Richard Carpenter
Image:Richard Carpenter.jpg
Background information
Birth name	Richard Lynn Carpenter
Born	October 15 1946 (1946--) (age 61)[1]
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genre(s)	Pop
Instrument(s)	Electric Piano Synthesizer
Years active	1965–present
Label(s)	A&M
Associated acts	Carpenters Karen Carpenter
Website	Richard and Karen Carpenter
Notable instrument(s)
Wurlitzer Electric Piano

Richard Lynn Carpenter (b. October 15, 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut^[1]) is a pop musician who is best known as one half of the brother/sister duo the Carpenters, along with his sister Karen Carpenter.

Childhood

Richard Carpenter was born on October 15, 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut. He was named after his father's younger brother, Richard Lynn Carpenter. Ironically enough, Carpenter and his uncle married a lady by the name of Mary. ^[2]

He frequently played the piano while his sister, Karen, played baseball outside. ^[3] He and Karen also liked to listen to the children's records his father bought for him when he was young. ^[4] He was introduced to Perry Como and Ella Fitzgerald, among many others, and by the age of twelve, he knew he wanted to be in the music industry.

The Carpenter family moved from New Haven to Downey, California in June of 1963. They wanted Richard to further his music career, and the family was sick of the cold winters. At the time, Richard was sixteen years old. Richard studied music at the California State University at Long Beach. There, he met Frank Pooler, a conductor and composer. Pooler wrote the lyrics to the Christmas classic "Merry Christmas Darling" in 1968. He also met good friend John Bettis, who co-wrote songs with Richard until Karen's passing in 1983.

The Richard Carpenter Trio & Spectrum

Carpenter created the Richard Carpenter Trio in 1965 with sister Karen and friend Wes Jacobs. Richard played the piano; Karen played the drums, and Wes played the tuba and bass.

In 1966, the Richard Carpenter Trio played "Iced Tea" and "The Girl from Ipanema" at the Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands. They won the competition, and shortly after recorded three songs at RCA Studios: "Every Little Thing," "Strangers in the Night," and the Carpenter original, "Iced Tea." "Iced Tea" is the only recording that was officially released to the public.

Around 1967, Richard and Karen joined four other student musicians from Long Beach State to form a sextet, Spectrum, consisting of:

• John Bettis
• Richard Carpenter
• Karen Carpenter
• Leslie Johnston
• Gary Sims
• Danny Woodhams

Although Spectrum played frequently at LA-area nightclubs such as Whisky A Go-Go, they met with an unenthusiastic response - their broad harmonies and avoidance of rock 'n roll limited the band's commercial potential. Yet Spectrum was fruitful in another way, providing the raw material of future success: Bettis went on to become a lyricist for Richard's original compositions, and all the other members except Leslie Johnston went on to become members of The Carpenters.

Career

Richard and Karen finally signed with A&M Records on April 22, 1969. "Let's hope we have some hits," Herb Alpert told the two. According to Richard, Herb Alpert had given them carte blanche in the recording studios, and after "Offering" was released, and was not a big seller, people were asking Alpert to release the Carpenters from A&M, but he let them stay.

Alpert suggested that the Carpenters record a Burt Bacharach song called "(They Long to Be) Close to You." Richard's arranging talents shined in the finished product. His arranging and musical talents, as well as Karen's amazing vocals, helped the song go to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stay there for a month. "(They Long to Be) Close to You" gained public recognition overnight. According to Richard, even though the song became popular overnight, the Carpenters themselves did not. It wasn't until a bank commercial jingle was released by the Carpenters that they became popular overnight.

Sitting at home one night, Richard was watching TV and saw a commercial for Crocker National Bank. He recognized the voices of Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, two A&M songwriters. It was the song "We've Only Just Begun." Richard had managed to turn a bank commercial jingle into an RIAA certified Gold Record. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and has become a common wedding song.

Richard composed many of the Carpenters' hits, such as:

• "Goodbye to Love" (one of the first pop ballads to have a fuzz guitar solo - #7--influenced the development of the power ballad ^[5])
• "Top of the World" (their only Top 10 country song - #1)
• "Yesterday Once More" (#2)
• "Only Yesterday" (#4)

Quaaludes

While Karen was suffering from anorexia nervosa, Richard suffered from an addiction with quaaludes. It was prescribed to him from his doctor as a sleeping pill, but it got out of hand. He eventually recovered from the addiction.

Post-Carpenters

Carpenters' star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Three days before his 37th birthday, the Carpenter family celebrated the unveiling of the Carpenters' new Hollywood Walk of Fame Star. He said in his speech that it was a bittersweet experience because Karen's passing was tragic, yet they were able to celebrate a Hollywood Walk of Fame Star.^[6]

He started recording a solo album on June 26, 1985 and finished the album on July 5, 1987.^[7] The album was called "Time." It featured Dusty Springfield and Dionne Warwick. Springfield sang "Something in Your Eyes," and Warwick sang "In Love Alone." Richard created a song dedicated to Karen called "When Time Was All We Had." It starts off as an a cappella, but then Richard's piano fades in, as well as Herb Alpert's flugelhorn.

Our hearts were filled with music and laughter... Your voice will be the sweetest sound I'll ever hear and yet We knew somehow the song would never end When time was all we had to spend

In 1984, Richard married Mary Rudolf, (Mark Rudolf is mentioned in "the radio call-in" leading to the song "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft"). Richard and Mary have five children: Colin, Kristi, Mindi, Taylor, and Traci. The children and Richard sometimes perform music together at various Carpenter-related events.

Recently, Richard helped in the productions of the documentaries "Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters" (1997) and "Only Yesterday: The Carpenters Story" (2007). He released the DVDs "Gold: Greatest Hits" and "Interpretations." Carpenter is also mastering a new Christmas album to be released either this year or next year.

References

External links

• Richard and Karen Carpenter - Official site
• Make Your Own Kind of Music - 1971 Summer Television Series

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