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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.
She will be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.[1]
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. 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 "Take Good Care of My Baby" (Bobby Vee and later Dion, Bobby Vinton, Stephen Collins, and Smokie) "The Loco-Motion" (Little Eva, and later Grand Funk Railroad, Tina Turner, Kylie Minogue, and Dwight Yoakam), "One Fine Day" (The Chiffons and later Aaron Neville, Rita Coolidge, and Natalie Merchant as well as King herself, in 1980), "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (The Monkees), "Some Kind of Wonderful" (The Drifters version is not the same song as the Grand Funk Rairoad version), "Up on the Roof" (The Drifters, Laura Nyro, Billy Joe Royal, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, Peter Cincotti, and later King herself), "Chains" (The Cookies, and later The Beatles), "Don't Say Nothing Bad About My Baby" (Cookies), "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (Aretha Franklin, and later Mary J. Blige, Laura Nyro, Patti LaBelle, Celine Dion, and King herself), "Don't Bring Me Down" (The Animals),"Hi De Ho" (Blood, Sweat and Tears), "Wasn't Born to Follow" (The Byrds), "Hey Girl" (Freddie Scott, and Donny Osmond), "I'm into Something Good" (Ethel "Earl-Jean" McCrea of The Cookies, and then Herman's Hermits), "Go Away Little Girl" (Steve Lawrence, and then Donny Osmond), and "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)" (The Crystals). She had a modest hit singing one of her own songs in 1962 with "It Might As Well Rain Until September." The pair had two daughters, Louise Goffin and Sherry Goffin Kondor who also became singers. 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. "I Feel The Earth Move" later also charted for Martika in 1989.
King also wrote the song "It's Going to Take Some Time This Time" (recorded by the Carpenters.)
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. The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
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. Carole King Artistfacts
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 1990, Carole King was inducted, along with Goffin, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the non-performer category for her songwriting achievements.
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 also supported the Los Angeles Children's Museum.
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.
Discography
- 1970: Writer
- 1971: Tapestry
- 1971: Music
- 1972: Rhymes and Reasons
- 1973: Fantasy
- 1974: Wrap Around Joy
- 1975: Really Rosie
- 1976: Thoroughbred
- 1977: Simple Things
- 1978: Welcome Home
- 1979: Touch the Sky
- 1980: Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King
- 1982: One to One
- 1983: Speeding Time
- 1989: City Streets
- 1993: Colour of Your Dreams
- 1994: In Concert
- 1994: Time Gone By
- 1996: Carnegie Hall Concert: June 18, 1971
- 1997: Time Heals All Wounds
- 1998: Goin' Back
- 2000: Super Hits
- 2001: Love Makes the World
- 2005: The Living Room Tour
References
External links
Official site
Other sites
Fan sites
Articles on Carole King
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