Other Female Singers

KRISTIN CHENOWETH ON CELEBRATING HER GREATEST INFLUENCES IN
FOR THE GIRLS

ELYSA GARDNER | NOVEMBER 5, 2019
Excerpt:
Kristin Chenoweth:
“I feel like I need to do a Part 2 of For the Girls, because there are so many songs that didn’t make the record.
For example, as a young girl, Karen Carpenter was a huge influence on me, so of course I’m going to want to celebrate her on the next record.
I think that I will celebrate her on Broadway as well.”

Source:
Kristin Chenoweth on Celebrating Her Greatest Influences in For The Girls | Broadway Direct
 
Roxette singer Marie Fredriksson dies aged 61
Roxette singer Marie Fredriksson dies aged 61


I rather grew up with Roxette. Marie has had her share of personal issues from the cancer she has been fighting for many years. So this wasn't unexpected, but a song's really great voice has been lost! My condolences to her family, her friends and fans , and to her professional partner since 1986, Per Gessle, who I'm sure will miss her every time he writes a great song and imagines Marie singing it.
 
Album of the Week: Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising
"(Natalie) Mering’s touchstone on this record are bands like The Carpenters, whose music feels just a little too earnest and emotional for 2019. There is an open-heartedness in songs like “Close to You” that Titanic Rising inhabits to its fullest. But it’s not just optimism filling Karen Carpenter’s (and Natalie Mering’s) voice with so much emotion. It’s also a deep sadness. Karen never manages to get near her object of affection, instead left to say things like, “Why do stars fall down from the sky/Every time you walk by?/Just like me, they long to be/Close to you.” Mering taps into this as well.
Nearly every song on Titanic Rising is filled with a certain kind of loneliness."

Here:
Album of the Week: Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
Weyes Blood - her voice sounds quite a bit like early Karen with that raw edge she had. Her music is interesting. I don't think I'll spend a lot of time listening to it. The artist herself says this about Carpenters:
You’re compared to Karen Carpenter a lot. How does that make you feel?
I’ll be real, I don’t care about the Carpenters. I think they have some great songs. I think she kills at the drums, but never in my life have I chosen to emulate Karen Carpenter. I just don’t know if there’s that many women that have low voices.Weyes Blood on Stunning New LP, the Titanic Sinking and Climate Change
 
Tonight CNN is airing the debut of its film, "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice." Ronstadt, of course, was one of the Carpenters' contemporaries who, it's fair to say, dabbled (and excelled) in a variety of musical genres. I like much of her work.

I am reminded that on New Year's Day, 1989, CBS-TV aired "The Karen Carpenter Story," which was a ratings juggernaut. Although the CBS production was a fictionalized, biographic movie, the CNN production on Ronstadt is a documentary. There certainly have been more than a few documentaries on the Carpenters. But I am struck by the airing of such "tributes" (if you will) of music icons on New Year's Day. Perhaps it's an attempt to "reflect upon the good things" from year(s) past...

Happy New Year, Everyone! To all: a Happy and Lush Life!*

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*To extend the pun further, I got quite the late start today, as I had a bit of a "lush" life, myself, on New Year's Eve... Cheers!
 
Tonight CNN is airing the debut of its film, "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice." Ronstadt, of course, was one of the Carpenters' contemporaries who, it's fair to say, dabbled (and excelled) in a variety of musical genres. I like much of her work.

I am reminded that on New Year's Day, 1989, CBS-TV aired "The Karen Carpenter Story," which was a ratings juggernaut. Although the CBS production was a fictionalized, biographic movie, the CNN production on Ronstadt is a documentary. There certainly have been more than a few documentaries on the Carpenters. But I am struck by the airing of such "tributes" (if you will) of music icons on New Year's Day. Perhaps it's an attempt to "reflect upon the good things" from year(s) past...

Happy New Year, Everyone! To all: a Happy and Lush Life!*

---
*To extend the pun further, I got quite the late start today, as I had a bit of a "lush" life, myself, on New Year's Eve... Cheers!

It's a good watch. I saw it a couple of weeks ago on Amazon Prime. Linda Ronstadt had a voice that excelled in many musical genres that Karen only had the chance to "dabble" in.
 
Linda Ronstadt had a voice that excelled in many musical genres that Karen only had the chance to "dabble" in.

Exactly, John Adam! Karen's vocal versatility has been oft discussed here and noted elsewhere. "I Can Dream Can't I" is just one example, so similar to the standards Ronstadt recorded on a couple of albums. How we wish Karen had the opportunity to record such albums, among so many other things. But we are certainly grateful for the great catalogue of Carpenters' recordings we do have! Best to you, Friend!
 
I watched a movie in my collection that was part of a 2-fer package. The combo package included THE CASSANDRA CROSSING, the movie I bought the set for, and THE DOMINO PRINCIPLE, which I never really paid any attention to until yesterday. While I enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would, it was the song over the title sequence that caught my ear. It was sung by a Canadian artist name Shirley Eikhard, and she had a vocal quality that evoked a little bit of Karen Carpenter. See if you agree:

 
Does anyone remember Debby Boone? “You Light Up My Life”
Her sister Cherry had spoken to Karen Carpenter during their struggles with the illness.

Here is Debby Boone just the other day singing a live version of “A Song For You” it’s very similar to the Carpenters version and I can only imagine how Karen would have performed this in a slower more emotional delivery.
 
Here is Debby Boone just the other day singing a live version of “A Song For You” it’s very similar to the Carpenters version and I can only imagine how Karen would have performed this in a slower more emotional delivery.

Interesting that the lyric on Debbie’s version is “I’ve acted out my life in stages”, whereas Karen clearly sings “I’ve acted out my love in stages”. The former is the correct version, right? It makes more sense grammatically. I wonder who made that change.
 
A Biopic of Helen Reddy is ready-to-go (though, not yet picked-up by USA):
"Following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, the film will be released in Australia on 21 May next year (2020)."
I Am Woman tells the story of the Melbourne-born singer who "arrived in New York in 1966, virtually broke and a single mother of a toddler, before she went on to become one of the most successful recording artists of her generation. She wrote and sang the song I Am Woman that became the anthem for the women's movement in the 1970s".
Look here:
https://themusic.com.au/news/helen-reddy-i-am-woman-first-look-trailer/qIqwur28v74/02-12-19/
 
Does anyone remember Debby Boone? “You Light Up My Life”
Her sister Cherry had spoken to Karen Carpenter during their struggles with the illness.

Here is Debby Boone just the other day singing a live version of “A Song For You” it’s very similar to the Carpenters version and I can only imagine how Karen would have performed this in a slower more emotional delivery.


Concerning Debby Boone and "You Light Up My Life". Such a simple MOR song released smack-dab in the middle of the disco era. According to Wikipedia: "The single was an enormous success. It became the biggest single of the 1970s in the United States[8], setting a new Billboard Hot 100 record for most weeks spent at Number One." This makes it even more difficult to accept the downward trajectory of the Carpenters during this time frame. Was Debby's effort all that more great than "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" by our favorite duo in the very same year?! It's confounding; the audience was still there!
 
I have thought much of Olivia and Helen Reddy, lately, as they are battling health issues (lovely Linda Ronstadt, too).
Olivia, Helen and Linda--three unforgettable voices. Impossible to get enough of Olivia Newton-John, or Abba.
Here they are in 1978 (the Medley concludes with Thank You For The Music).
 
I am a huge fan! I saw Grease as a little man, and found out that she sang prior to my birth. I love the pre-Grease 1970-1977 period. Maybe for the same reason I loved the Carpenters. Just a lot of talent and not a lot of flash! :)
 
Brand new singer Melody Federer (with the legendary Burt Bacharach either on piano or conducting the orchestra) "Bridges" (itunes single) (audio only)
 
I didn't know there were any ONJ fans here. :laugh: This is my favorite song of hers; I don't hear people mention it very often.

I love that song too. It's a great live version.
I saw her live at the Physical concert in NC. She performed that entire concert with so much emotion and hit some high notes.
Love these close up shots.
 
Charlene (Duncan) "Rings" (from her self - titled 1976 album) Remake of the Cymarron 1971 song. The song "I've Never Been To Me" was released in 1977, then reissued in early 1982 & her only one hit Top 40 wonder.
 
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