Little Girl Blue : The Life of Karen Carpenter

Little Girl Blue is an intimate profile of Karen Carpenter, a girl from a modest Connecticut upbringing who became a Southern California superstar. Karen was the instantly recognizable lead singer of the Carpenters. The top-selling American musical act of the 1970s, they delivered the love songs that defined a generation. Karen’s velvety voice on a string of 16 consecutive Top 20 hits from 1970 to 1976—including “Close to You,” “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Rainy Days and Mondays,” “Superstar,” and “Hurting Each Other”—propelled the duo to worldwide stardom and record sales of more than 100 million. During their short musical career, the Carpenters released ten studio albums, toured more than 200 days a year, taped five television specials, and won three Grammys and an American Music Award. But that’s only a part of Karen’s story. Little Girl Blue reveals Karen’s heartbreaking struggles with her mother, brother, and husband; the intimate disclosures she made to her closest friends; her love for playing drums and her frustrated quest for solo stardom; and the ups and downs of her treatment for anorexia nervosa. After her shocking death at 32 years of age in 1983, she became the proverbial poster child for that disorder; but the other causes of her decline are laid bare for the first time in this moving account. Little Girl Blue is Karen Carpenter’s definitive biography, based on exclusive interviews with her innermost circle of girlfriends and nearly 100 others, including professional associates, childhood friends, and lovers. It tells a story as touching, warm, and involving as any of Karen’s greatest songs. Cover......Page 1 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 10 Foreword by Dionne Warwick......Page 12 Author’s Note......Page 14 PROLOGUE: Rainy Days and Rain Man......Page 20 1. California Dreamin’......Page 28 2. Chopsticks on Barstools......Page 38 3. Stand in Line, Try to Climb......Page 56 4. Sprinkled Moondust......Page 68 5. You Put Us on the Road......Page 80 6. Nothing to Hide Behind......Page 100 7. America at Its Very Best?......Page 132 8. Moving Out......Page 144 9. The Collapse......Page 160 10. I Need to Be in Love......Page 182 11. Just Let Us Know What the Problem Is!......Page 202 12. The Bird Has Finally Flown the Coop......Page 216 13. Pockets Full of Good Intentions......Page 238 14. White Lace and Promises Broken......Page 256 15. Beginning of the End......Page 274 16. Dancing in the Dark......Page 292 17. Too Little, Too Late, Too Soon......Page 310 EPILOGUE: A Song for You......Page 330 Acknowledgments......Page 342 Selected Discography......Page 347 Selected Television Appearances......Page 354 Notes......Page 358 Bibliography......Page 368 Suggested Reading......Page 379 Index......Page 381 An intimate profile of one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century, this first full-length biography of Karen Carpenter details every aspect of her life, from her modest Connecticut upbringing and her rise to stardom in southern California to the real story of her tragic, untimely death. This illuminating depiction of a 1970s icon covers her time as lead singer of the Carpenters?the top-selling American musical act of the decade?and provides insight into their string of 16 consecutive top-20 hits, including ""Close to You,"" ""We've O Describes the childhood and music career of the lead singer of the Carpenters, a popular singing duo in the 1970s, and her early death from heart failure, the result of years of suffering with anorexia nervosa.