The Carpenters: The Untold Story : An Authorized Biography

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And like with the rest of the book, stuff is presented but the reader is allowed to think for themselves. Every sha-la-la-la, every wo-o-wo-o still shines,” the Carpenters' sang in “Yesterday Once More,” their hit 1973 tribute to the songs of the past.

I wasn’t interested in photo captions or the extremely detailed discography, and certainly not in concert dates and other minutia the authors include here.

The next morning she went into surgery to have a small-bore catheter implanted within the superior vena cava (right atrium of the heart). Herb Alpert provides information as does John Bettis and of course Richard Carpenter as well but it is personal information and not trying to second guess or mind read what others may or may not have been thinking. The book is too often based on his impression of everything, but his feelings and memories can be wrong.

I wish I could talk to him about his thoughts on digital audio and whether he would have changed things much because of it. The problem is that Ray actually wrote a section with what the therapists and such were saying about anorexics and for people that knew Karen (like Richard and myself) this stuff being said wasn't like Karen at all in most cases. Written by Mike Cidoni Lennox and Chris May, the massive, definitive biography chronicles the duo’s career in elaborate detail, based on more than 100 hours of interviews with Richard and full access to his archive. The fact that she was anorexic was discussed innumerable times… There was every attempt to get her to seek professional help, but I believe her family was the kind of family where the mother would say, 'We can take care of ourselves.

Karen's velvety voice and Richard's airy melodies and meticulously crafted arrangements stood in direct contrast to the louder, wilder rock dominating the rest of the charts at the time, yet they became immensely popular, selling more than 100m records. In fact, after a few shows, Bash was approached by concerned fans who knew something was terribly wrong but assumed she had cancer or some other disease. One chapter includes a Year in the Life, which maps out 364 days the duo spent in 1970 — from the release of their breakout single “(They Long to Be) Close to You” to their self-titled third album. At their house in Newport Beach Karen expressed to Burris her desire to get pregnant and start a family.