Only Yesterday: The Carpenters' Story

Karen and Richard Carpenter looked like a couple of bright well-scrubbed youngsters from Middle America who happened to come up with the sound the public likes the case of the lightning striking a fortunate bear there was something magical about the way Richard and Karen just worked together that's the beginning Karen Carpenter could sing the phonebook and it would sound good that voice would sound like a piece of silk Patsy Cline was the closest to me both of them shared the same emotion and it was struggle and depression when she was forced out from behind the drums to the front she didn't enjoy it too much I think rich and Karen both could have extremely viable careers today had some different decisions been reached then all of our success came from the records so you don't forget the records and go touring around the world she was the most truthful person I think I have ever met but she lied like a trouper about the anorexia situation [Music] every now and then we throw that word around it that person has it and what she had the it whatever the it is she had [Music] oh yes [Music] the story began in New Haven Connecticut with Richard and Karen being born into a typical suburban middle-class family I was born with an interest in music by the time I was two-and-a-half or three I was interested in the records that my dad was playing he had quite an extensive an eclectic collection of 78 which I wanted to get at Les Paul and Mary Ford probably had the biggest impact on me well of anybody because of the the overdubbed sound with these four switches I can take Mary's voice and multiply it into a Glee Club and with this switch right here I can take the one guitar and multiply it into an orchestra right there by the time I was four years old left such an impression on me and I couldn't figure I knew as Mary Ford Mary's boy so I asked my mother how do you do that now what's my mother nobody knew except at that time pretty much less and Mary and a couple people in the business so it was like how do you get to Carnegie Hall practice my mother said she practices [Music] so I'm going around the house at four or five years old get all these voices to come out and later Karen when I think back on it would be downstairs and she'd sing it and boy did we take to it Karen I the whole multi-track thing my mom wanted me to have piano lessons and I just didn't like it so after a year it was mutually agreed between my folks and and the teacher he really doesn't seem to have much talent or interest and but several years later all of a sudden I'm picking things up by ear and I found I could do this kind of stuff you know all of my own and play by ear so then of course by now my parents saying we need to find him another teacher I think Agnes was uh was a great mom I think that she knew what she wanted her children I think she had insight for Richard and I think she loved her children dearly during the summertime the windows are open everybody is outside so we'd be playing up and down the street and Richard would be playing his musical scales up and down the piano at that time I really didn't have any ideas of where I was going but he had always wanted to be exactly where he is he had ideas but I didn't know I could do anything I think Richards parents Agnes and Harold were beginning to I don't know feel that Richard really had Talent and there's two places you should go if you have musical talent either New York or California so in 1963 the carpenter family took off in search of the American dream to a land that was fast becoming a place of free spirits open hearts and a vibrant music scene their parents brought them to California years ago simply to have them near the center of show business they always thought they thought in him like he's mentioned but I didn't know she got the cow about two years after we were in California the story is that we they moved here because it's a further by my career but the number one reason was my dad wanted to get the hell out of the cold and I was right with him [Music] we never regretted making this move Karen wasn't so happy she she had a bunch of friends back there it turned out there was a heat wave the first Christmas so she didn't like that but she got over Richard soon established himself as a local talent and joined the college choir playing piano [Music] was in my first year of college I've gotten to know a fellow named Wes Jacobs who turns out to be a tuba major but I found out he could play upright bass I was just taken immediately by his talent and we got together shortly after that me with my bass and Richard on the piano and we experimented a little bit to see what we could do together karen was fascinated with the drumming because I said you can get out of phys ed if you're in the marching band and Karen did not want to be in visit and I wanted also to get out of geometry because I don't get it and when I got into marching band I immediately fell in love with the drums Richard mentioned that his sister who was still in high school at the time was learning to play the drums and perhaps we could form some kind of a trio a carpenter trio from the Richard Carpenter trio went on to win the prestigious Battle of the Bands contest at the Hollywood Bowl and an RCA talent scout intrigued by their rock tuba sound offered them a record deal I was a budding A&R man myself and I knew damn well rock too but was going nowhere and we cut the four sides and a committee you know committee listened to them and of course said and that was it for our deal with RCA [Music] every now and again I'd ask Karen to sing and she'd do it almost under duress [Music] Karen was a little hesitant actually about singing and I think for some period of time she really wanted to play the drums the breakthrough in a way just had to be the key I wrote it it called you'll love melodies they say it happens to be right and out came that sound [Music] you love [Music] there's something here there is something here Karen started thinking by then and we added to people that we admit that ecology started this group vocal group called spectrum spectrums lineup included Richards college friend John Bettis and a creative partnership soon developed Richard was so noticeable because it was talented for one thing I mean he was just an amazing pianist and as he is now so you know everybody kind of knew who Richard was Karen was having a whale of a good time I mean you know it was really playtime in a way it was a lot of hard work but we were all together there's a lot of laughs it was a lot of fun there's a lot of music renowned West Coast musician Joe Osborne had long supported Richard and Karen letting them record in his garage studio and helping them refine their sound he also was a very important studio bass player and also very close friends with the Mamas and Papas [Music] and so he for some reason had access to the Mamas and Papas equipment and we got a possibility to do an audition for a private club in Los Angeles called the factory and so we were very excited and we didn't really have proper equipment so Joe allowed us to borrow the Mamas Papas equipment and it of course had white stenciled on it Mamas and Papas and so we were on stage trying our best to stand in front of it and who walked in but Cass Elliot we're so busted by mid-1968 a string of rejections had taken their toll on spectrum and tensions started to build I mean the guys quit because we couldn't get a recording contract and we you know went around for about a year trying to get someplace and zero so everybody went their own way so Richard formed the Carpenters with sister Karen don't be rude in mid 68 we made this demo it ended up on her Albert's desk and he heard the potential and that was it we signed with A&M in April of 1969 usually I just you know close my eyes when listening to a new tape and I did on this occasion and all of a sudden this amazing voice came out of my speakers that seemed like was sitting next to me on the couch it was you know real special god-given you know instrument that I had never heard quite like that before I have to understand that you know at that time you know the the world was turning into serious rock and roll you know and here were these amazing kids just doing this incredible pop material but some say I think you kids are gonna how to sync with your time with the soft sound at the time of the the rock noises were at there yeah yeah everybody we were in the stone Zeppelin Pink Floyd whatever the you know now that was the problem is you had a whole bunch of people who were sort of hairy you know rock fans and if their mom like counted us then you weren't gonna like you know most of the people that Adam didn't want us there and they were trying to talk her been to cutting his losses and just letting him go but I always felt that you know they had that special ingredient because though they were so unique in what they were doing they were so honest about what they were doing and I thought it was just a matter of time before the the audience would catch up to them I was 22 and Karen was 19 and we were given carte blanche I think it's to do when did the first album yielded the ballad version of ticket to ride which is mighty good and and got on the charts at least A&M was going through a rough period in 1969 probably the worst year in their history [Music] it sold substantially enough and got enough airplay that it definitely deserved another shot we don't change what they obviously needed was a great song and an arrangement in the production that would really present them in a great way the search was on for the next song and herb alpert turned to am songwriter Burt Bacharach for that crucial chart-topping hit Herbie said I have a record but I don't want you to hear it I don't want anything to influence your arrangement except after the first bridge there are two quintuplets piano one octave and then down an octave so in our key which turned out to be g it would be you want me just like me they long to be close to you well as this thing took shape and we started adding things to it people were doing what they weren't supposed to do studio protocol and etiquette and all that you are not supposed to push open a door and walk in recording studio but people were they push open the door and they say what is this I never heard anything like this this is sensational [Music] decided to create a dream come true [Music] when it was done Herbie plays it down the phone to bird and well smash [Music] it came in at 56:37 14 731 and then it stayed there for a month it just was one of those things you hear and you say you know what did I do to deserve this [Music] when the wall came on I went okay that works [Music] I was driving along on a street in Connecticut had the radio on and I heard them singing close to you their first big hit I almost hit a telephone pole Wow that's Kerry and Richard I keep oh it's beautiful the nominees are Simon and Garfunkel for bridge over troubled water carpenters for close to you the Beatles for letting feet it's all of your dreams coming true it's you can't put it into words it's so exciting carpenters plus key we still can't believe we even had a record [Music] to go from having time in your hands to not enough time in a day [Applause] that's enough that's enough these days with carpenters nobody can afford the overtime looking for a follow-up too close to you Richard knew of an am writing team Roger Nichols and Paul Williams whom he particularly admired Paul would drop by and sing with us when we were rehearsing in the sound stage sauce well aware of his voice this really good commercial comes on if I knew it was Paul immediately which means it's at Nichols William song and I'm thinking this sounds like a hit record to me a bank commercial fell out of the television set Richard just heard it and you know he was on the phone there probably before the program went back on saying is that a whole song please tell me that's a whole song so I saw Paul and I said this song we only just begun does it have a bridge in the third verse yes oh I can't wait to get this out you know that this is a hit we've only two speaker [Music] white lace and promises baby girl [Music] that was the skydiving moment for Richard that was like when he got you know when he caught that it was like great because that was a gift from the gods to have we've only just begun laying there and yes we've just begun [Music] well as soon as close fuse on its way down begun and that became the wedding song for a generation [Music] as the records continued to sell anm struggled with marketing the wholesome brother and sister duo Richards said he always liked the phrase goody for issues not goody two-shoes with goodie for shoes even though it was indeed I think making fun of how squeaky-clean their image was they did West with us they did to have schoolboy haircuts they did sing nice songs and she did do needlepoint you know I mean he's ain't very rock'n'roll and A&M records I think not to their credit played that up even more with the artwork and the album covers in the look of it they just didn't know how to packages I really put up a fuss over the clothes to you because it was a rush job and management said nothing about it and to this day you know that that thing is still in print thankfully but I mean because it's a good album but it is one crappy cover their image on the album covers was not the only problem they realized Karen's own presentation needed some work [Music] look at the two of us stranger [Music] Richard and I tried desperately to get her away from the drums and that's nothing see we had early on we had to work on because she wanted to drummond sing and people did not want to see her behind the drums she was only 5'4 she had this huge drum kit it was tough to see her [Music] she was very very happy being Richards sister and not being the star of the group and she had no desire to stand up and be out in front she's very shy and she found her ground literally behind that drum set and when they finally said okay you're gonna go out front and hold that microphone I think it kind of terrified a the first two times [Music] so I made a deal winner for the balance she would stand up [Music] did you set up the drums all the time now you're standing up more you miss it back well yeah they finally got the message across to me that I wanted me to get up hey I was the only girl in the group so if they were looking at me I've never felt it was a coincidence that Karen played the drums so when she was forced out from behind the drums to the front and she didn't enjoy it at all but it was a must [Music] she couldn't a she she had to be out front that's where people wanted to see her this was the voice there's so many singers that you turn to one another and say was that so-and-so Karen Carpenter's sang two notes and you knew exactly who it was [Music] she'd be rehearsing a song in the car and you could barely hear her voice what I've got baby but then you'd go into the studio and you'd hear her sing it on a microphone and the microphone loved Karen Carpenter's voice it was like velvet it was like something I've never ever heard before [Music] she had an incredible tone in her voice it was rich and full and it was barely a whisper but it sounded really strong [Music] you cannot touch that emotion today there's no way there's nobody there's nobody out there that's touching that Patsy Cline was the closest to me both of them shared the same emotion and it was struggle and depression you saw this fabulous girl out front singing the songs with such emotion but again through her vulnerability she really felt those lyrics and so to watch The Carpenters that's what you were getting the most incredible interpretation of wonderful songs [Music] [Music] love [Music] I can't sit here after all these years and tell you that she actually lost herself in it I you know Karen could walk in and just a lot of these things singing in one take I feel that there was something bigger going on that we probably will never know what was going on because that voice had too much soul too much heartbreak too much pain in it to be just an insecurity [Music] Karen and I would a restaurant in Los Angeles and Karen and I were walking out having had dinner and John Lennon was walking in and as he drew up to us he stopped and just looked at her and said I want to tell you love I think you've got a fabulous voice and just walked on and she was absolutely incredulous about it she couldn't believe it and it was sort of he couldn't have meant it did he mean it and you know I said well of course he meant it I mean you know this was Lennon why on earth would he stop to tell you you've got a great voice if if he didn't think so but she had a problem dealing with it she really did had a problem believing it we would ask her to come and sing at a charity event acapella she was never comfortable doing that unless because she wanted Richards Arrangements and Richard there and I feel like I don't think she knew what just a raw beautiful melodic voice she possessed she wanted you know to have it be surrounded by the expertise of her brother for all the beauty of Karen's voice ultimately Richard was the key behind the carpenter's unique sound there are many songs that they did that I thought were quite amazing I think comes down to the way they were arranged you know Richard had a lot to do with the way the orchestration worked [Music] Richard was and is an astonishing instrumentalist great tuned writer Richard had this magic gift of not only writing great songs but knowing where to find great songs and how to pick them out see [Music] richard kind of maps right up there with brian wilson to me he had the same kind of perfectionism and really did some interesting things with the productions and the arrangements that he put together [Music] are the songs technically can I sit down and play them yes they are easy breezy but could you match it and beat them absolutely not [Music] [Applause] as the hits kept coming the demand for new material was high and Richard asked A&M Records to find his old college friend the music partner whom he'd not seen since the spectrum days I knew I'd see them again kind of do you know what I mean I was very proud of for them and I just had this instinct that we would do lots of stuff together the first single and a hit that he and I put together was goodbye to love late at night we're home from the studio and they were running an old Bing Crosby film and Bing played a ghostwriter to the successful dazzle Rathbone who was going through a dry spell nothing will ever quite come up - goodbye - love huh I wrote that myself I mean that really came from my heart Rathbones most famous song it's called goodbye - love you never hear it they just refer to it oh no use Benny I've been able to write a good son of my own since goodbye the love and I heard that title and pictured the opening I'll say goodbye whatever that's all the lyrics I came up with but I like the No [Music] I just can't seem to find [Music] constructing the arrangement to goodbye to love I pictured something that was a little off the beaten path to things that ordinarily don't go together which would be a melodic fuzz guitar solo [Music] I didn't think it was such a good idea but what do I know because you know this is a soft ballad and you don't put rock and roll guitars on balance nobody had ever done [Music] we heard it in the radio and it was great we were all up and I think in Richards room listening and the DJ said and there's the Carpenters doing a Jimi Hendrix song in us so I mean and they just had to make cracks about it the DJ's couldn't help himself because it was so odd Richard actually got hate mail based on the fact that he you know sullied the Carpenters by using an elect a fuzz stone electric guitar we actually wrote divided 11 one day on top of the world on the other it's a good two day period it was 1973 and the Carpenters were on top of the world while America was in turmoil the troops being pulled out of Vietnam and President Nixon was on the road to impeachment [Music] being invited to the White House to perform is not only a thrilled that it's indeed an honor that success was not only domestic they were now truly international superstars to come to a foreign country you know it's really hard for you to think that somebody who's never seen you ever can automatically spot you know but with the strain of being in the spotlight and a relentless schedule the cracks were beginning to show she definitely as she was a little older began to worry about the wage thing I can remember Karen being reading and being hurt by quotes I don't know if they said cherubic plump I said why does that bother you and she says but it never leaves me and it became a real a monument for her karen stayed so basic she wanted the white picket fence she just wanted to get married have children be cooking Thanksgiving dinners and that was her real goal in life but then she got into this early success and then you're driven and you want more success and you have to perform and you have to can keep on the merry-go-round and I think that took its toll on her eventually you're on the road a lot you work about six out of seven days most the time when we go out on tour it's it's seven days a week I hate the top end doesn't kill that guy collision we had bigger stuff the amount of touring in 74 was nice it wasn't only all Vegas in Tahoe it was also the UK and it was Japan and it was not when the Heligan American album Richard I think to this day feels like he toured too much death one too well I think was partly their own desire to realize upon this great opportunity that they had and they've been working towards this for so many years we had been so laser focused on success and once it came we knew that once it came you could not let it go and our personal eyes were kind of over there and that left a huge hole and they had a manager and an agent who frankly profited greatly from booking them it wasn't very smart all of our success sprang from the ranks so you don't forget the records and go touring around the world I don't think he was ever truly happy on the road because once there was an audience the audience obviously loved and adored Karen there was tremendous love and respect between the two of them but I think Richard was jealous ladies and gentlemen mr. Richard Carpenter you couldn't go and explain to the thousands of people every night who was sitting out in the audience that I wrote this I produced it I what they came and they saw is she singing it he looks like a piano player back there even though we had lights on him and all of that [Music] she was a parent jump sticks in her hand I think it bothered Richard that his contribution wasn't recognized as much as it should have been because I mean he really was the forest [Music] they did go around the roses at times but I think the relationship was really sweet was tender I think they admired each other you never saw such support in your life between you no artist and producer back and forth as you did with those two [Music] earlier I said I was tripping over the songs I wasn't tripping over them so much anymore and it was getting harder and harder to find [Music] to be honest Richard procrastinated writing he'd have ideas but he wouldn't force himself to sit down and flush them out and I didn't feel comfortable calling Richard up and saying we are [Music] and of course we're a human and the Bloom was off the roads it wasn't as exciting as it was when it all first happened it wouldn't be for anybody by 1975 the constant touring and studio work had taken their toll on Karen's health with visible effect I hadn't seen them in a while I was away for the summer and my first stop when I got back to the States was that I went to Las Vegas to go see them and I was quite appalled and what like what her parents was she had lost considerable weight she was normally loaded with energy and in Vegas she was having to have a lie down between shows which is not like her and and of course she was too thin and she'd come out and what she thought she looked great and the audience would gasp it's the carpenters [Music] usually it was Richard or I richard mostly who would convince not to go out without putting on the jacket because she had gotten so thin there were truthfully people who came up to me and will convinced that she had cancer we just thought she was being compulsive in her dieting and compulsive in her exercising we would always encourage her to eat and if we were all out to dinner she would have a habit of saying this is delicious here tastes this and she put it on your plate before you know it she had put food on other people's plates and she wasn't eating very much we all heard something was wrong but we just didn't know what we were dealing with they were supposed to then and go immediately to Japan and I really didn't see how she could even survive such a trip you know I mean really it was bad it was she was rather gaunt you know our Secretary has many a yeer Evelyn Wallace happened to read an article on eating disorders it mentioned anorexia nervosa she brought it to our attention we looked at it we said this really looks like [Music] you had two people in the carpenters Karen Carpenter who was killing herself with anorexia that no one in her family would recognize or do anything about and Richard Carpenter falling further and further into a world of quaaludes [Music] there was a sleeping coat at the time I used not being a party animal I did not know as being used recreationally it was prescribed by my doctor and taken properly you know as it was damn good but it had a side effect of making you a little bit high is what it did and I kind of enjoyed that at the end of the day and it got out of hand after a few years certainly by Oh seventy six and seven I was it isn't a dream [Music] it didn't help that that was going on at the same time Karen was experiencing her problems that meant both of them in their own way were chaotic instead of getting a little bit annoyed that somebody did this thing you become raging because somebody did that thing things came to a head between Richard and his manager while on tour they were playing in Las Vegas Neil Sedaka was the opening act the carpenters came on afterward and Tom Jones had come from the hotel he was working in to see the show when there's a big entertainer who comes to the show the headliner in this case the carpenters would introduce them well stupidly Neil Sedaka the opening act introduced Tom Jones because of that I'm fired he fired Neil Sedaka that night and subsequently Neil Sedaka fired me for putting him together with the carpenters in need of a new manager the carpenters turned to impresario Jerry Weintraub Jerry's plan was to take the duo in a different direction with their own television special Richard still wasn't happy mentally I wasn't in the mood to be doing these things once we finally got one and secondly I didn't want anything with skits I didn't want cam laughter I hate that Karin on the other hand just loved all of this stuff and so she took to them by this point in time when it came to the specials they really should have been caring specials because what do you do with me I'm I'm a behind-the-scenes guy it was so nice about it Richard was it didn't bother have how much screen time I gave her because he knew that by that time that she was the star [Music] as I was walking to my car in the parking lot after the show mrs. carpenter sidle up to me and said Bob wasn't Richard wonderful in a stop a minute because for my two cents worth that show would be remembered with Karen Carpenter's vocalizing I think Richard had been the favorite or the golden boy while they were growing up and as a result she developed these these feelings of low self esteem and self doubt despite Karen's insecurities the shows were a huge success but for Richard the sleeping tablets were causing serious problems getting to a point I couldn't even sign my name I couldn't play the piano or if the damn it was do something or die is what it was so with great support from family and friends I went off to a rehab January 10th of 1979 last night and he feels a little bit what actually happened yeah seriously two days before we were gonna come over he caught himself a real nice case of the flu I said to her Karen I don't know why all of this has happened and it doesn't much matter but I'm here taking care of my problem it's time you faced up to yours and I remember saying we can go into the 80s the same way we went into the seventies you know we have our talent we have our record contract you know we can set the world on fire again ignoring Richards please Karen would not be deterred from her plan to record a solo album and she called and she wanted it in a manner of speaking my blessing I can't go do this unless I know that you're behind it and I said well other than the fact that I don't think you're well enough to do it you certainly have my blessing I I know you this is something you want but I said just just not the descending of my business but do me one favor do not do disco you know disco was hot obviously I said you were not cut out to do disco this is not you top New York record producer Phil Ramone took on the challenge of producing Karen's solo album it was an interesting challenge because I did not want to take us down the road of having an outside carpenter producer which would be ridiculous for her and for me and tackle things that she really was too comfortable in [Music] well they played it for the powers that be it am both Jerry Morrison and Herb Alpert and Richard were in the control room and it was quite silent at the end of like three or four cuts and she's looking at me and I'm ready to bite my nails and I'm not sure what's going on and it was rather negative shall we say we didn't think it would get a really great reaction and we didn't want to have Karen go through that you know it's been reported through the years that I put the the stake through it or you know our mother came in and said absolutely not it's all poppycock it was all up to Karen and she listened to all the people whose opinion she respected and it was her decision and she said we're not putting it up and that was the end of that if there was this lack of support and it wasn't the right move she would rather be known as the carpenters and it was easier to to put on the shelf work finally began on the next carpenters album but for Karen a new distraction was just around the corner and Joe well we've hardly gotten started on that in 1980 when she meets this fellow tomber like he was a dashing real estate man and he had lots of personality and she was so happy well it seemed like they got along very well and but I never dreamed that two months later they'd be married it was a whirlwind romance and they got married on August 31st of 1980 [Music] she was very anxious to be married yes but she picked the wrong guy it was the first time I'd actually been attracted on the first date usually you know you open the door and you go from then on it degenerated I was worried about it I discussed with her the fact that there were some issues but she was determined I know that Karen's mom Agnes and Harold tried to counsel her that you know you do have to be careful when you're in the in the arena that you're in that you marry someone that's not just after money or fame you know you know a jet plane and in a boat and lived lavishly the end of the day there was really nothing of financial substance left and he didn't like the influence that her family had or that I had and even treat her too well [Music] ultimately I think he reached the conclusion that the marriage was not successful in it he won determinated and she agreed with that was it too obviously a tough time for her because with the marriage not working out and and her being painfully thin and she had but certainly by this time though that something was wrong I know Richard talked to her about she went to New York to be in the care of a self-styled dr. Steven Levin Ron treated Karen Carpenter for anorexia he's a therapist who specializes in eating disorders he said for all you know in so many words when we get to the bottom of what this is Karen may find out that she doesn't even enjoy being a singer and I'm thinking bull [Music] since you been [Music] the time I think the idea that she would never sing again was an exaggeration I know what it the sentiment was was that she would like to be able to choose what she does but she probably would have loved to sing to some extent she just needed more say and who she was and how it all happened plays some weaken slowed we would [Music] she came back out an April for a visit I mean so thin she wanted to and so did I cut a couple of songs of course she sounded marvelous it didn't matter what kind of shape she was in [Music] Karin headed back to New York but her condition deteriorated and she was admitted to hospital weighing just five-and-a-half stoli well here she is and I'm saying Karen does it crap don't you understand this is crap you're going about this all the wrong way this guy isn't getting anything accomplished because you're in a hospital now when you don't know what's wrong with someone you love usually your reaction is to become afraid and when we get afraid we quite often cover it with anger unfortunately putting her on the defensive would not have helped it doesn't usually help professionals because they become more rigid there were rumors said that you were suffering from from the slimmers disease from anorexia nervosa is that right no how is this pooped but she just got out she was the most truthful person I think I have ever met about almost everything but she lied like a trouper about the anorexia situation it went down to about six stone in weight I think didn't you I have no idea what six down and waited [Laughter] it's very difficult to work out think about 84 pounds no you know that no no and the doctors said be more physical grab Karen and tell her you love her maybe you know maybe she needs to hear that more and her mother was very hurt she loved Karen very deeply and it just was very very hurtful to hear her doctors say show her love by Thanksgiving she's decided she wants to of 82 she wants to come home we were just so glad to have her back but we didn't feel that she was in any way a lot better we really differed with the doctor I guess on that point she had marvelous eyes and you know the eyes of the window to the soul and III I could see in her eyes that she was not well so I reported this to our longtime financial adviser is still with me today Werner Wolfson and it got back to Karen who found out where I was shopping one particular evening and when I walked out of the department store here's my Jaguar and here's her Jaguar I'm thinking oh this is trouble I mean if she sought out where I am there's trouble and and oh she read me the riot act you know I supported you and you're here you should support me and so on and so forth and I said Karen I'd support you through anything if I felt you were doing the right thing but I can look right into your eyes and tell that you are not well and I said the only reason I am raising red flags to Werner and and the folks and all is because I believe you are still sick and I love you and am I glad I said that because within weeks she was dead [Music] last time I saw her I was actually two days before she died she had come to my office to review her divorce agreement from her husband and it had to be revised in a couple of respects and we made a date to sign it on Friday which is the day that she died Karen Carpenter the pop singing star died today of cardiac arrest she's just 32 years old a spokesman for the family said that ms carpenter had battled anorexia nervosa for years anorexic Saar compulsive dieters sometimes to the point of starvation no one actually dies from anorexia nervosa its complications due to but it doesn't much matter in my book it's that she wasn't treated properly and that's all there is to it [Music] an autopsy tonight failed to determine the cause of the death of singer Karen Carpenter she died in California today at the age of 32 of cardiac arrest coroner says it could take weeks to find out why Karen Carpenter died I don't think we're gonna ever know what killed Karen I do agree with everything I've read that she didn't want to die she wanted to stop the way things were I think what she desperately wanted was time for herself to think about what she wanted out of her life because apparently she had everything and yet she felt she didn't have what she wanted but I do wish Karen had been here now because I mean we know so much more now it wasn't that she had bad treatment she didn't there wasn't enough knowledge when I was young I'd listen to the radio waiting for my favorites but she was and will always be well loved and well remembered I will always love her voice so she know her legacy is gonna be around for a long long time those were such happy times and I was picking up a gift this morning at the mall and I heard a song that she was recording while we were dating you know and you know I just I just got goose bumps you know it's still difficult after all this time [Music] to me nobody can test Karen Carpenter's emotion that was from another that was another place another time [Music] this is a very sad day and at the same time a very special and beautiful day to my family and I my only regret is that Karin is not physically here to share it with us however I know she is very much alive in our minds and in our hearts it's yesterday I certainly miss her you know we all do the whole world does for me she's great a singer that ever lived and I got to play with her there's no stigma about liking them now there's no stigma about saying the Carpenters are fabulous and it's such a shame that Karen's not around to see this to me they are just musically so superb they deserve to be a major part of the history of our industry I get chills I still do the music is so beautiful and what I love is that at least that Richard is able to still have that success today and impart it to his children and enjoy life I just wish that Karyn were able to be in that position as well [Music] stay with us for the Carpenters in concert next [Music]

Channel: newvillefan

Views: 3,276,593

Rating: 4.8317227 out of 5

Keywords: Carpenters, Documentary

Id: 2t97I-pBIEk

Length: 59min 30sec (3570 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 11 2016