In the 70s, Karen Carpenter and his brother Richard achieved worldwide success with their soft and harmonious ballads in their successful duo The carpenters. Choruses like “Every sha-la-la-la” and the melodies of Yesterday once again, near you please Mr. Postman and Rainy Days And Mondays They are true pop classics.
In her live performances, she was seen behind a drum set, sheltered by her shyness. However, his charisma and his sensitivity have crossed the barriers, and on the front line of the stage he shone.
These seemed like auspicious years for the brothers. But offstage Karen experienced tremendous dissatisfaction.
The root of his emptiness came from his relationship with his mother, Agnes. As for the family, Richard was her favorite and they felt Karen did not meet expectations for girls. She preferred gun games, baseball and not so much dolls.
Furthermore, already from an artistic point of view, he was considered the holder of musical talent. Though Karen’s vocal prowess was on display.
Also as a result of the imposed family roles, Richard assumed command of the duo and was put in charge of the decisions of both.
A hitting machine
His first album offer It came out in 1969 and contained material written over the years by an earlier band called Spectrum, as well as a beautiful Beatles cover, Ticket for the racewhich peaked at number 54 on the Billboard 100 Hottest Songs chart.
Celebrated producer Herb Alpert trusted them and gave them another chance: in 1970 they released their second album, close to you, which would make them world-famous artists. The first single was the album’s title track and it quickly reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts, where it remained for several weeks. This means TV show appearances, magazine appearances, hundreds of concert deals, and Grammy Award nominationsMoreover.
They have since become the most successful mixed duo in American popular music history and the most successful artists of the 1970s in the United States. Everything they touched turned to gold, record after record, song after song..
From obsession with weight to anorexia
This hostile family background has given Karen a distorted view of her body image.
Richard constantly reminded her that she was fat. and made that message his own.
Already established in fame, seeing in some photos that she had a little belly, she hired a personal trainer and began to obsessively control everything she ate. With that follow up, she gained muscle mass. Angry her, she decided to fire him and implement her own path to lose weight.
The musicians immediately began to notice that she never bit in front of them. Thus it was that she quickly lost forty pounds.
In 1975, came to weigh 40 kilos. She looked weak and deteriorated. To the point that he should have been hospitalized and the brothers had to cancel a tour for Europe. At the same time, his brother was in a detoxification center for treatment against his addiction to sedatives.
Karen Carpenter’s Unhappy Marriage
Starting her own family was one of her greatest wishes. At the age of 30 – at a time when the mandate to marry at an early age weighed heavily – she met Tom Burris. Two months later they got married.
But the yes came amid dissatisfaction. A few days before the wedding he confessed to her that he had had a vasectomy.
Karen felt betrayed and devastated, for it was her highest aspiration and for her decision to keep this information from her. She also learned that she was bankrupt.
He wanted to cancel the wedding. He called her mother to inform her of her decision and she rejected her idea. Her emphatic response was that her invitations had already been sent out and that she had paid part of her expenses.
As expected, the relationship between Tom and Karen it wasn’t on the right track. She lived on her income and took every opportunity she had to call her “Bag of Bones” and with more painful forms.
In this context, Karen in 1981 came to weigh 36 kilos. As best she could, she managed to divorce her husband.
its sad end
This was followed by an attempt to control her anorexia. During those years, she underwent treatment with the doctor Steven Levenkronone of the pioneers in monitoring eating disorders.
He also had an admission to the Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattanwhere he gained weight.
However, the effort did not bear fruit. He February 4, 1983Agnes found Karen’s lifeless body in the family home.
Karen had at the time 32 years old, weighed 40 kilos and second autopsydied of a heart failure caused by his illness. In his body, says a note from the Smoda site in El País, be a medicine vomiting inducer.
A very sad and expected ending for a woman who was unsuccessful and struggled to find happiness.
Source: Clarin
