Rock & Roll Heaven: Karen Carpenter

On February 4th, 1983, one of the most beautiful voices in the history of modern popular music was silenced forever when Karen Carpenter was rushed to a California hospital and pronounced dead. She was only a month shy of her 33rd birthday. The cause of death was heart failure brought on by a long term battle with anorexia.

Back in November of 2008, I began what was to be a series of articles called "Rock and Roll Heaven" that would examine the controversial deaths and lives of artists in the modern music world. At that time the series began with articles on Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Michael Hutchence, and Jim Morrison. This examination of Karen Carpenter continues that series.

Karen and her brother Richard were born and raised in Connecticut, but their parents moved out to California in 1963. Richard became a piano prodigy, but Karen was more of a tomboy into sports and showed little interest in music as a young girl. On entering high school she joined the school band, and from that developed an interest in playing the drums.

Karen fell in love with the drums and became an outstanding drummer. She joined up with Richard and a friend named Wes Jacobs, and the three became 'The Richard Carpenter Trio', playing mostly jazz at local clubs. They also played with a band known as 'Spectrum' and recorded numerous demos, but they had little recording success throughout the mid-1960's.

Karen and Richard finally were signed to a recording contract by A&M Records in 1969, and then in 1970 released their second album and first big smash titled 'Close to You'. The album and the two hugely popular singles "(They Long to Be) Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun" proved to be hits, the songs becoming modern masterpieces.

As the band moved through the 1970's, Karen was pushed by her label to get out from behind her drum set and perform at the front of the stage. She loved the drums and was more than good at it. The greats of drumming such as Buddy Rich considered her outstanding, and in 1975 she was voted as the Best Rock Drummer of the Year by the readers of Playboy magazine. Richard said that she always considered herself a drummer who sang.

Back when she was 16 years old, Karen had begun a rigorous diet program because she thought that at 5'5 and 145 pounds she was too heavy. She was under a doctor's supervision and dropped to 120 pounds, which she maintained for years. As anxiety over her career direction began to mount in the mid-1970's, she developed what would later be confirmed as the beginnings of anorexia nervosa, a now well-known but then little-understood illness.

With Karen battling anorexia and Richard battling an addiction to Qualludes, The Carpenters cancelled many of their concert performances. Karen's personal life proved difficult as well, as she moved in and out of relationships including one with comedian Steve Martin, and an especially difficult breakup with songwriter Tom Bahler. After their breakup, which came because he fathered a child with another woman, Bahler penned the song "She's Out of My Life", which became a hit for Michael Jackson.

The Carpenters performed live for the final time in Brazil in 1981, which was also the year the Karen ended what had been a one year marriage to real estate developer Tom Burris. In April of 1982 she recorded her final song "Now" and then returned home to her parents house in California. The family was startled by her appearance and low weight.

After a hospital stay that forcibly put 30 pounds on her via intravenous feeding, Karen left the hospital and went back to California. Here she made her final public appearance as a singer when she performed at her godchildren's school singing Christmas standards. The strain on her heart after years of binge dieting had taken it's toll, however, and she returned to her parents home where she suffered the heart failure that led to her death.

It was well known that Karen exhibited many of the deceptive eating, purging, and medicating practices of those with eating disorders during her lifetime. In the wake of her death her family started up the "Karen A. Carpenter Memorial Foundation" to help raise awareness and research funds to combat eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. It is now known as the "Carpenter Family Foundation" and provides funding for the arts as well.

With songs such as the previously mentioned 'Close to You' and 'We've Only Just Begun', as well as hits like 'I Won't Last a Day Without You', 'Only Yesterday', and 'There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)", as well as the immortal Christmas classic "Merry Christmas, Darling", Karen Carpenter left an indelible mark on the music-loving world.

But perhaps as much as her music, her talented drumming and her lyrical voice that caused Rolling Stone magazine to rank her as one of the 100 greatest singers of all-time in 2008, we remember Karen Carpenter for her death as a direct result of anorexia. As someone who has experienced the devastating effects of an eating disorder within my own family, it is one of the greatest challenges that an individual and family can face.

Where is the origination of a true eating disorder? Is it the same as a drug addiction, an alcohol dependency, a sexual disorder? Are they all part and parcel of individual human beings who simply cannot cope, for whatever reason, with life's challenges, and at some point make a conscious choice to take a known alternate route to find that happiness they so greatly crave?

NOTE: This is the continuation of the series 'Rock and Roll Heaven' begun in 2008, all entries of which can be viewed by clicking on to that label below the article at the www.mattveasey.com website

Rock & Roll Heaven, or Gone to Hell?

This past week I've brought you a series of mini-bios on rock stars who died young: 60's & 70's hippie icons Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison; 80's MTV generation star Michael Hutchence; 90's grunge-rock star Kurt Cobain.

Each of these young people died at those youthful stages of their lives thanks to conditions largely brought on by themselves: illicit drug use, excessive alcohol abuse, sexual promiscuity. In general, they were killed by their full immersion into the 'sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll' lifestyle.

There really is not a lot of redeeming value, but there are plenty of valuable lessons to be learned. They all seemed to have some similarities in background including unusual or unstable family situations as youngsters. Most were the loner, artistic types whose outwardly extroverted lifestyles belied a depressed introverted reality only made worse by their substance abuse. They simply couldn't manage to face life squarely.

Many didn't become parents themselves, never found the joy that raising a child and caring for something deeply outside your own self brings. They never grew up. And they often left a trail of death and destruction in their wakes.

They did each leave what remains a lasting legacy of their talents: film, writing, and most of all music that has stood the test of time. They were stars that burned brightly, and fell back to earth far too suddenly and early.

Are they in 'Rock and Roll Heaven', or did they end up going straight to hell? That's not for me to judge, but certainly a legitimate question for anyone to ponder. Perhaps the greatest lessons that we can take from their frantic lives and tragic demise is that we should obviously avoid illegal drugs, avoid the excesses in other areas of our lives, and when we do have kids, have them responsibly and provide them with a loving, stable upbringing.

These five mini-bios represent only the beginning of what will become an irregular but recurring 'Rock & Roll Heaven' series. If anyone out there has any person they would like particularly to see covered, feel free to submit the name. Click into the below label to visit more items in that topic, and as always the title of this post is a link to more information on the subject matter. To wrap here, a few lyrics from a Righteous Brothers' classic tune: "If you believe in forever, and if life is just a one-night stand; if there's a rock and roll heaven, then you know they got a hell of a band."

Rock & Roll Heaven: Michael Hutchence

Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. It's the oldest cliche in the business. Rock stars are legendary for their booze consumption, drug abuse, and sexual escapades.

Some, including the legends already profiled in this "Rock and Roll Heaven" series - Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain - have died from this excessive lifestyle.

In April of 1997, the popular Aussie rock band 'INXS' released their new album, and front man Michael Hutchence and the rest of the group commenced a tour to support the work. They wound down this leg of the tour in Australia in November and were preparing for a big 20th anniversary world tour for the band.

Hutchence was in a generally upbeat mood. The band was doing well and he had a new girlfriend, Paula Yates. Life was good for the 37-year old star as he went out to dinner with his father on Friday, November 21st. Later that night he drank and partied with a couple of friends back at his hotel, but the next morning he would miss a hastily arranged breakfast with a former girlfriend.

At noon on November 22nd, the maid went to his room and found Hutchence hanging from the door's spring lever by a belt wrapped around his neck. He was naked, and the room was reportedly littered with booze bottles and prescription drug containers. An investigation revealed there was no foul play, and there was no suicide note. Interviews with family and friends found it highly unlikely that he had committed suicide, though that was the officially recognized cause of death.

The scenario that developed as most likely? Hutchence had died during an act of autoerotic asphyxiation. In this practice, a form of masturbation, the participant chokes off their oxygen supply by strangulation with something like the belt used in Hutchence' case, or by suffocation with a bag over their head. The sexual sensation is said to be heightened with the loss of oxygen. There is danger of death if the participant loses control of the means of suffocation since they are normally alone when performing this act. There are estimated to be as many as 1,000 deaths per year by this means each year in the United States. Add in the partying, booze, and drugs, and Hutchence' death in this sexual manner fits right into the excessive depravity of the lifestyle.

Michael Hutchence was born in Sydney, Australia in 1960 and raised in Hong Kong, but the family returned to Sydney in the late-70's. There Hutchence made a new friend, Andrew Farriss, and joined with Farriss' brothers and a couple of other friends to form a band called 'The Farriss Brothers'. When the Farriss family moved to Perth in western Australia in 1979 the rest of the band followed, and the band changed its name to INXS, releasing their self-titled debut album in 1980. Hutchence was the front man, the songwriter, and the driving force of the band almost from its inception. His sensual lead singing style belied what some called an introverted personality.

Farriss, who co-wrote all the bands songs with him, called Hutchence a 'genius'. INXS popularity grew and spread during the 80's, and by the end of the decade they were a top worldwide sensation thanks to numerous hit songs and MTV videos. Hutchence was also a sensation, dating a string of beautiful models and actresses including supermodel Elle MacPherson, 'Berlin' lead singer Terri Nunn, 'Go-Go's' front girl Belinda Carlisle, and singer Kylie Minogue, about whom he wrote the band's hit song 'Suicide Blonde'.

Throught the early 90's the band seemed to lose some of its popularity, but its albums often still received critical acclaim. At some point in the mid-90's, Hutchence began having an affair with writer and singer Paula Yates, who was then married to Irish rock superstar Bob Geldof and the mother of his children. Yates and Geldof subsequently separated, and undertook an intense custody battle for their three children. In 1996, Yates gave birth to Michael's only child, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lilly Hutchence, who they called 'Tiger' or 'Tigerlily', and INXS released their 10th album.

As the calendar turned to 1997, in addition to another INXS album and tour, Hutchence continued to work on a solo project which he had been putting together over the previous two years. On November 19th, just three days before his death, he cut the final track titled "Possibilities", which would be the final recording of his life. The album was finally released posthumously in 1999.

But the tragic soap opera of Hutchence life didn't end with his death. There were numerous battles over his property and money, and ultimately even his daughter. Yates had been battling Michael's family for custody of Tigerlily when she died of an apparent heroin overdose in 2000. Ultimately it was decided that Tigerlily would be placed in Geldof's custody so that she could be raised with her three half-sisters. With Geldof now wanting to adopt the girl and change her name to 'Geldof', Hutchence' mother and sister are again fighting for custody. His brother has also gone to court in an effort to overturn the 'suicide' finding on the death certificate.

Whether Michael Hutchence death was a suicide is highly debatable. What is beyond argument is that booze, drugs, and sex were all involved in that death for this rock star. The shame of it is the little girl left behind without her parents, both of whom died in drug-related incidents.

NOTE: This is the continuation of the "Rock and Roll Heaven" series of articles, all items of which can be enjoyed by clicking on that 'label' below this article

Rock & Roll Heaven ?

"If there's a rock-n-roll heaven, you know they got a hell of a band" are the famous lyrics from a song that was itself called "Rock and Roll Heaven" released as a comeback reunion hit by the 60's duo The Righteous Brothers. In 1974, the song rose to #3 on the U.S. charts, talking in its lyrics about the untimely deaths of a number of rock, soul, and pop music stars.

The song perfectly leads into a special series that I will be doing here at the blog next week called 'Rock and Roll Heaven'. Each day from Monday through Saturday, barring some incredibly major world news event, I will do a mini-bio on some of the legendary rock stars over the years who have died young. I will explore how they died, how they lived, their contributions to music, their home lives, etc.

For diehard fans of particular stars, it may be old ground. But for many, it will be a nostalgic trip back in time, and not just to the psychedelic 60's and turbulent 70's, but also to the 80's and 90's and beyond. And hopefully for everyone, I will mix in enough lessons to be learned from those lives.

There will be good, bad, and ugly, and there will be criticism of legends. The following is the schedule: Janis Joplin (Monday), Jimi Hendrix (Tuesday), Kurt Cobain (Wednesday), Michael Hutchence (Thursday), Jim Morrison (Friday), and John Belushi (Saturday). If it goes well, and folks want to see a few more, I will consider it as an ongoing feature into the future. So stay tuned here each day next week to find out whether they have a hell of a rock band in heaven, or whether simply these burned-out stars went straight to hell.

NOTE: all entries in this series into the future can be viewed by simply clicking on the 'Rock and Roll Heaven' link at the bottom of each article in the series