Karen Carpenter - Biography - IMDb Karen Carpenter Biography Showing all 119 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (2) | Trivia (100) | Personal Quotes (10) Overview (5) 4 February 1983 , Downey, California, USA (heart failure caused by chronic anorexia) Birth Name 5' 4" (1.63 m) Mini Bio (1) Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Karen Carpenter moved with her family to Downey, California, in 1963. Karen's older brother, Richard Carpenter , decided to put together an instrumental trio with him on the piano, Karen on the drums and their friend Wes Jacobs on the bass and tuba. In a battle of the bands at the Hollywood Bowl in 1966, the group won first place and landed a contract with RCA Records. However, RCA did not see a future in jazz tuba, and the contract was short-lived. Karen and Richard formed another band, Spectrum, with four other fellow students from California State University at Long Beach that played several gigs before disbanding.

In 1969, Karen and Richard made several demo music tapes and shopped them around to different record companies; they were eventually offered a contract with A&M Records. Their first hit was a reworking of The Beatles hit "Ticket to Ride", followed by a re-recorded version of Burt Bacharach 's "Close to You", which sold a million copies. Soon Richard and Karen became one of the most successful groups of the early 1970s, with Karen on the drums and lead vocals and Richard on the piano with backup vocals. They won three Grammy Awards, embarked on a world tour, and landed their own TV variety series in 1971, titled Make Your Own Kind of Music! (1971). In 1975 the story came out when The Carpenters were forced to cancel a European tour because the gaunt Karen was too weak to perform. Nobody knew that Karen was at the time suffering from anorexia nervosa, a mental illness characterized by obsessive dieting to a point of starvation. In 1976 she moved out of her parents' house to a condo of her own.

While her brother Richard was recovering from his Quaalude addiction, Karen decided to record a solo album in New York City in 1979 with producer Phil Ramone. Encouraged by the positive reaction to it in New York, Karen was eager to show it to Richard and the record company in California, who were nonplussed. The album was shelved. In 1980, she married real estate developer Thomas J. Burris. However, the unhappy marriage really only lasted a year before they separated. (Karen was to sign the divorce papers the day she died). Shortly afterward, she and brother Richard were back in the recording studio, where they recorded their hit single "Touch Me When We're Dancing". However, Karen was unable to shake her depression as well as her eating disorder, and after realizing she needed help, she spent most of 1982 in New York City undergoing treatment. By 1983, Karen was starting to take control of her life and planning to return to the recording studio and to make public appearances again. In February of 1983, she went to her parents' house to sort through some old clothes she kept there when she collapsed in a walk-in closet from cardiac arrest.

She was only 32. Doctors revealed that her long battle with anorexia nervosa had stressed her heart to the breaking point. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Matt Patay <pataygs@voicenet.com> Spouse (1) Trivia (100) In her mid 20s, she was still living with her parents. At age 30, she made a solo album with producer Phil Ramone in 1980, titled "Karen Carpenter". However, it was shelved by A&M executive Herb Alpert . 16 years later in 1996, it was finally released. Was married at the Beverly Hills Hotel in the Crystal Room. On Thursday, December 11, 2003 she, Agnes and Harold were exhumed from Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, California and were moved to Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California. Agnes, Karen and Harold remained in their original caskets. At 12:30pm PST, they were all re-interred and entombed in a private family mausoleum in the Tranquility Gardens section of the cemetery.

Ranked #29 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll Sang "Bless the Beasts and the Children" with her brother Richard Carpenter at The 44th Annual Academy Awards (1972). Started out singing in two unsuccessful singing bands called "The Dick Carpenter Trio" and "Spectrum". "A Star on Earth - A Star in Heaven" is written in her mausoleum. Among her friends were Petula Clark , Olivia Newton-John and Dionne Warwick . While being treated for anorexia, she embroidered a sign above her hospital bed that read "You win, I gain!". Attended and graduated from Downey High School in Downey, California. Dedicated her solo album to her brother Richard Carpenter . As of April 2004, her brother Richard Carpenter has made four new Carpenters albums since her death. This is possible by using songs that were left off previous albums and making new albums out of them. He also uses songs that Karen recorded and then later arranges music to accompany them. She did not like the song "Superstar" until after hearing her brother's arrangement for it; she then considered it one of her favorites that the Carpenters had done.

The song "Now", recorded in April 1982, was the last song she ever recorded. The Carpenters franchise is very big and popular in Japan. In 1976, she bought a Century City condominium. she gutted two separate apartments and turned it into one. The address was 2222 Avenue of the Stars. As a housewarming-gift, her mother Agnes Carpenter gave her a collection of leather-bound classic works of literature. Collected Disney memorabilia. Songwriter Paul Williams wrote "Rainy Days and Mondays" for her. Ranked #30 on "E!'s 101 Most Shocking Moments In Entertainment History". Her funeral took place on February 8, 1983 at the United Methodist Church in Downey, California. Performed and sang for Richard Nixon at the White House in 1972. Attended and graduated from California State University, Long Beach. Was close to her brother Richard Carpenter . Songwriter Peter Cetera wrote "Making Love in the Afternoon" for her. Her favorite Carpenters song was "I Need to Be In Love". Won the 1966 "Battle of the Bands" contest at the Hollywood Bowl.

Loved to play softball/baseball and played the drums. Won three Grammy Awards. Had to have surgery on her ear, during the late 1970s, for impaired hearing. Went to Bora Bora for her honeymoon. Her cover version of "(They Long to Be) Close to You" was originally recorded by Dusty Springfield in 1964, shortly before Dionne Warwick recorded it that same year. Dusty's was scheduled for release as a single, and potential follow-up to her No. 3 hit "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself". However, it was not until three years later, in 1967, that it finally was released on her album "Where Am I Going?", with the beginning intro cut from its release. During her solo endeavor, many of the demos Karen recorded were scrapped and decided not to be used for the album. Despite the rumor that only 11 tracks were completed and/or used, one more is indeed finished. It is a mellowed-out and heartfelt cover of Evie Sands's 1975 #50 Pop charter, "I Love Makin' Love to You".

When A&M Records folded in 2000, it and 6 of out of the 8 demos began surfacing on the Internet. Fans who have heard Karen's version of "Makin' Love..." feel it is probably the best song to come out of her solo sessions. Sadly, it is unlikely it will ever official see the light of day, for many believe A&M discarded of the material when it closed its doors. Another song almost completed (even with backing vocals, but lacking orchestration) is a cover of Vicki Sue Robinson's "Don't Try to Win Me Back Again". Has four nieces and one nephew: Richard Carpenter 's five children. After her recovery, she planned to go public about her battle with anorexia. Her ex-husband Tom Burris was a real-estate developer. At the time they met, Tom was a 39-year-old divorce with an 18-year-old son. Karen was 30 years old. Sang "Because We Are In Love" at her 1980 wedding. The song was written by her brother Richard Carpenter and friend John Bettis . The rock band, Sonic Youth , wrote a song about Karen, called "Tunic (Song for Karen)".

They also contributed to a 1994 tribute album for The Carpenters . Had her own personalized driver's license plate which was: KAC3. She was portrayed by a Barbie Doll in Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1988) When she was 17, she went on the "Stillman Diet" with a doctor's guidance, and lost between 20 and 25 pounds In 1998, the RIAA certified that "The Singles 1969 - 1973" had sold 7 million units since its release in 1973. This makes "The Singles 1969 - 1973" the Carpenters' bestselling album ever (as of 2005). The Carpenters' second bestselling album is "Carpenters (the tan album)" - it has sold four million units since its release in 1971. In 1975, "Please Mr. Postman" became the Carpenters' 10th and last certified Gold single.

In 1970, "(They Long to Be) Close to You" became the Carpenters' first certified Gold single. She befriended Cherry Boone while getting treated for Anorexia. Boone herself was a recovered anorectic. The Carpenters are still A&M Records' biggest and bestselling artists. Her childhood home was 55 Hall Street (in New Haven, Connecticut). She attended school at Nathan Hale Elementary School in Connecticut. Her family started the "Karen A. Carpenter Memorial Foundation", which raised money for research on anorexia nervosa and eating disorders. Today, the title has been changed to "Carpenter Family Foundation"... in addition to eating disorders, the foundation now funds the arts, entertainment and education. Died a married woman. She was planning to officially sign divorce papers on the day she died. The doorbell in her Century City condo chimed the first six notes of "We've Only Just Begun". Her cousin, Mark Rudolph , appears in The Carpenters ' album, "Now & Then". Her sister-in-law is Mary Carpenter , her cousin. By June 1981, the Carpenters had sold over 55 million albums.

On September 4, 1978, the Carpenters gave their last concert at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. By 1977, the Carpenters received 11 gold records from Japan. In 1976, the Carpenters' tour of Japan was the largest grossing in Japanese history. The Carpenters catalog leads all A&M Records artists for the most number of compilation albums created from original material. It is also the catalog most often reissued. The Carpenters' famous Newville house, located at 9828 Newville Avenue, Downey, California, is pictured in their fifth album "Now & Then". This was also the same house where Karen died. After the Carpenters became successful during the early 1970s, she and her brother bought two apartment buildings in Downey, California and called them "Close to You" and "Only Just Begun". Today, the "Close to You Apartments" can still be located at - 8356 East 5th, Downey, California. She was a huge fan of Matt Monro and Spike Jones and His City Slickers .

The Carpenter Private Mausoleum in Westlake Village, California is a 46,000-pound, Partenope-style structure and was constructed in Texas over seven months. It is polished sunset red with beautiful warmth and color and lively crystal patterns. Similar structures have a price range of $600,000. Karen, Agnes, and Harold use up 3 out of 6 spaces in the mausoleum. She was managed by Sherwin Bash from 1970 - 1975 She was managed by Terry Ellis from 1975 - 1976 She was managed by Jerry Weintraub from 1976 - 1983 Ranked #3 on Entertainment Tonight (1981)'s top 25 stories in 25 years. Arguably, her best performance is a song which was never even released. It was a song opted not to be used on her infamous aborted solo album. It is a song penned by Paul Jabara ["Last Dance"] and Jay Asher, and is called "Something's Missing (In My Life)".

Many who have heard the work-lead feel it truly relates to Karen's personal struggles and depth of her feelings. The song remains unmixed and without strings. The song some people regard as her best Carpenters song is a song which was her personal favorite called "I Need to Be in Love". Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 133-134. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998. She and her brother, Richard Carpenter , were both awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6931 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 12, 1983. Through her German ancestry, she and her brother are distantly related to Catholic reformer Martin Luther. Karen Carpenter died on February 4, 1983, a month away from what would have been her 33rd birthday on March 2. Enrolled in tap dance and ballet classes at age 4.

Was originally offered the songs 'Rock with You' and 'Off the Wall' but declined the offer to do these songs, declaring them 'too funky.' They were later given to Michael Jackson . Was born with dark blond hair. Was planning to dye her hair bronze when she died. Her favorite T.V. shows included Dallas (1978), Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969), and I Love Lucy (1951). Was planning to become either a nurse or an artist for her profession. KAREN CARPENTER, 32, IS DEAD - SINGER TEAMED WITH BROTHER - NYTimes.com KAREN CARPENTER, 32, IS DEAD KAREN CARPENTER, 32, IS DEAD; SINGER TEAMED WITH BROTHER Published: February 5, 1983 The pop singer Karen Carpenter, who with her brother Richard sold more than 30 million records as the Carpenters, died Friday of cardiac arrest at Downey Community Hospital in Downey, Calif.

The 32-year-old singer was found unconscious by her mother, Agnes Carpenter, at her parents' home in Downey, a suburb of Los Angeles, and was taken to the hospital. The Carpenters were a major pop team for the first part of the 1970's, with 17 million-selling albums. Miss Carpenter's contralto was heard on such soft-rock singles as ''We've Only Just Begun,'' ''Rainy Days and Mondays,'' and a remake of ''Please Mr. Postman.'' Their version of Burt Bacharach's ''Close to You'' won two Grammy awards in 1970, and their album ''The Carpenters'' won a third Grammy in 1971. That same year, their version of ''For All We Know'' won the Academy Award for best song. Karen Carpenter was born in New Haven, Conn., on March 2, 1950. She and her older brother, Richard, started a pop-jazz trio with a friend in California in 1965, with Richard on keyboards and Karen on drums.

The group won a battle of the bands at the Hollywood Bowl and was signed by RCA Records, but the two albums they recorded for the label were never released; they were considered ''too soft.'' The trio subsequently disbanded. Incorporated Vocals In their next group, the Carpenters began to incorporate vocals. Eventually they developed a smooth, densely layered sound built around Miss Carpenter's voice and Richard Carpenter's arrangements, and were signed to A&M Records in 1970. On the first Carpenters recordings, Karen Carpenter played drums, but she eventually gave that up to concentrate on vocals. Through 1975, two or three singles by the Carpenters regularly placed in the pop Top 10 each year, and in 1974 they performed at the Nixon White House. The Carpenters canceled an extensive European tour in 1975 because Miss Carpenter was suffering from nervous and physical exhaustion; she was bedridden for six weeks. They continued to record through the 1970's, but were less successful commercially. Their last album, ''Made in America,'' was recorded in 1981, and met with only moderate success.

According to Paul Bloch, a spokesman for the Carpenters, the brother and sister were planning to tour and record a new album this year. In 1980 Miss Carpenter married a real-estate developer, Thomas J. Burris of Newport Beach, Calif. Mr. Bloch said the couple were getting a divorce. He also said Miss Carpenter had suffered from anorexia during 1981 and 1982, but had recovered. ''She looked great,'' Mr. Bloch said. ''She was anxious to record her new album, and she was in good spirits.'' In addition to her mother and brother, Miss Carpenter is survived by her father, Harold, also of Downey. Illustrations: photo of Karen Carpenter Remembering Karen Carpenter, 30 Years Later : NPR Remembering Karen Carpenter, 30 Years Later Embed Embed Remembering Karen Carpenter, 30 Years Later Remembering Karen Carpenter, 30 Years Later Embed Embed Karen Carpenter, of The Carpenters, performs in London in 1974. Tim Graham/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Karen Carpenter, of The Carpenters, performs in London in 1974.

Tim Graham/Getty Images By the time she was 24, Karen Carpenter was already famous, having released more than a dozen hit records with her brother, Richard, including "Close to You," "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days and Mondays," "Superstar" and "Top of the World." Less than 10 years later, she'd be gone, the victim of heart failure brought on by anorexia nervosa. Karen Carpenter died 30 years ago Monday at age 32, and her legacy as one-half of the singing duo The Carpenters is a source of some disagreement. Today, there are more than a half-dozen websites devoted to her life and career, while several Carpenters tribute bands tour in both America and the U.K. Rolling Stone rated her velvety contralto voice at No. 94 on its list of the Top 100 greatest singers of all time. Yet every person who enjoys The Carpenters as much as I do knows several others who don't. In fact, my entire household is divided on the issue. Not evenly divided, mind you: I love their music; no one else in my family can stand it.

Article continues after sponsorship It reminds me a little of my junior high school days, when The Carpenters were riding high on the charts and two die-hard, acid rock-loving bullies taunted me to name my favorite group. I told them. They laughed and slammed me against a locker. YouTube But the fact remains that I'm not alone in my musical estimation of Karen Carpenter's gift — a number of music-industry luminaries have extolled the virtues of her vocals. Paul McCartney , for one, said that she has "the best female voice in the world: melodic, tuneful and distinctive." If you listened only to the radio in the 1970s and didn't buy the albums, you might not know just how far beyond the hits The Carpenters' catalog really travels. There are Great American Songbook classics, golden oldies, torch songs, and even a novelty or two, like "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft." All those multitracked harmonies in the background of many of their hits, all those oboes and French horns and harps — that's not the entire musical story for The Carpenters, and that's a bit surprising to many people.

But even then, it isn't always easy to get those people onboard. Karen Carpenter was born in 1950, 3 1/2 years after Richard, in New Haven, Conn. Richard was a musical prodigy from the start, and would stay inside listening to records and practicing as a boy. Karen much preferred to be outside playing softball. Their parents, Agnes and Harold, moved the family to Downey, Calif., in 1963, with the idea that the recording scene there would provide good opportunities for Richard. YouTube By then, Karen had developed her own love of music, taken up the drums and began singing. Richard formed several combos and always took his sister along for the ride. However, it was actually Karen — not Richard — who got a recording contract first, at 16. Unfortunately, the deal was short-lived because the small record label had little money for promotion. By 1970, Karen and Richard had broken through. Having signed with A&M Records, their singles were dominating the charts, and they would go on to win Grammy Awards the following March for best new artist and best contemporary performance by a duo.

Most of Karen's friends say that she was a goofy, fun-loving and caring friend — someone who craved stuffed animals and adored children. But she also had serious personal issues. She struggled to feel loved and accepted by her mother, who, by many accounts, was a stern and difficult woman. She also sought a sense of independence, and maybe even a reprieve, from her workaholic brother, who called all the shots and insisted on a grueling recording and touring schedule. In 1979, Karen recorded a solo album with legendary producer Phil Ramone, but Richard and the executives at A&M didn't like the results and shelved it. Not long afterward, she met and married a real estate developer who, it turned out, was mostly interested in her money. What's more, he hadn't told Karen, who wanted to have children more than anything, that he had had a vasectomy. The one thing Karen Carpenter knew she could control was her weight. Never a skinny child or young adult, she was conscious of the way she looked and was dieting obsessively by the mid-1970s. She sought help for anorexia, but apparently never devoted herself fully to a cure.

Her mother found her dead on the morning of Feb. 4, 1983, on the floor of a walk-in closet at home. Karen had been taking massive amounts of ipecac syrup, which induces vomiting. Karen's own all-time favorite Carpenters song was 1976's "I Need to Be in Love," which can be thought of as the theme of her life. One of the lines goes, "So here I am with pockets full of good intentions / but none of them will comfort me tonight." If nothing else, on the 30th anniversary of her death, those of us who got slammed against a locker simply for liking The Carpenters still have her music — her voice — for some comfort. Dead or alive? How old was Karen Carpenter when she died How old was Karen Carpenter when she died? Here you find the age of Karen Carpenter. When was Karen Carpenter born? She was born on 1950-03-02 Is Karen Carpenter dead or alive? Karen Carpenter died 33 years ago on 1983-02-04. She was only 32 years old.

If she would be still alive today she would be 66 years old. Cause of death: Heart Failure Due to Chronic Anorexia Do you think Karen Carpenters age is incorrect? Add the correct age. Karen Carpenter: How Did She Die? Redferns/Getty Images Karen Carpenter performing in 1976 Feb. 4, 1983: Musician Karen Carpenter dies at 32 from health complications related to anorexia After being called chubby as a teenager, Karen Carpenter began dieting. When she slimmed down from 145 to 120 lbs., her friends and family praised her weight loss. It was only after her weight continued to plummet, dropping to a skeletal 90 lbs. in the mid-1970s, that they realized her health was in jeopardy. The lead singer of The Carpenters, the Grammy-winning band she’d formed with her brother, died on this day, Feb. 4, in 1983, of heart failure related to her years-long struggle with anorexia. She was 32.

In her TIME obituary, the magazine called her the “dulcet-voiced singing half, opposite her pianist-arranger brother Richard, of the squeaky-clean Carpenters.” By that point, the duo—having released their first album in 1969—had sold 80 million records and won three Grammy Awards for hits like “Close to You,” “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days and Mondays.” Carpenter’s death raised awareness of the dangers of eating disorders, which had until then been little publicized or understood. For a generation of women who saw Twiggy as an icon of the ideal body shape, it also proved— as TIME concluded in 1989 , when summing up the moral of a docudrama about Carpenter’s life—that it was, in fact, possible to be too thin. (The other moral of the film, noted critic Richard Zoglin: “such an illness can often be traced to the failings of Mom and Dad.”) Carpenter was the first celebrity casualty of an eating disorder, according to Randy Schmidt, the author of Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter .

After her death, however, other public figures shared their own struggles with anorexia and bulimia, most notably Princess Diana. Two years after Carpenter’s death, a group of doctors and therapists who specialized in treating eating disorders lobbied the Food and Drug Administration to ban over-the-counter sales of the vomit-inducing drug ipecac, which Carpenter had reportedly been taking to keep from gaining weight — and which had overtaxed her already weak heart. Her therapist told the New York Times he believed tens of thousands of American women, desperate to lose weight, were abusing ipecac, “a drug that was not known until very recently as an abusive drug.” Ipecac had long been used to purge the stomachs of poisoning victims, but its repeated use led to heart problems and muscle weakness. Whether from ipecac or from malnourishment alone, Carpenter was so weak by the mid-’70s that she could do little more than lie down between shows. Her exhaustion forced the band to cancel a 1975 European tour while she slept 14 to 16 hours a day, according to Schmidt’s biography. While everyone around her was worried, no one knew exactly how to help.

Schmidt quotes Carpenter’s bandmate John Bettis on their misguided attempts to nurse her back to health. “Anorexia nervosa was so new that I didn’t even know how to pronounce it until 1980,” Bettis told the biographer . “From the outside the solution looks so simple. All a person has to do is eat. So we were constantly trying to shove food at Karen.” Their efforts were in vain, however. Audiences gasped when Carpenter emerged onstage in silky sleeveless dresses, Schmidt writes; concerned fans feared she was dying from cancer. While her voice, a lush contralto, stayed strong, critics took note of her increasingly bony frame. A Variety review of one performance, cited by Schmidt, complained, “She is terribly thin, almost a wraith, and should be gowned more becomingly.” Read the full review of The Karen Carpenter Story, here in TIME’s archives: The Pulp Message of the Week A Brother Remembers A Brother Remembers Pinterest Nine months ago singer Karen Carpenter fell victim to heart failure after an eight-year battle with anorexia nervosa. She seemed to be on the verge of recovery when she died at the age of 32.

After spending almost all of 1982 undergoing treatment for the eating disorder, the 5’4½” Carpenter had managed to pump her weight from a frail 80 pounds to a nearly normal 110. Although he had been witness to her long struggle, Richard, her mentor and sole sibling, was stunned by Karen’s sudden death. Shortly before, the two singers had been at work on Voice of the Heart, their 12th album. Determined not to let their final project sink into limbo, Richard returned to the recording studio last March. The months-long task of adding tracks to her completed vocals proved poignant: “Recording’s so sophisticated these days that it sounded as if she were right there,” Richard says. In October, as Voice of the Heart was being released (and he departed on a promotional trip to Japan and Australia), Carpenter, 37, sat with Correspondent Suzanne Adelson in the sunny living room of his suburban Downey, Calif. home and talked for the first time about Karen ‘s troubled final years and about his effort to deal with her death. There’s no preparation for that kind of loss.

It would have been enough of a shock if she had been an invalid, but I had spoken with Karen the day before she died, and she sounded absolutely fine—she called me from her condo in Century City to ask about a new videocassette recorder she wanted to buy. I was still asleep when I got the telephone call from Mom the next morning. [Karen collapsed in the bedroom that parents Agnes and Harold kept for her in their home. Since she needed a new wardrobe after gaining weight, Karen had planned a shopping trip with her mother and had slept over that night.] Mom was so hysterical I could barely understand what she said. As soon as I could grasp what happened, I tore out of here and drove to my parents’, just a few miles away. I arrived just as Karen was being brought out of the house on a stretcher. Mom and Dad and I sat in the waiting room [at Downey Community Hospital] after Karen was taken into emergency. After about 45 minutes we were told she was gone. My immediate reaction was anger—anger at the waste of her life and the loss of her talent. Then the grief set in…. The shock was tremendous—I knew she was ill, but not that ill.

But the more I look back on her life, the more I can see the indications. Karen had been a little overweight as a teenager—she loved tacos and chili. But we never teased her—to us, she wasn’t that fat. When she was 17, she went on the Stillman Diet with a doctor’s guidance, and she lost between 20 and 25 pounds. She was at her best weight—between 115 and 120—until 1975, when the illness first became serious. That year we had to cancel a European and Japanese tour because her weight was way down. She was tiring easily—she was exhausted. We’d gone from recording our Horizon album straight on the road for the summer tour, then on to Las Vegas, where we did two shows a night. Finally she went into the hospital for five days of bed rest and then spent almost two months in bed at our parents’. It was right around that time that we heard about anorexia. I don’t recall how we learned about it—mainly we all just encouraged her to eat more. Mom cooked good healthy meals. Karen was never into binge eating—she merely picked at her food.

People are always trying to find a link between Karen’s illness and a single heartbreak, but I don’t associate it with anything. It definitely wasn’t related to a tragic romance, as has been implied. [Before her brief marriage to Tom Burris] she did have a romance with Terry Ellis [an executive with Chrysalis Records], which didn’t work out, but they remained friends. When her anorexia appeared, things were going well in our careers and she was apparently happy. Still, she didn’t eat enough for the schedule we were keeping—she lived on salads, maybe dry toast for breakfast. From early 1975 on I tried every method I knew to get her to eat. I would scold her, and she would say I was getting upset over nothing. There were times I did lose my temper, but it was always out of love. Karen was always worried about the way she looked, so I tried to appeal to that. I told her she was too thin and that people were noticing it. And that she wouldn’t be able to continue our schedule if she didn’t get more fuel.

Although her voice was never affected, you could hear gasps from the audience when she came onstage, and there was considerable mail from fans asking what was wrong. Eventually, though, my parents and I realized that there was nothing we could do except state what was on our minds. We never knew how to help her. In late 1981 she reached the stage where she came to me and said, “Richard, I realize I’m sick and I need help.” It was then that she decided to go to New York…someone—I don’t know who—had recommended this treatment to her, and it seemed the only way. She’d never been in therapy before nor felt the need—none of us were great believers in it. She made the trek to New York, which was quite a move, leaving everything behind and living alone for months at the Regency Hotel while she was in therapy. She would call home frequently and talk of being homesick, but she was determined to stick it out. I have to be honest—I’m bitter about the treatment she received. While a therapist is working with an anorexic, it takes months, if not years, to overcome the illness. And during the therapy, the person is literally starving herself.

That does a lot of damage to the body. Karen had been in therapy for nine months or so, and the therapist was getting nowhere. She wasn’t putting any weight on—if anything, she was losing. I was extremely upset about that. Finally Karen was put into Lenox Hill Hospital [checking in under an assumed name] for force-feeding to put some weight on her. We all went to see her in the hospital. She had been down to 80 pounds, and she was about 110 when she came home to L.A. for Thanksgiving 1982, when we had turkey and all the trimmings. She was definitely improved, but there were signs that she wasn’t 100 percent turned around—she was picking at food, and there were certain rituals in eating. In a restaurant, there were certain things she wouldn’t order and other things—like eggs and potatoes—that she left untouched. To have stayed in a hospital for seven weeks, then come home and take it easy—that wasn’t for Karen. After she was released from the hospital, she was running around, socializing, shopping. She seemed bent on walking as much as she could.

[Her therapist reports that she bought at least 30 pairs of jogging shoes in New York.] Obviously that wasn’t good for her. There never was a point where she acted like she was sick. She was her bubbly, energetic self right to the end, and she ate well in her last weeks. For the 25th anniversary of the Grammys [the month before her death] we showed up at CBS Television City for alumni pictures. Afterward I took her to St. Germain [an elegant L.A. restaurant] for dinner. She had an appetizer, French bread, wine, the entree and everything that came with it. I knew she had gotten an urge for tacos earlier and that she was eating chili again—one of her favorites. I don’t know that we’ll ever know everything about Karen’s illness, but I think all those years of starvation took their toll—she put weight on too fast in those weeks in the hospital, and it put an undue strain on her heart. I’ve been told by doctors that getting that many calories shot into your system in a comparatively short period of time does that.

I did a lot of soul-searching after her death, and I realize now that I did as much as I could have done. All of us who loved her did. But I still can’t believe she’s gone. We spent so much time together…. There’s a void there now. I miss her more and more each day. There’s a natural insulation at first—a barrier that comes up for a time—but you never get over a loss like this. You simply have to deal with it. And I’m doing the best I can. Show Full Article Karen Carpenter dies of anorexia - Feb 04, 1983 - HISTORY.com Karen Carpenter dies of anorexia Share this: Karen Carpenter dies of anorexia Author Karen Carpenter dies of anorexia URL Publisher A+E Networks Karen Carpenter, a singer who long suffered under the burden of the expectations that came with pop stardom, died on this day in 1983, succumbing to heart failure brought on by her long, unpublicized struggle with anorexia. Carpenter had a fixation with her weight from her earliest days performing with her brother, Richard, in and around their hometown of Downey, California.

As a teenager, she dropped at least 25 pounds on a popular and severe weight-loss program known as “the Water Diet,” so that by the time she and Richard burst on the pop scene with their smash hit “Close To You” in the summer of 1970, she was a thin but healthy 20-year-old carrying 120 lbs. on a 5′ 5″ frame. She maintained that weight through the early years of the Carpenters’ success, yet it appears that Karen’s insecurities about her appearance only grew, even as she was becoming one of the biggest pop stars of her era. In pictures printed in Rolling Stone magazine in late 1974, when the Carpenters were one of the most successful acts in all of pop music, Karen looks fit and healthy. Yet by mid-1975, the Carpenters were forced to cancel tours of Japan and Europe after Karen collapsed on stage in Las Vegas. Her weight had plummeted to only 90 lbs., and though it would rebound somewhat after a brief hospitalization, the next seven years were a repeating cycle of dramatic weight loss, collapse and then hospitalization.

The name of Karen’s condition was virtually unknown to the public at this time, but all that was about to change. Early on the morning of February 4, 1983, while staying in her parents home in Downey, Karen suffered a deadly heart attack, brought on by the physiological stresses placed on her system by the disease whose name soon entered the public consciousness: anorexia nervosa. She was only 32 years old. Related Videos

Question: When she died how old was Karen Carpenter?
Answer: 32