2 - Karen Carpenter with Lucy O'Brien (Downey, California)

Join us to celebrate the life & career of Karen Carpenter. Biographer Lucy O'Brien takes us on our first trip to the USA to chat all things Karen from her early years first in New Haven, Connecticut & then after the Carpenter family relocated to Downey, California. The Carpenters sign to A&M Records in 1969 by Herb Alpert shortly after forming - by 1970 they are already releasing their first singles. They go on to great success throughout the following years. Karen had various struggles throughout her life & passed away in 1983, her only solo album was releases posthumously. Following her death her brother Richard Carpenter largely vanished from public view, but her legacy was kept alive via a 1987 Todd Haynes documentary, a tribute album in the 90s plus Sonic Youth covering Superstar & writing their own tribute in their track Tunic. Help us put another pin in our Music Map in the LA suburb of Downey, California.It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmapsIt is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it. You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/live/Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17X: @simonmusicmapsFacebook: E17rockbookclubHosted by Mark Hart & Simon CardwellProduced by Tim Benton & Simon Cardwell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.