Jump to content

Carole King

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Thuglas (talk | contribs) at 22:09, 25 January 2007 (Reverting vandalism). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Carole King (born February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She was most active as a singer during the first half of the 1970s, but she was a successful songwriter for considerably longer both before and after this period. King has won four Grammy Awards and has been inducted into both the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting, along with long-time partner Gerry Goffin.

Biography

Born in 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, Carole Klein (as she was then known) started out playing the piano and then moved on to singing, forming a vocal quartet called the Co-Sines at James Madison High School.

She attended Queens College, where she was a classmate of Neil Sedaka, who dedicated "Oh, Carol", his first big hit, to her. She in turn wrote an answer song called "Oh Neil". While attending Queens College, King befriended Paul Simon and Gerry Goffin.

Goffin and King soon formed a songwriting partnership, eventually marrying and having two daughters, Louise Goffin and Sherry Goffin Kondor, who also became singers. Working in the famous Brill Building, where chart-topping hits were churned out during the 1960s, the Goffin-King partnership first hit it big with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". Recorded by The Shirelles, the song topped the charts in 1961; it was later covered by Dusty Springfield, Laura Branigan, Little Eva, Roberta Flack, and King herself. Further hits written by the pair include:

In addition, in 1965, Goffin and King wrote a spec theme to Sidney Sheldon's new television series, I Dream of Jeannie, but the song was rejected in favor of an instrumental theme by Hugo Montenegro.

Carole King's own singing career, however, was slower to gain momentum. She had a modest hit singing one of her own songs in 1962 with "It Might As Well Rain Until September" (#22 in the US and a top 10 success in the UK, later a hit in Canada for Gary & Dave), but after "He's a Bad Boy" made #94 in 1963, King did not make the Hot 100 singles chart again for eight years.

Tapestry (1971)

After failing several times at launching a solo career, King eventually helped pioneer a record label, Tomorrow Records, divorced Goffin and married Charles Larkey (of the Myddle Class). Moving to the West Coast, Larkey, King and Danny Kortchmar formed a group called The City, which released one album, Now That Everything's Been Said, but the album was a commercial failure. King then released Writer (1970), another commercial failure. Undaunted, the following year King gave thoughtful, folk-flavored reinterpretations of some of her early pop hits as a songwriter, placing them on an album alongside new compositions. Tapestry (1971) became a turning point in her career.

Her best-received album, Tapestry was instantly recognized as one of the landmark albums of the singer-songwriter genre of the early 1970s. With numerous hit singles, Tapestry would remain on the charts for nearly six years and sell over 10 million copies in the US alone, an estimated 22 million world-wide, remaining her most popular album among fans and critics alike. The album garnered four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year; Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; Record of the Year ("It's Too Late"); and Song of the Year ("You've Got a Friend"). Music (1971), Rhymes and Reasons (1972) and Wrap Around Joy (1974) followed, each selling respectably. Tapestry was placed at #36 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of all time. [1]

In 1973, Carole King performed a free concert in New York City's Central Park and broke all previous records for such a concert with over 100,000 people attending. [2]

Goffin and King reunited to write Thoroughbred (1975) with David Crosby, Graham Nash and James Taylor, a long-time friend of King's. She married another songwriting partner, Rick Evers, after releasing Simple Things (1977); he died of a cocaine overdose one year later. Also in 1975, King scored a number of songs for the animated TV production of Maurice Sendak's work, Really Rosie.

After releasing a collection called Speeding Time in 1983, King took a hiatus in Idaho, where she became an environmental activist. She returned to music in 1989, recording City Streets, followed by Color of Your Dreams (1993), with a guest appearance by Slash of Guns N' Roses. In addition, her song "Now and Forever" is featured in the opening credits to the 1992 movie A League of Their Own.

An all-star roster of artists paid tribute to King on the 1995 album Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King. From the album, Rod Stewart's version of "So Far Away" and Celine Dion's cover of "A Natural Woman" were both Adult Contemporary chart hits. Other artists who appeared on the album included Amy Grant ("It's Too Late"), Richard Marx ("Beautiful"), Aretha Franklin ("You've Got a Friend"), Faith Hill ("Where You Lead"), and the Bee Gees ("Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?").

In addition to the numerous hit versions of her songs with Gerry Goffin and Tapestry Revisited, many other cover versions of King's work have appeared over the years. Most notably, "You've Got a Friend" was a smash hit for James Taylor in 1971 (in fact, just two weeks earlier King's "It's Too Late" was at number one for its fifth week on the Billboard Hot 100) and a top 40 hit for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway that same year. Barbra Streisand had a top 40 hit with "Where You Lead" twice - by itself and as part of a live medley with "Sweet Inspiration." The Carpenters recorded King's "It's Going to Take Some Time" in 1972 and reached number 12 on the Billboard charts. Martika had a number 25 hit in 1989 with her version of "I Feel the Earth Move", and "It's Too Late" reappeared on the adult contemporary chart in 1995 by Gloria Estefan. Celine Dion also recorded King's song "The Reason" on her 1997 album Let's Talk About Love.

In 1996 a film loosely based on her life, Grace of My Heart, was released. In the film an aspiring singer, Denise Waverly/Edna Buxton, sacrifices her own singing career to write hit songs that launch the careers of other singers. Mirroring King's life, the film follows her from her first break, through the pain of rejection from the recording industry and a bad marriage, to her final triumph in realizing her dream to record her own hit album.

King is very politically active in the United States Democratic Party. In 2003 she began campaigning for John Kerry, performing in private homes for caucus delegates during the Democratic primaries. On July 29, 2004, she made a short speech and sang at the Democratic National Convention, about two hours before Kerry made his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for President. King continued her support of Kerry throughout the general election.

King's "Where You Lead (I Will Follow)" is the theme song to the TV series Gilmore Girls. In the theme-song version, King sings with her daughter Louise. King herself — who has appeared sporadically in acting roles — has guest starred three times on the show (in its second, fifth, and sixth seasons) as Sophie, the owner of the Stars Hollow music store.

King launched her "Living Room Tour" (in a nod to her appearances in private homes during the Democratic primaries) on July 15, 2004, at the Auditorium Theatre (Chicago, Illinois). That show, along with the shows at the Greek Theatre (Los Angeles, California), and the Cape Cod Melody Tent (Hyannis, Massachusetts) were recorded live and released as The Living Room Tour album on July 12, 2005. The 2005 leg of "The Living Room Tour" kicked off on July 3, 2005, in Ontario, Canada.

Awards and recognition


Discography

Albums

Singles

  • "It Might As Well Rain Until September," 1962, US #22 / UK #3 (re-charted at UK #43 in 1972)
  • "He's a Bad Boy," 1963, US #94
  • "It's Too Late" / "I Feel the Earth Move," 1971, US #1 (AC #1), Gold / UK #6
  • "So Far Away" / "Smackwater Jack," 1971, US #14 (AC #3)
  • "Sweet Seasons," 1972, US #9 (AC #2)
  • "Been to Canaan," 1972, US #24 (AC #1)
  • "Believe In Humanity," 1973, US #28
  • "You Light Up My Life," 1973, US #67 (AC #6) (different song from the Debby Boone hit)
  • "Corazon," 1973, US #37 (AC #5)
  • "Jazzman," 1974, US #2 (AC #4)
  • "Nightingale," 1975, US #10 (AC #1)
  • "Only Love Is Real," 1976, US #28 (AC #1)
  • "High Out of Time," 1976, US #76 (AC #40)
  • "Hard Rock Cafe," 1977, US #30 (AC #8)
  • "Simple Things," 1977, US AC #37
  • "Morning Sun," 1978, US AC #43
  • "One Fine Day," 1980, US #12 (AC #11)
  • "One to One," 1982, US #45 (AC #20)
  • "City Streets," 1989, US AC #14
  • "Now and Forever," 1992, US AC #18
  • "Love Makes the World," 2001

References

  1. ^ The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
  2. ^ Carole King Artistfacts
Wikiquote has quotations related to Carole King.

Official site

Other sites

Fan sites

Articles on Carole King

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carole_King&oldid=103239971"