modern clothing.
The inside record jacket, consisted of many different pictures from their earlier career. All 12 songs had lyrics. She loved this album and the way it was designed. Finally someone was listening to their demands. Richard and Karen would discuss on the phone, what radio stations were playing their newest single. This was their career, and so they would take time to find out how their records would be promoted, and what could they do.
Their publicist Paul Bloch would help them, as that was their field. Karen flew back home to Los Angeles. She wanted to concentrate on promoting her dual careers as a solo act, and as a brother sister duo. She knew that it would be hard, but she just couldn't seem to choose one or the other, so she chose both. As soon as she came home, she fell into one of her old conflicts. The mother-daughter relationship. It just seemed that whenever Karen was happy, her mother wasn't. It irked her to no end. She wanted to have a good relationship with her mother. That was what she desired so much. Agnes kept rankling Karen about her appearance on the Tonight Show, and how Richard should have been there. They were a team. Did she forget who got her on the road to fame? It was Richard. She should be sticking with him on that. Not working with people who didn't really know the Carpenter family. And how come she had to keep her solo album a secret? Why did she have to hold her family in the dark? Where were her morals?
Karen started back to her old familiar patterns, and she hated herself for falling back into anorexia's outstretched arms. But it was the only thing she knew, in times of great stress, and tribulations. She felt safe. She could easily lose pounds in just a few days. In a week, she could lose over 10 pounds. She had been known to lose over 10% of her body fat in just a few weeks, with excercising and starvation diets. By July 1st, Karen weighed 91 pounds. She could not hide the weight loss, as this was summer, and all heavy, layered clothing could not be worn. Her heart seemed to be bothering her again. At her parent's insistence, she went to see a doctor, who recommended bed rest. But Karen would not choose this alternative. So she headed back to New York, dropping plans for reuniting with Richard. She was not ready, even though the record company would be releasing the Carpenters album, by the fall. The touring was off for the time being. Karen was going to spend all her time and energy promoting her solo album. She couldn't deal with the power struggles going on in her family, because she knew that she would become entrapped in it. If she did, she didn't know if she would come out of it. It just got her more upset, and unable to deal with all the struggles that were all being thrown at her. She just couldn't take it anymore. She wasn't that strong.
She appeared on talk shows, morning shows, and at record stores, signing albums. The intercom system would be blaring out her album, and it made her feel so good. She recognized many Carpenters fans, as well as newer fans. "I just bought your album, and I love it so much. It's so wonderful. My parents still listen to your Carpenters albums," said one fan, a teenager, about 16 years old. It pleased Karen when people gave her compliments. It made her feel that she was on the right path of her life. Her hard work was not in vain.
Other Carpenters fans came up, and congratulated her on her album. Some though, were less than thrilled. It was not what they expected from Karen Carpenter, the pure girl next door. And they told her to her face. It hurt, but that was their opinion. She left it at that.
In a few weeks, the album charted on Billboard's TOP 200 album chart at #90 with a bullet beside it. Her single MAKING LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON hit # 9 on the Adult Contemporary Chart, and on the Top 100 Singles, was at # 32 so far. Whenever she heard the song on the radio, she smiled to herself. She did a lot of smiling that summer. By August 15, 1983, it was # 2 and had sold over 1.7 million copies. It stayed in that position for over 6 weeks, but the # 1 Song would not budge. That didn't bother Karen any. This was her biggest hit single in her solo career, and in the Carpenters, this was her 7th # 2 hit, her 11th Gold Single, and 13th Top Ten hit.
On the Adult Charts it hit # 1 and stayed in that position for an amazing 12 weeks. It was her biggest charting hit single as WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN was only #1 for 7 weeks on the Adult Contemporary Charts. The solo album was now gold, with over 780,000 copies sold, and on the TOP 200 album chart it was now at # 10. It was destined to sell even more than that. She was guarenteed her own television special as well. Even though her brother did not see eye to eye on her album, she still wanted him to join her and star on Karen's special. She would get Olivia Newton-John, Suzanne Sommers and Peter Cetera to guest star on her new special.
The Television Special was titled KAREN AND FRIENDS and hit # 2 in the Neilson Ratings for the week of August 14, 1983, and the reviews were quite positive. Karen had a lot of fun in the making of it, and featured a generous sampling of her solo songs, as well as other stuff. A new movie called IN MY HEART was to be released, and it was a romantic comedy-drama which starred Meryl Streep and Harrison Ford. The main song for the movie had been written by Diane Warren and titled IN MY HEART (where dreams lay), and Karen was selected to sing it. She was very honored, and upon hearing her first vocal track take, Diane was moved, and knew she had chosen the right singer for this magnificient masterpiece.
Karen added her warmth, her impeccable intonation, and all her feelings into the song. The single IN MY HEART was released, along with the movie, and the soundtrack, and both the movie, song, and soundtrack soared to # 1. Karen's song was # 1 for 7 weeks, and sold over 2.3 million copies, staying in the Top 10 charts for 18 weeks. On the A.C. chart, this single stayed # 1 for 16 weeks.
There was talk, that this song especially written for this movie, would be nominated for an Academy Award for BEST SONG for 1983. Karen just ignored such hype, and concentrated solely on her solo career, and her career as the Carpenters.
The next single would be a toss up between IF I HAD YOU or REMEMBER WHEN LOVIN' TOOK ALL NIGHT. The A&M Record executives decided that REMEMBER would be the most suitable choice. So Karen would be shooting a promotional video for it. A male actor would be hired to play her love interest in the video. Karen would be given a new, sexier image, with lots of new outfits. She wanted her hair streaked bronze, and straightened. She was very excited with all this attention payed to her. Meanwhile Richard released the 12th Carpenters album TOGETHER AGAIN in September. It got some good reviews, and debuted at # 128. The single MAKE BELIEVE IT'S YOUR FIRST TIME peaked at # 5 on the Adult Contemporary Charts, and on the Top 100 Singles, it hit #14. The album was near the gold mark, and Karen came to L.A. to help promote it. They sang on some shows, and signed autographs, did the radio circuit.
Karen was now in big demand, as the sister of Richard Carpenter and as the solo act Karen Carpenter. They began to work on their 6th television special titled TOGETHER AGAIN, and would be released on the Thanksgiving weekend. The Carpenters decided to invite Debby Boone and her sister Cherry Boone O'Neill as guests, as well as Burt Bacharach. Karen got along great with the Boone sisters, who knew of Karen's torment with anorexia. Cherry had suffered for many years as well, and her lowest weight had been 80 pounds. For the last year and a half, Cherry had been in contact with Karen, to find out how Karen was doing. Cherry's book STARVING FOR ATTENTION had been released, and was a national best-seller. Karen too wanted to write a book on her experiences as well, but she wasn't ready. Her weight stabled to a near normal 102 pounds, even though the Boone girls were still concerned, as well as Karen's family.
The most interesting part of the tv special taping was singing the song YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE. Karen loved that song, and so many times had regretted not recording it, so now was her chance. That song had been one of the best selling songs of the entire 1970's. Other songs they were televising were Abba's THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC, Anne Murray's YOU NEEDED ME, and Eric Carmen's ALL BY MYSELF. Karen grew close to Rich while doing their television special, and they had a lot of fun. It reminded them of the earlier days. Richard was letting Karen do some of her own stuff, and so they decided to sing the song from her solo collection IF I HAD YOU.
For the special, they omitted Karen's lead vocal from the track, and so Karen sang "live" with Richard helping out during the vocal gymnastic acrobatics. Another very special moment was when they sang the song IN LOVE ALONE which Richard had written. This wasn't on their TOGETHER AGAIN album, but a bonus track for another album. Richard was moved to tears, when they were taping the song. Karen left for New York, after the television special was completed. She didn't want to go, but she knew that she had to go and do more work on the next single REMEMBER WHEN LOVIN' TOOK ALL NIGHT.
The single hit the Adult Contemporary Charts at #5 and zoomed straight to the top at # 1 for a record-breaking 14 weeks. On the Top 100 Singles, it hit # 29 and quickly hit the # 1 spot for 5 weeks, selling over 2.2 million copies. It went to # 2 for another 4 weeks, and climbed back to # 1 for another 5 weeks, selling an additional 1.9 million copies. Altogether, the single sold 4.1 million copies. This would be her biggest hit single in her musical history, even bigger than anything in her Carpenters history. Karen had arrived again, onto the music scene.
Check out this amazing amazing story !!!!!
Quite timely considering my last post was wondering what they'd be up to now!!!
From that television performance on the famed Tonight Show, Karen started being invited to celebrity functions, fundraisers, and parties, more than she had in the past. She started to hang out with former celebrity friends like Suzanne Sommers, Barry Manilow, Donna Summer, John Davidson, among many others.
The last few years, had not been a big priority for her, as she was trying to save her life, marriage, and career. Now, she was being treated like a superstar again. She was now independent from Richard, and she didn't know what to feel. It kind of scared her. She and Richard still talked, but nothing was really brought up about the solo album. She could feel his resistance to it. She felt that she had to walk on egg shells around him, as he was quite touchy about it. So they talked about the new Carpenters album, that was on the verge of being released.
The title was called TOGETHER AGAIN and the debut single was MAKE BELIEVE IT'S YOUR FIRST TIME. On the Adult Contemporary Chart it hit #32, and had a bullet by it, meaning that it could hit near the top of the chart, and probably would, considering that the Carpenters had had 15 # 1 Singles on the Adult Contemporary Charts. The album cover showed them on an outside bridge, but on separate sides, very similar to the Singles 1969-1973 inside cover. The only difference was that this photo was in color, and they were both wearing modern clothing.
The inside record jacket, consisted of many different pictures from their earlier career. All 12 songs had lyrics. She loved this album and the way it was designed. Finally someone was listening to their demands. Richard and Karen would discuss on the phone, what radio stations were playing their newest single. This was their career, and so they would take time to find out how their records would be promoted, and what could they do.
Their publicist Paul Bloch would help them, as that was their field. Karen flew back home to Los Angeles. She wanted to concentrate on promoting her dual careers as a solo act, and as a brother sister duo. She knew that it would be hard, but she just couldn't seem to choose one or the other, so she chose both. As soon as she came home, she fell into one of her old conflicts. The mother-daughter relationship. It just seemed that whenever Karen was happy, her mother wasn't. It irked her to no end. She wanted to have a good relationship with her mother. That was what she desired so much. Agnes kept rankling Karen about her appearance on the Tonight Show, and how Richard should have been there. They were a team. Did she forget who got her on the road to fame? It was Richard. She should be sticking with him on that. Not working with people who didn't really know the Carpenter family. And how come she had to keep her solo album a secret? Why did she have to hold her family in the dark? Where were her morals?
Karen started back to her old familiar patterns, and she hated herself for falling back into anorexia's outstretched arms. But it was the only thing she knew, in times of great stress, and tribulations. She felt safe. She could easily lose pounds in just a few days. In a week, she could lose over 10 pounds. She had been known to lose over 10% of her body fat in just a few weeks, with excercising and starvation diets. By July 1st, Karen weighed 91 pounds. She could not hide the weight loss, as this was summer, and all heavy, layered clothing could not be worn. Her heart seemed to be bothering her again. At her parent's insistence, she went to see a doctor, who recommended bed rest. But Karen would not choose this alternative. So she headed back to New York, dropping plans for reuniting with Richard. She was not ready, even though the record company would be releasing the Carpenters album, by the fall. The touring was off for the time being. Karen was going to spend all her time and energy promoting her solo album. She couldn't deal with the power struggles going on in her family, because she knew that she would become entrapped in it. If she did, she didn't know if she would come out of it. It just got her more upset, and unable to deal with all the struggles that were all being thrown at her. She just couldn't take it anymore. She wasn't that strong.
She appeared on talk shows, morning shows, and at record stores, signing albums. The intercom system would be blaring out her album, and it made her feel so good. She recognized many Carpenters fans, as well as newer fans. "I just bought your album, and I love it so much. It's so wonderful. My parents still listen to your Carpenters albums," said one fan, a teenager, about 16 years old. It pleased Karen when people gave her compliments. It made her feel that she was on the right path of her life. Her hard work was not in vain.
Other Carpenters fans came up, and congratulated her on her album. Some though, were less than thrilled. It was not what they expected from Karen Carpenter, the pure girl next door. And they told her to her face. It hurt, but that was their opinion. She left it at that.
In a few weeks, the album charted on Billboard's TOP 200 album chart at #90 with a bullet beside it. Her single MAKING LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON hit # 9 on the Adult Contemporary Chart, and on the Top 100 Singles, was at # 32 so far. Whenever she heard the song on the radio, she smiled to herself. She did a lot of smiling that summer. By August 15, 1983, it was # 2 and had sold over 1.7 million copies. It stayed in that position for over 6 weeks, but the # 1 Song would not budge. That didn't bother Karen any. This was her biggest hit single in her solo career, and in the Carpenters, this was her 7th # 2 hit, her 11th Gold Single, and 13th Top Ten hit.
On the Adult Charts it hit # 1 and stayed in that position for an amazing 12 weeks. It was her biggest charting hit single as WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN was only #1 for 7 weeks on the Adult Contemporary Charts. The solo album was now gold, with over 780,000 copies sold, and on the TOP 200 album chart it was now at # 10. It was destined to sell even more than that. She was guarenteed her own television special as well. Even though her brother did not see eye to eye on her album, she still wanted him to join her and star on Karen's special. She would get Olivia Newton-John, Suzanne Sommers and Peter Cetera to guest star on her new special.
The Television Special was titled KAREN AND FRIENDS and hit # 2 in the Neilson Ratings for the week of August 14, 1983, and the reviews were quite positive. Karen had a lot of fun in the making of it, and featured a generous sampling of her solo songs, as well as other stuff. A new movie called IN MY HEART was to be released, and it was a romantic comedy-drama which starred Meryl Streep and Harrison Ford. The main song for the movie had been written by Diane Warren and titled IN MY HEART (where dreams lay), and Karen was selected to sing it. She was very honored, and upon hearing her first vocal track take, Diane was moved, and knew she had chosen the right singer for this magnificient masterpiece.
Karen added her warmth, her impeccable intonation, and all her feelings into the song. The single IN MY HEART was released, along with the movie, and the soundtrack, and both the movie, song, and soundtrack soared to # 1. Karen's song was # 1 for 7 weeks, and sold over 2.3 million copies, staying in the Top 10 charts for 18 weeks. On the A.C. chart, this single stayed # 1 for 16 weeks.
There was talk, that this song especially written for this movie, would be nominated for an Academy Award for BEST SONG for 1983. Karen just ignored such hype, and concentrated solely on her solo career, and her career as the Carpenters.
The next single would be a toss up between IF I HAD YOU or REMEMBER WHEN LOVIN' TOOK ALL NIGHT. The A&M Record executives decided that REMEMBER would be the most suitable choice. So Karen would be shooting a promotional video for it. A male actor would be hired to play her love interest in the video. Karen would be given a new, sexier image, with lots of new outfits. She wanted her hair streaked bronze, and straightened. She was very excited with all this attention payed to her. Meanwhile Richard released the 12th Carpenters album TOGETHER AGAIN in September. It got some good reviews, and debuted at # 128. The single MAKE BELIEVE IT'S YOUR FIRST TIME peaked at # 5 on the Adult Contemporary Charts, and on the Top 100 Singles, it hit #14. The album was near the gold mark, and Karen came to L.A. to help promote it. They sang on some shows, and signed autographs, did the radio circuit.
Karen was now in big demand, as the sister of Richard Carpenter and as the solo act Karen Carpenter. They began to work on their 6th television special titled TOGETHER AGAIN, and would be released on the Thanksgiving weekend. The Carpenters decided to invite Debby Boone and her sister Cherry Boone O'Neill as guests, as well as Burt Bacharach. Karen got along great with the Boone sisters, who knew of Karen's torment with anorexia. Cherry had suffered for many years as well, and her lowest weight had been 80 pounds. For the last year and a half, Cherry had been in contact with Karen, to find out how Karen was doing. Cherry's book STARVING FOR ATTENTION had been released, and was a national best-seller. Karen too wanted to write a book on her experiences as well, but she wasn't ready. Her weight stabled to a near normal 102 pounds, even though the Boone girls were still concerned, as well as Karen's family.
The most interesting part of the tv special taping was singing the song YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE. Karen loved that song, and so many times had regretted not recording it, so now was her chance. That song had been one of the best selling songs of the entire 1970's. Other songs they were televising were Abba's THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC, Anne Murray's YOU NEEDED ME, and Eric Carmen's ALL BY MYSELF. Karen grew close to Rich while doing their television special, and they had a lot of fun. It reminded them of the earlier days. Richard was letting Karen do some of her own stuff, and so they decided to sing the song from her solo collection IF I HAD YOU.
For the special, they omitted Karen's lead vocal from the track, and so Karen sang "live" with Richard helping out during the vocal gymnastic acrobatics. Another very special moment was when they sang the song IN LOVE ALONE which Richard had written. This wasn't on their TOGETHER AGAIN album, but a bonus track for another album. Richard was moved to tears, when they were taping the song. Karen left for New York, after the television special was completed. She didn't want to go, but she knew that she had to go and do more work on the next single REMEMBER WHEN LOVIN' TOOK ALL NIGHT.
The single hit the Adult Contemporary Charts at #5 and zoomed straight to the top at # 1 for a record-breaking 14 weeks. On the Top 100 Singles, it hit # 29 and quickly hit the # 1 spot for 5 weeks, selling over 2.2 million copies. It went to # 2 for another 4 weeks, and climbed back to # 1 for another 5 weeks, selling an additional 1.9 million copies. Altogether, the single sold 4.1 million copies. This would be her biggest hit single in her musical history, even bigger than anything in her Carpenters history. Karen had arrived again, onto the music scene.
