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The Carpenters-P1-Becoming The Carpenters
Richard was a quiet child who spent most of his time at home listening to Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Red Nichols and Spike Jones, and playing the piano. Karen was friendly and outgoing; she liked to play sports, including softball with the neighborhood kids, but still spent a lot of time listening to music. She enjoyed dancing and began ballet and tap classes aged four. Karen and Richard were close, and shared a common interest in music. In particular, they became fans of Les Paul and Mary Ford, whose music featured multiple overdubbed voices and instruments. Richard began piano lessons aged eight, but quickly grew frustrated with the formal direction of the lessons and quit after a year. He had begun to teach himself how to play by ear by 11, and resumed studying with a different teacher. He took a greater interest in playing this time, and would frequently practice at home. By age 14, he was interested in performing professionally, and started lessons at Yale School of Music.
By 1965, Karen had been practicing the drums for a year, and Richard was refining his piano techniques under Pooler's tuition. Late that year, Richard teamed up with Jacobs, who played tuba and stand-up bass. With Karen drumming, the three formed the jazz-oriented Richard Carpenter Trio.
Richard and Karen then teamed up with student musicians from Long Beach State to form the band Spectrum. The group sent demos to various record labels around Los Angeles, with little success. Part of the problem was the group's middle-of-the-road sound, which was different to the psychedelic rock popular in clubs. Spectrum performed regularly at the Whisky a Go Go nightclub in Los Angeles, including opening for Steppenwolf early in that group's career.
By 1968, Spectrum had disbanded, finding it difficult to get gigs as their music was not considered "danceable" Having enjoyed their multi-layer sound experiments at Osborn's studio, Richard and Karen decided to formally become a duo, calling themselves Carpenters.
Information Sourced From:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carpenters
Body Sourced From;
https://youtu.be/2t97I-pBIEk
Public Access America
PublicAccessPod Productions
Footage edited by PublicAccessPod
producer of Public Access America
Podcast Links
Stitcher: goo.gl/XpKHWB
iTunes: goo.gl/soc7KG
GooglePlay: goo.gl/gPEDbf
YouTube goo.gl/xrKbJb
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By Public Access America
4.1
1717 ratings
Richard was a quiet child who spent most of his time at home listening to Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Red Nichols and Spike Jones, and playing the piano. Karen was friendly and outgoing; she liked to play sports, including softball with the neighborhood kids, but still spent a lot of time listening to music. She enjoyed dancing and began ballet and tap classes aged four. Karen and Richard were close, and shared a common interest in music. In particular, they became fans of Les Paul and Mary Ford, whose music featured multiple overdubbed voices and instruments. Richard began piano lessons aged eight, but quickly grew frustrated with the formal direction of the lessons and quit after a year. He had begun to teach himself how to play by ear by 11, and resumed studying with a different teacher. He took a greater interest in playing this time, and would frequently practice at home. By age 14, he was interested in performing professionally, and started lessons at Yale School of Music.
By 1965, Karen had been practicing the drums for a year, and Richard was refining his piano techniques under Pooler's tuition. Late that year, Richard teamed up with Jacobs, who played tuba and stand-up bass. With Karen drumming, the three formed the jazz-oriented Richard Carpenter Trio.
Richard and Karen then teamed up with student musicians from Long Beach State to form the band Spectrum. The group sent demos to various record labels around Los Angeles, with little success. Part of the problem was the group's middle-of-the-road sound, which was different to the psychedelic rock popular in clubs. Spectrum performed regularly at the Whisky a Go Go nightclub in Los Angeles, including opening for Steppenwolf early in that group's career.
By 1968, Spectrum had disbanded, finding it difficult to get gigs as their music was not considered "danceable" Having enjoyed their multi-layer sound experiments at Osborn's studio, Richard and Karen decided to formally become a duo, calling themselves Carpenters.
Information Sourced From:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carpenters
Body Sourced From;
https://youtu.be/2t97I-pBIEk
Public Access America
PublicAccessPod Productions
Footage edited by PublicAccessPod
producer of Public Access America
Podcast Links
Stitcher: goo.gl/XpKHWB
iTunes: goo.gl/soc7KG
GooglePlay: goo.gl/gPEDbf
YouTube goo.gl/xrKbJb