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Where were you 04 Feb 1983 ?

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Chris Mills

Chris Mills

That was funny....like the dark vomited up
I remember like it was yesterday, can't believe thirty years have passed . I had just got in to bed, it was Friday night, 11pm UK time, turned on the radio to listen to the news headlines. It didn't hit it me at first, the news reader announced that Karen Carpenter was dead. After the news bulletin the DJ played "Yesterday Once More", I was just numb with shock. I woke up Saturday morning, did I have a bad dream? No.

The reality sunk in when I went to the newspaper shop, Karen's photo was on the front of every newspaper. I went back home and turned on the TV, even more proof if it was needed, Karen's passing was headline news even in the UK.

Karen was loved and admired on a world wide scale, we all miss her deeply.
 
It was a cloudy afternoon when I returned from high school. Like most, I turned on the television and during a quick news break between commercials, the female anchor said "Singer Karen Carpenter dead of a heart attack at 32. More on this at 4:00."

I, too, couldn't believe my ears. And, living in the same time-zone, and later finding out she died in the morning, I am surprised I didn't hear it at school. It was the lead story for days. I skipped school to go to the funeral and then to leave flowers at the Newville house. The cul-de-sac was blocked off and there was a security guard there to take the flowers. Sad, sad, day; week; year; decade; score; and now score plus one decade.
 
I was born ten years later in May, but my dad was telling me how clearly he remembers that day. He was at work (at a hotel?) and heard over the radio that she passed away. He too said he couldn't believe its been three decades that have zoomed by.

The modern day example of "Where were you when_____died?" is probably Michael Jackson. Though I've grown up hearing his stuff, and hearing Karen much later, Michael never has left the emotional impact I feel by the loss of a great artist and special person; Karen Carpenter's music and life have enchriched my own life beyond words, and both will forever have a special place in my heart.
 
I was visiting friends at their apartment. My interest in the Carpenters had waned somewhat by this time, mainly because of the relatively low profile they were keeping and their "Made in America" album, which just didn't wow me the way most of its predecessors had. I'd long had a feeling that something was wrong, but couldn't pin it down. And, of course, we know now that so much was kept hush-hush. So the Carpenters had largely been absent from my life for a few years. Anyway, it was evening, and for whatever reason I had not yet heard the news of Karen's death. So when the TV news came on (I can't recall if it was a brief news break or the longer evening telecast), I was shocked when the anchor said that she had died. One of my friends, who was a bit odd and liked to "control" the mood of a room, announced, "Well, I'm not sad. Are you sad? I'm not!" So I didn't really feel like I could talk about the mix of feelings I had.

It's only as time has gone by, and the layers of the mystery of her life, and death, have slowly been peeled away like an onion that I've gradually come to terms with Karen's impact on my life. I think it was her unique blend of humor, tomboyishness and sensitivity (and, of course, that amazing voice) that made her so special to me. I wish she could have retained all of that and kept on playing the drums to her heart's content, always being the drummer who sang so beautifully. A part of me will always wonder whether maybe Karen would still be here with us today, had the powers that be not insisted that she move to her "starring" role at the front of the stage. But of course the point has long been moot. She is not here today ... and her friends, family and fans lost so much with her death. Yet I remain grateful that we can still hear her voice all these years later.
 
I was working as an intern at WCAU TV in Phila. This was a non paying Internship so I was also working at a 'restaurat' called The Ground Round, peanut shells on the floor and so on. There was a metal piece on the wall where a paper report would come through. As an Art Major, it was my job to stand there, aside from getting coffee for people, rip off the report, investigate, and then find photos, logos, to back up the report.
When the report came through that Karen Carpenter had died, I read it and then started crying. Quite the professional. Steve Levy and Deborah Knapp were there, as was Edie Huggins. The studio was stunned. I then went to the archives to find a photo, and the most recent enrty was a picture from the Grammys? where Karen had on a ruffled shirt and her face seemed quite thin.
I have bored this forum in the past with my meetings with Karen and Richard and I will do so again as they had a profound influence on me both musically and personally.
In 1975, "Only Yesterday" was #4 on the charts. (MY favorite song of all times).
I was stalking at the Valley Forge Hilton and I met both. Karen stopped to talk to me and looked beautiful and radiant. They had just finished a softball game? and she was in jeans shorts. I was so nervous to speak that she took my piece of typing paper and Bic Banana pen and wrote MY name and address and asked for my birthday.
I also finally got her autograph.
That evening, after the show at the Valley Forge Music Fair I was standing in the rain alongside my bike.
A limo pulled up alongside me, the back window lowered, and Karen smiled at me and raised her eyebrows in a humorous manner.
I think that she remebered me from the previous afternoon, but I cannot be sure.
The following February I recieved a Birthday Card signed 'Karen Carpenter'.
That evening I reported to the 'Ground Round', pretty much plucked.
I was assigned to the lounge area, peanut shells and all. The radio station played "A Song For You" and the Manager gave me some lip.
I told him to f*ck off and threw my apron at him and walked out.
The only time that I have ever quit anything in my life.
Rest In Peace dear Karen.
Even 30 years later, my soul feels sad.
 
I used Ground Round near me too.

I have talked about this story before, but here it is...

I was attending Bible College (yes you heard me right) in the bible belt when Karen Carpenter died. At that time I was also working at Kmart and there was an "odd girl" who kinda look like a guy. Understand that in my sheltered world this was something I had never seen or even heard of before. She was a MAJOR Karen Carpenter fan. The day that I heard Karen had died I immediately thought of this girl and wondered how she was taking the news. Later that night when I went to work I found out the answer. This 18 year old girl had killed herself.

I remember that at that time I thought she must have been really screwed up to kill herself because a pop star died. It was literally years later when I figured it all out. She had no one. She was all alone and no one understood her or wanted to be her friend. She found Karen Carpenter with her beautiful voice and unassuming ways and latched on for dear life. Karen was this girls' lifeline and when she lost that she thought she lost everything.
She had a way of making everyone feel better. About themselves, about life and about what the world could be.
Click to expand...
 
I did not hear about the death of Karen on TV (because I was a Sophomore in high school & doing my homework) until I saw the cover of People magazine.:sad: Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
I was 19, at work and my Mom called to tell me the news. In disbelief I took a break went out to my car and turned the radio on, hoping it wasn't true. The radio station was playing Carpenters music, which in 1983 was already rare, a bad sign. And then an announcement followed the song. I was devastated.
 
goodjeans said:
In 1975, "Only Yesterday" was #4 on the charts. (MY favorite song of all times).
I was stalking at the Valley Forge Hilton and I met both. Karen stopped to talk to me and looked beautiful and radiant. They had just finished a softball game? and she was in jeans shorts. I was so nervous to speak that she took my piece of typing paper and Bic Banana pen and wrote MY name and address and asked for my birthday.
I also finally got her autograph.
That evening, after the show at the Valley Forge Music Fair I was standing in the rain alongside my bike.
A limo pulled up alongside me, the back window lowered, and Karen smiled at me and raised her eyebrows in a humorous manner.
Click to expand...

Interesting coincidences. I had gone out to Valley Forge that afternoon to see them play that softball game. For reasons that amaze me though, I have very little memories of the actual event, except that they played some local radio types, one of whom would, a decade or so later, be my station's general manager. As for the Valley Forge Hilton, there were apartments behind it in the same building complex that I ended up living in in the '80s for a few years before we bought a house. And we saw them at the Valley Forge Music Fair several times, with at least one of the shows preserved on a home cassette recording.

As for where I was at the announcement of her passing, I was working at the radio station. I was midway between my desk and the big sprocket printer for reports that we all shared, going to pick up the one of the trial logs for the upcoming weekemd. It was a Friday at around 3 in the afternoon. My radio, a Sony table model (which I still have around here somewhere, was tuned to our own adult contemporary station with its soft rock music playing, and our DJ, Chris McCoy, reported that it had just come over the wire that Karen Carpenter had died.

By 1983, we had pretty much stopped playing Carpenters music very often, if at all, but we played both "Superstar" and "Yesterday Once More" that afternoon. After work I went home - to that Valley Forge apartment - and I played my Carpenters records a lot.

Harry
 
I had to have been in my still-formative years in the 7th grade, in middle school & indulging in and exhuming my own *"Karen-isms", as anything the Carpenters were doing, that I coincidentally had just been discovering a mere year before, had such a profound effect on me, in more ways than one...

* (In being strangely look-alikes for Karen & Richard: My sister was to Rich, instrumentally (though actually proficient on the cello) what I was to Karen, in voice (I could at least sing & even had a toy drum set, but never really pursued; a sheet of paper made a good "slap sound", trendy at the time, but wore a lot of 'em out), though w/o the move to Downey or pursuing any sort of fame; "not talent enough", was somehow the attitude of the time)...


-- Dave
 
Feb. 4 is my oldest brother's birthday. I was living in Indiana in 1983, going to grad school, teaching English part-time and too busy to be paying much attention to pop culture so wasn't aware of anything much going on with the Carpenters at the time. Decided that morning to drive home to central Illinois to visit my brother. Had the car radio on, and just as I was leaving Muncie, heard the DJ announce Karen's death. Unfortunately, he chose to do so in a very snarky manner: "Tragedy strikes the music world...", mock emphasis on the first word, then "We'll try to dig up something by them later." Always hated DJs who pulled that kind of "I'm so cool" crap. A few songs later they played "Close to You".

Also remember checking out a variety of newspapers the next day to read the reports and try to understand what happened. I was upset that so many of them chose to use extremely unflattering photos of Karen, when we all know there are plenty out there in which she looks quite beautiful. Generally speaking, in death as in life, I didn't think she got the respect she deserved.
 
I was at work in Orange County, CA- collecting yellow page ad debts for Pacific Telephone- when my sister called my other line with the news. Needless to say, I was shocked. It made for a very long day before I could go home and reflect and grieve.
 
30 years.... wow. seems like 'only yesterday'......

I was at work... Had just gone to a sample warehouse, (was working for a retailer at the time), and approved some import samples, and was listeing to a cassette of Dionne Warwick, on the way back to the office... A beautifully sunny day in Nashville, Tennessee, and back to my desk I went - and saw a message to call my sister. It was mid day. I did so - and she blurted out the news... I was in disbelief, hoping that she got something wrong... Then - of course, it was confirmed by all radio accounts - and I recall heading straight to the stairwell - (where noone ever went), and slid down the wall crying my eyes out.

It was a somber day indeed. I was glued to the evening newscasts, and was surprised that the pop stations really weren't acknowledging the news with great fervor...

I was to be married in about two monts and had a date that night with my fiance - and had a hard time keeping the date without showing exactly just how miserable I was....

I remember even contemplating flying out to California for the funeral... but I decided to send flowers instead....

I suppose music in many ways, died a little for me that day - when Karen had. Time truly did stand still.... and although music will always be an important part of my life, the luster was tarnished more than just a little bit - when I recognized that I would never hear another new lyric sung by my favorite interpreter of song.

What a vocalist. What a personaility. And... what a shame... 'a dirty old shame' to coin a phrase...
 
goodjeans said:
When the report came through that Karen Carpenter had died, I read it and then started crying. Quite the professional. Steve Levy and Deborah Knapp were there, as was Edie Huggins. The studio was stunned. I then went to the archives to find a photo, and the most recent enrty was a picture from the Grammys? where Karen had on a ruffled shirt and her face seemed quite thin.
I have bored this forum in the past with my meetings with Karen and Richard and I will do so again as they had a profound influence on me both musically and personally.
In 1975, "Only Yesterday" was #4 on the charts. (MY favorite song of all times).
I was stalking at the Valley Forge Hilton and I met both. Karen stopped to talk to me and looked beautiful and radiant. They had just finished a softball game? and she was in jeans shorts. I was so nervous to speak that she took my piece of typing paper and Bic Banana pen and wrote MY name and address and asked for my birthday.
I also finally got her autograph.
That evening, after the show at the Valley Forge Music Fair I was standing in the rain alongside my bike.
A limo pulled up alongside me, the back window lowered, and Karen smiled at me and raised her eyebrows in a humorous manner.

Even 30 years later, my soul feels sad.
Click to expand...
wow... what stories... loved the stalking story.... i was "this" close to them myself - in 1973 when they performed here in Nashville... my first "big" concert - and it was amazing. we went to the limo pick-up area, along with countless fans, and she and Richard were ushered into the limo - in a crush of people of throngs of screamers... today's Barry would have figured out a way to stop them - and get an autograph or a picture, but a barely 13 year old kid - in shock and awe - was just glad to get such a close look....
 
Like others here, I am saddened every year on this date; and of course, I knew this 30th anniversary was looming. Suffice it to say that on February 4, 1983, I was devastated when I heard the news.

There are countless others, some on this site, who were not alive (or were very young) when Karen passed away. They cannot give any anecdotes of their reactions. I appreciate those people, those who learned of the Carpenters and came to appreciate their music after the recording years and/or after Karen's passing. I find comfort in knowing that the torches will be passed from generation to generation, as the memory of Karen and the appreciation of the Carpenters' music will live on...
 
The 30th anniversary of Karen's passing is quite a milestone indeed. So sad to think she's been gone so long, but the void left in our minds, hearts....and ears....has never been filled. And in that regard, it does indeed feel like 30 years.

I was a sophomore in college at the University of Kansas, and was the fraternity historian in February, 1983. I had been up all night the night before for the initiation of the freshman pledges, and had literally no sleep.

I had a psychology test that morning, and didn't have time to study the night before, so, instead, I put on the "Ticket to Ride" album very early on February 4th to help me relax for the test. :wink: It helped a lot, and I did OK on the test after all.

After lunch, I went to two other classes that afternoon, and got back to the house around 2:45PM. A guy I knew was in my room waiting for me to return, and he said (with a gleam in his eye), "Did you hear?" I asked what he was talking about, and he said, "Karen Carpenter died of a heart attack today". My response was, "Bull$#!^! She's only 32". I honestly didn't believe him, and yelled out to my best friend, who was studying in one of the rooms. I heard his voice say, "Bob, I think it's true". So I go into his room, and turn on the radio, and the first thing I heard was Kansas City's A/C station, KUDL-FM, announcing, "The 32 year old singer/musician was taken to Downey Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 9:51 this morning".

I couldn't believe my ears. Then, the DJ said, "We will play three Carpenters songs up next". I remember "It's Going to Take Some Time" was one of them. I was in complete shock, and got a lot of razzing from many of the fraternity members. Of course, none of them 'got it' other than a few close friends, who were very nice about it, and knew how much I loved Karen C. Then the phone calls came from my family and good friends who knew how I'd be affected by it.

After dinner, I turned on Entertainment Tonight, and Mary Hart said one or two lines and that was it! I found out later the announcement came as the show was being taped, so they didn't have time to put anything together until the following show.

Anyway, I still remember the feeling of that horrible day. It was like being punched in the gut. But Karen's musical legacy remains strong, and it's nice to know just how many lives she impacted in the short time she was with us.
 
I was in college, too, when I heard the report of Karen's passing. Just seemed unreal. Also remember the release of Voice Of The Heart later that year. It was comforting to know Karen's voice would live on forever through her recordings.
 
I was living in a Seattle suburb at the time and working in the city. I didn't hear anything about it all throughout the workday, or on the bus. It was on the evening news while I was folding laundry and about knocked me over. A heart attack? At 32? It didn't sound right at all. The news letters glossed over so much during those last years that I really had no idea that Karen was ill. When it was said that Richard "was taking a much needed break" I figured maybe after all their hectic years spent on the road they really did intend to settle down and take time to have a life. If only that were so.

In recent years I've found the interviews that Richard did over that year on Youtube. At the time I only remember reading the People magazine cover story and what the news letters said.

The Seattle radio station I listened to did play Carpenters music mixed in all through the next day, to their credit.

I've mentioned before on this forum that recordings Karen made that have been released posthumously were like a gift. I hadn't anticipated ever hearing anything "new" and different after her death, and was very grateful that Richard and A&M released them. I'm sure many others share that feeling.
 
song4u said:
The news letters glossed over so much during those last years that I really had no idea that Karen was ill.
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Understandably so, as they had a right to privacy but I think this is why it was even more of a shock. The fanclub membership were so in the dark, there were no recent photos of Karen, she'd done no public appearances in 1982 and no one knew what was going on. There wasn't even any mention of her taking 1982 off, the newsletters just kept drip-feeding stories about this studio session or that, the Beechwood single released in 1982, to create an air of normality. A million miles away from the truth.

I often wonder how Karen's dilemma would have played out today, in the media frenzied world we live in. She likely would have been hounded by paparazzi about such personal problems and never have evaded widespread public exposure the way celebrities experience it today. Look how Freddie Mercury's last year of life played out. He was pictured whenever he stepped out of his home and his photos splashed all over the media, all because they knew something was wrong.
 
newvillefan said:
Look how Freddie Mercury's last year of life played out. He was pictured whenever he stepped out of his home and his photos splashed all over the media, all because they knew something was wrong.
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I almost liken that to the fact that Jackie Wilson's death was due in part to improper medical care and sadly just as spectacularly over-exposed, more than his brief & often unnoticed career had been, not having too many well-known but none-the-less a few spectacular almost-hit songs ('Lonely Teardrops' being his most successful)... The Commodores paid a fine tribute to this singer in their 1984 song 'Night Shift', too...

And while not at all wanting to go too much along the lines of that sort of a morbid nature here w/ Karen, it's a shame the way recent deaths (such as Michael Jackson & Whitney Houston) & even deaths a few ages ago (such as Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin & Elvis Presley) can be often over-stated & too trivialized, that we forget what these celebrities were merely as people & although death can be unexpected it should be expected (and respected) that they just merely go in peace & remember for what they contributed to our world and it being of the most profound value while they lived...!


-- Dave
 
I was 14 and don't recall it at all, just as I have no memory of John Lennon's passing, Prince Charles' wedding in 81 or anything else 'big' around those years. Strange. I did not become a Carpenters fan until 1987, when they were introduced by a friend. At that time a work colleague had told me that KC died due to drug addiction, and I believed this to be the case for quite a long time. Soon I noticed other people playing the Yesterday Once More anthology album and shortly after said friend and I were in London and bought the accompanying video. Gradually I learned more, but all this was long before the internet was available. These days I think of the Carpenters often and, above all else, am so glad that Karen has finally received the recognition she deserved all those years ago. Truly, one of the greatest artists who ever lived.
 
I think Karen's story would have changed had her problems happened today. Her unbalanced, controlling family life would have been known to everyone early on and many more people would have helped her. And today, I'm betting Richard is thanking his lucky stars all of the family secrets didn't unfurl back then...now we know much more than he'd like us to...
 
RainyDays said:
I think Karen's story would have changed had her problems happened today. Her unbalanced, controlling family life would have been known to everyone early on and many more people would have helped her. And today, I'm betting Richard is thanking his lucky stars all of the family secrets didn't unfurl back then...now we know much more than he'd like us to...
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I'm sure there's a lot we don't know. And honestly, who would want their family business out there for public knowledge. I think it was better that it all came out later, when there had been some time for their family and friends to reflect.
 
I know that I am quite late on adding my own story here but like all of you her passing affected me deeply so I'd like to share as well if it's okay with all of you. I was 23 and living over in Spain and working as a Mormon missionary (No I am NOT a Mormon any longer since I am Gay and scare the Hell outta them LOL). I have been a Carpenter's fan since 1970 and had collected all of their recordings up to that point and had taken a copy of Made in America to Spain with me which was totally forbidden by the mission rules, but as far as I was concerned the Carpenter's music was a part of my life and I was not going to be without Karen's voice for two long and very lonely years. As missionaries we were not allowed to watch TV, listen to the radio, or read anything other than the scriptures so I found out about Karen's death through a letter that I got in the mail 3 weeks after Karen had died ! I was devastated and cried soul wrenching tears for several days all while the other missionaries giggled at me from the livingroom saying that I was nuts for crying over some singer that I didn't even know. I was furious that because of the mission rules I had been in the dark about Karen dying so suddenly and started to buy Time and Newsweek at the local news stand (and the english versions were expensive !) but I decided that I was no longer going to be repressed by this church any longer and from that point on I fought to get out of Spain and back home ASAP and start to live life again. I played Made in America over and over again and had my sister send me cassette recordings of all of their albums (which she did bless her) and I must admit that it took me a long time to get over her death. I still miss her and look for ANYTHING new by the Carpenter's that I can find, like this wonderful forum of fellow Carpenter's diehard fans that understand how and why I cried for a singer that I never met let alone knew in person.
 
I came home from school, it was my senior year. I had turned on the TV and it was on a local cable access channel that ran the weather, local news, etc. scrolling across the screen while listening to a local radio station. As the TV came on, I saw something about Karen Carpenter, but missed what it said. I had to sit through the "loop" until it showed the information and said that she had died. I cried. I had been a fan since I was 5 and my sisters (much older than I) had CTY. I several 45s of my own and when I was 16 received "Singles 69-73" as a gift. It was after she passed that I began collecting all of the albums on vinyl, compilations, DVDs, books, etc. etc.

Jonathan
 
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