In Memoriam | Drummer Who Sang

To say that Karen Carpenter was one of the finest female vocalists of her generation is nothing new. Songs like "We've Only Just Begun," "Superstar," "Rainy Days And Mondays," and "Top Of The World" weren't just radio staples in the '70s, but have withstood the test of time. And a whole new generation, inspired by a fondness of all things groovy and smiley-faced, has embraced Karen's amazing singing and her brother Richard's wonderful songs and arrangements. In fact, the 1994 album If I Were A Carpenter featured a stellar cast of alternative artists like Sheryl Crow, Cracker, Sonic Youth, The Cranberries, and Redd Kross interpreting the duo's hits in a whole new way.

Yet many have failed to recognize just how good a drummer Karen Carpenter was. This can probably be attributed to the fact that many of the better-known Carpenters recordings featured studio drummers like Hal Blaine, Cubby O'Brien, Jim Gordon, and Ronnie Tutt. Fortunately, in recent years we've seen the release or reissue of many recordings where we can hear Karen playing. These bring into focus the real gifts of Karen Carpenter the drummer.

Karen was born on March 2, 1950 in New Haven, Connecticut. It was after the family moved to California in 1963 that she began a love affair with an instrument that would last her entire life.

According to friends and family, Karen took the drums very seriously from the start, spending endless hours practicing. Her brother Richard recalls, "She seemed to take to them in nothing flat." In time, Karen came under the influence of The Dave Brubeck Quartet, with drummer Joe Morello. So keen were her ears that she soon taught herself the intricate, odd-time rhythms of Brubeck's "Take Five" and "It's A Raggy Waltz." Karen had been playing little more than a year by this time.

The first incarnation of The Carpenters as a working group came in the form of The Richard Carpenter Trio. Consisting of piano, bass, and drums and performing strictly as an instrumental combo, they won first prize in the Hollywood Bowl Battle Of The Bands in 1966. The trio can be heard twice on The Carpenters: From The Top (A&M-31454), a four-disc boxed set that offers a complete overview of the group's recording years.

The first example is a rendition of Duke Ellington's "Caravan," where we hear a very young Karen playing with assurance and technique. After a respectable display of swinging and comping, she launches into a solo that can best be described as an explosion of energy and chops. The next tune, "Iced Tea," is a jazz waltz with some intricate, classical-style snare drum work, and a short solo that adds up to a real tour-de-force for a drummer just past her sixteenth birthday.

In 1969, The Carpenters recorded their first album for A&M. The album, originally released as Offering, was later reissued as Ticket To Ride (A&M-82839). On this disc, nineteen-year-old Karen plays drums on all the tracks, and also sings lead on the lion's share of the tunes. The drum track on "Your Wonderful Parade" has Karen overdubbing snare and bass drum parts to create a huge drum-corps effect. "All I Can Do" is an uptempo jazz tune in 5/4 that swings from the word go. Here we witness a drummer in full command of her technique, assured and full of fire, playing imaginative fills and great hand/foot combinations. Her drumming is alive with the joy of self-discovery.

In 1970 all the pieces came together for The Carpenters on their recording of "Close To You." "When the producers finally decided to go with professional musicians," recalls studio legend Hal Blaine, "they talked to Karen about my playing drums. It was fine with her because she and Richard really wanted a hit.

"I always said that Karen was a good drummer," Hal insists. "I knew she could play right away when she'd sit down at my drums on sessions. She played on a lot of the album cuts, and she played when they performed live, as well. But after their third or fourth hit, I remember saying to her, 'When are you going to get off the drums? You sing too good, and you should be fronting the band.'" In time, it was decided that Karen would remain behind the drums on the uptempo numbers, and come down front to sing the ballads.

"Karen was a very good player and very knowledgeable about the drums," recalls former Carpenters drummer Cubby O'Brien. "Some of the things we did together weren't easy. Richard wanted things played exactly like the record. We worked out all the drum breaks from the records, and I played exactly what she did. The whole idea of bringing me in was to get her off the drums so she could sing more. But Richard had grown up with her playing, so it was hard for someone else to take over the drum chair."

One of the things that Karen and Cubby did together can be heard on The Carpenters Live At The Palladium (A&M-68403). A percussion feature was arranged where Karen would move around the stage and play various configurations of drums and percussion. The medley of Gershwin tunes kicks off with a stop-time rendition of "Strike Up The Band," where Karen fills in the spaces like a great tap dancer, dividing this rudimental workout between the head and rim of the snare drum. Moving to full drumset, she sails into some fast swing on the hi-hat, while maintaining a samba ostinato with her feet. Jumping out from behind the kit, she moves to timbales and cowbells for a brief Latin turn, trades solos with Cubby O'Brien, and ends it all on her multi-tom set for the big finish.

In 1973, work began on a new album, Now And Then (A&M-CD3519). After using session players for their three previous recordings, this one was cut almost entirely with road musicians-with one exception. Karen returned to her roots and supplied the drum tracks for every song except one. On "This Masquerade," Karen lays down a Latin rhythm that can only be described as elegantly hip. With a stick and a brush, she weaves an almost ethereal groove. Hi-hat accents and an uncluttered clave offer a textbook example of musical and creative drumming. Towards the end, she plays some fills that break up the time and are phrased in a very personal manner.

Karen Carpenter was a more accomplished player than most people realized. No less a figure than Buddy Rich considered her to be a superior player. "I remember one time when Karen and I went to see Buddy's band," says Cubby O'Brien. "I knew Buddy fairly well, so before the show I took her backstage to meet him. I said, 'Buddy, this is Karen Carpenter.' He said, 'Karen Carpenter, do you know that you're one of my favorite drummers?' As tough as Buddy could be on drummers sometimes, he always respected someone who played the instrument well."

On February 4, 1983, at the age of thirty-two, Karen suffered a fatal heart attack brought on by the anorexia she had struggled with for the last seven years of her life. Once, when asked how she hoped time would view The Carpenters, Karen said, "We want to be remembered for our contribution to music. That's the main thing in our lives: to present what comes from within us through our music. We want to be remembered as good musicians and nice people."

And this is precisely how we'll remember Karen Carpenter, who, to the end, always considered herself a drummer who sang.

Extra thanks to Jim Catalano, Todd Trent, and Richard Carpenter for the photo of Karen behind the kit.
Copyright 2001, Modern Drummer Publications, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
NOTE: Many thanks to Modern Drummer for sending and for the use of this article!

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