The Carpenters: The Untold Story : An Authorized Biography [Hardcover]

Ray Coleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1994

The author of Lennon journeys beyond the limelight to explore the public and private lives of Karen and Richard Carpenter, their rise to international fame, and Karen's struggle with anorexia and her tragic death. 100,000 first printing. $75,000 ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite a clean-cut image that put them distinctly at odds with the glam-rock and disco styles of other '70's bands, the Carpenters, renowned for such mellifluous hits as "Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun," were one of the most successful pop acts of the time. But like many of their more flamboyant colleagues, they had problems: Richard Carpenter suffered through a bout of severe chemical dependency (from which he eventually recovered) while his sister Karen battled anorexia nervosa, resulting in her death in 1983. Although rock journalist Ray Coleman's ( Lennon ) authorized biography is ostensibly a history of the Carpenters' career as pop icons, it also doubles as a case study of an anorexic, beginning and ending with accounts of Karen's final days and recording in meticulous, and at times almost intrusive, detail her struggles with her weight and her self-image. Coleman avoids pathologizing Karen or offering pat explanations for her condition. Instead, he impartially weaves together commentary, ranging from the affectionate to the critical, about Karen and Richard's lives and careers from the various viewpoints of family members, friends and associates, including Richard Carpenter himself. Well-researched, well-written and less gossipy than most celebrity bios, this offers insights into the workings of the music industry. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The Carpenters' music was assailed in its time as "treacle, drippy easy listening, or even schlock music." Its critics proceeded, however, from a false premise--that it was rock music. In the 1970s--the Carpenters' career zenith--rock was Rock, self-important and serious. But the Carpenters were creating pop, light and melodic. As the 1970s recede into history, the Carpenters' gentle music has begun to be appreciated on its own merits. It belongs to a lineage that includes Georgia Gibbs and, at its most powerful, Judy Garland, rather than that of the Carpenters' contemporaries Led Zeppelin and David Bowie. Coleman's authorized biography treats Karen and Richard Carpenter sympathetically, recounting her struggles with anorexia nervosa and evaluating her vocal abilities and his arranging talents as elements of a pop rather than a rock style. Their music may not have taken any risks, Coleman concludes, but it was well crafted and well executed. (The selected discography that follows the main text reminds us how extensive it was, too.) Regardless of how one feels about the Carpenters' music, Coleman's account of the brother-sister act is compelling, especially in its portrait of Karen as a talented, famous young woman in the grips of an overpowering disease then little known or understood. Mike Tribby

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 359 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (April 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060183454
• ISBN-13: 978-0060183455
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ray Colemans' Biography on the Carpenters Leaves Out Needed Detail, August 1, 2005

By 

kone "kone" (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Carpenters: The Untold Story : An Authorized Biography (Hardcover)

In "The Carpenters: The Untold Story" Ray Coleman has written the authorized (with Richard Carpenter's approval) biography of the famous brother and sister singer act, the Carpenters. With many other musical biographies to his credit (John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, Eric Clapton, and others), Coleman surely has the literary talent to tell the story of Richard and Karen Carpenter, yet, unfortunately, Coleman fails to deliver the intimate personal details that help one to understand the tragic and bittersweet story that is the Carpenters.

In any autorized biography, there is a tendancy to "sugar-coat" the live(s) of the subjects, and to gloss over their shortcomings. This then begs the question: Does Coleman tell the fans the entire story of the Carpenter Duo, warts and all? In my reading of the book, I have to answer both "yes" and "no". Yes, Coleman tells the entire story of the Carpenter's birth in New Haven, CT, to their relocation across the country to Downey, CA (to further the musical aspirations of Rich Carpenter), to the meteoric rise through the pop charts, and finally, to the sad decline and eventual death of Karen to anorexia at just 32 years of age. The basic framework of their lives is told here with input from many different sources, but what is lacking is the personal and character development of both Richard and Karen. Yes, we learn about their hits, but what do we actually know about their personal lives? What are they like when the stage lights are dim? What did they do for fun? Did they drink, smoke, party, etc.? Virtually nothing is told about their personal lives, and this especially holds true for Richard Carpenter. We know so little about Richard, and yet in the TV movie about their lives, we are given snippets of scenes where perhaps Richard was not lax in partaking of the sexual benefits of being adored by his female fans. Coleman mentions nothing of this. On the other hand, Richard's battle with addiction to prescription sleeping pills is detailed. In an unedited backstage picture with Herb Alpert and Karen, I saw Richard Carpenter with a lit cigarette in one hand, and a drink in the other. I was shocked, Richard smoked and drank?!? Like Jackie Kennedy (and today with Jennifer Aniston), Richard's cigarette habit was obviously a well-guarded secret. In later viewings of that same picture, the frame was edited so that the cigarette was omitted. How interesting it would have been to learn when Richard had his first drink or his first smoke. Did he sneak a smoke in the garage, or did he have the approval of his parents, affterall, his dad smoked a pipe. Details like this would have enlivened the book and given more insight into the complex personality of Richard Carpenter. One gets the impression that Coleman was perhaps limited by Richard Carpenter himself in what details he could reveal.

As far as Karen's personal life is concerned, Coleman offers more, but it is still vastly inadequate to understand the person and personality of Karen Carpenter. Coleman mentions Karen's sadness in her inability to establish a personal deep relationship with someone else but her own family. I learned from Coleman that Karen moved in and lived with her boyfriend for a short while, obviously in direct conflict with her parents wishes. What sort of confrontation with her parents resulted from her actions we are not told. How about the other men in Karen's life? In an interview that Karen did in the early 1970's she mentions (almost proudly) that she was not a virgin. Coleman does not mention this in his biography, nor does he mention any details about Karen's love life.

Of course, Karen's battle and eventual death from anorexia is an issue which fans are intensely interested, as it is so hard to comprehend why a talented and beautiful woman such as Karen would willingly starve herself to death. There is simply not enough detail on these and other critical issues for the reader to begin to understand the tortured mind of a person suffering from anorexia. The Carpenter home life (with mom and dad) was extremely sheltered, and neither Rich nor Karen moved out of their parent's house intil they were both in their 20's. And when they did move out, they bought a house together, somewhat unusual for a brother and sister. Now it is obvious that they loved their parents and that they loved each other, but is there more lurking beneath the surface that Coleman is not telling, or is not allowed to tell? Could the home life dynamics been a factor in Karen developing anorexia? For instance, it is insinuated that the Carpenter parents, Agnes and Harold, held Richard in such high regard that (mother Agnes) seemed almost resentful that Karen received the bulk of the adoration and love of the fans instead of Richard. Was the career of Karen an afterthought compared to that of her brother Richard? "The Karen Carpenter Story", the made for television movie, implies that one of the reasons for Karen's descent into anorexia is a desperate plea to get demonstrative love and approval from her mother, who seems to favor Richard as her favorite child. Coleman could have shed more light into the family dynamics of the Carpenters, but unfortunately does not. As this is an authorized biography, perhaps Coleman was prevented from revealing more details in this area to protect the feelings of the Carpenter parents.

While much detail is given in regards to Karen's battle with anorexia, the enormous number of laxatives she took, her dieting tricks, etc., there is not enough space given to the possible reasons for Karen's disease. Obviously, Karen suffered from a severe mental disorder, yet, no causative factors are spelled out. Perhaps the answer to this is that anorexia and bulemia are still misunderstood mental illnesses, and at the time of the writing of this book, even less was known. How enlightening it would have been to have had Karen's psychologist/therapist from New York, share with the readership his insights into Karen's illness.

Another area in which more detail is needed is in Karen's marriage to Tom Burris. There are no interviews with Mr. Burris in the book, in fact, I have never seen any interviews anywhere from Mr. Burris on his relationship to Karen Carpenter. If Mr. Burris was unwilling to be interviewed, then surely, the couple had friends that could have shed light on their relationship. All we are given is that the two were married, and about a year later, Tom Burris abruptly and mysteriously "gives Karen back to her parents", stating, "You can have her back". There is much to be read into his statement, but Coleman fails to bring out the details of why the marriage failed. Was it Karen's anorexia? Was it Karen's attachment to her parents (her mom and dad accompanied the newlyweds on their honeymoon)? Obviously for a marriage to fall apart in a year's time, there is something terribly wrong, yet the reader is left guessing as to what the underlying factors were. Was Burris at Karen's funeral? Again, no details are given. Did Burris remarry? Unfortunately, there are too many unanswered questions.

Karen Carpenter was and is a much beloved figure in the music industry. Her multitudes of fans absolutely idolize and love Karen for her innocence, her sweet girl-next-door personality, and of course her astouding vocal ability. Coleman fails to truly bring out the inner Karen Carpenter, the Karen Carpenter behind the sweet smile and image. This is the major failing of his book.

Fans of the Carpenters will enjoy the book for the pure nostalgia factor alone, but I believe most readers will feel that there was so much more to tell about both Richard and Karen's lives that would have helped us to understand them better. Perhaps someday there will be an unauthorized biography where the details will come out. Until then, their lives, and especially the life and death of Karen Carpenter will remain a mystery.

Jim "Konedog" Koenig

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Soft singers with a somewhat creepy background, October 20, 2004

By 

Chad Sosna "Doo-Lang Love" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Carpenters: The Untold Story : An Authorized Biography (Hardcover)

This is the single best source of definitive material on Karen and Richard Carpenter's lives, but might be of interest mostly to Carpenters fans or those who love to read rock bios. The book attempts to delve deeply into their lives, what went right and what went very, very wrong.

As most fans know, the Carpenters had overbearing parents who were attempting to make Richard famous when Karen ended up (reluctantly) in the front. While fans enjoyed their sweet hits, "Close to You," "We've Only Just Begun" and many others, their lives descended into Richard's pill-popping and Karen's tragic anorexia.

As one who owns extensive printed materials on the Carpenters, including all their fan club newsletters, it is interesting to see a slight subjective emphasis in this book. Yes, some bios will laud the subjects at hand, while still telling the down side of the story, and this does that to some degree. But oddly, there is too much high stature given to Richard. Though he and Karen were close, it does seem that his control over their career put an extreme amount of pressure on her that helped contribute to her anorexia. Actually, this book has more of an insider picture on her anorexia than anything else ever published. Believe me, it was bad, and you find out just how bad here. I simply wished more information had been developed about when Karen wanted to release her solo album and the family basically talked her out of it. Also, couldn't the author had found more people to talk about the parents' behavior toward Karen and Richard? There's something more there.

Other reviewers have suggested this book is somewhat sanitized. While I don't fully agree, I do think there is a tendency to blame everything/everyone else for the decline in the Carpenters' popularity. They were stuck in a groove. Richard wouldn't change his sound and wouldn't let Karen change hers. All groups must change to stay popular. Plus, no record company is going to fully support a band whose leader is sick with they don't know what (they knew little about anorexia then) and looks like a skeleton.

It has also been said in other reviews that the book had a terrible writing style. I didn't see that. I thought it was perfectly readable. My only comment is that the book has way too much detail. The editors could have cut 75 pages at least and given it a better pace.

That said, it's a pretty decent book. True Carpenters' fans will always take a side or find a fault. But there are no other books on them that are this in-depth, and as time goes on, there probably won't be. Surely Richard won't write his life story, and if so, who cares--it was Karen everyone wanted to know about.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a wonderful gift she had, August 18, 2000

By 

Becky - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Carpenters: The Untold Story : An Authorized Biography (Hardcover)

To outsiders, it seemed as if Karen and Richard Carpenter were living a dream. And they certainly seemed to have it all - looks, wealth, fame, fans, and an abundance of talent that has gone almost unrivalled in 30 years. Critics from the era and hard rock fans dismissed them, labelling them with phrases such as "Squeaky Clean," "Too Good To Be True," "All American," and many, many others. But appearances can be deceiving.

Richard had a drug dependency (the substances he abused were legal, by the way) which almost cost him his career and could have ended his life had he not been rehabilitated, and for 7 years Karen was in the terrible psychological grip of a then unknown disease - anorexia nervosa, a disease which ravaged her emotionally as well as physically, in an identical manner to the fashion in which cancer and AIDS ravage their victims. But despite their personal troubles and turmoil, the Carpenters music remained beautiful, enriching, and touching.

With the exclusive co-operation of Richard and Agnes Carpenter and their family and friends, entertainment writer Ray Coleman describes the Carpenters adolescence, their rise to fame, their years at the top, their legendary music, their struggles and Karen's ultimate tragedy in a way that is objective, emotional, and touching, painting a sad portrait of a beautiful woman who never realised how beautiful she was, a beloved woman who never knew how much she was loved, and a famous woman who worked in a corrupt and CORRUPTING industry but never lost her down to earth morality and values, whose greatest wish was to have a family of her own, a wish that sadly, she would never obtain. But if Karen's story achieves anything, I hope it is this - that it may save the lives of other anorexia sufferers. Surely that is what Karen herself would want.

It is now 2000, 30 years after the Carpenters debuted. Their records are still being bought, their songs listened to and admired while the artists and critics who deplored them have long been forgotten. Finally, their talents are being acknowledged - Richard is praised for being the great musician that he is, a superior producer and arranger with an unparalleled ear for quality and timelessness. And Karen's voice, that haunting, gorgeous voice, is recognised as being one of God's greatest gifts to music.