Remembering Karen...after All These Years
cam83
04 Feb 2009
Hi All,
Yes, today is a sad day. 26 years ago, we lost Karen. I remember watching it on television, of the news report on her death. I was 10 years old.
She carried me thru my turbulent late teens, age 15 and up with her music. I can remember the joy I felt listening to her voice. Every new album I obtained of hers, I felt as if I were in heaven. First album I ever listened to The Singles 1969-1973, followed by Made In America, Voice of the Heart and A Kind of Hush and The Singles 1974-1978, followed by Close To You, Now and Then, Carpenters, Christmas Portrait, An Old Fashioned Christmas, and then the other albums came ( Horizon, A Song For You, Ticket To Ride, Passage which are good albums but NOT my favorites).
Her voice is one that I have never heard the likes of since. There are singers today, who remind me a bit of her style, intonation and phrasing, but have none of her warmth or the crystalline aspect in her vocals. She is one of a kind. It amazes me when I think that she was never planning to be a singer, and then how, thru the coaching of her brother, timidly at first accepted it and then she became the singer that everyone loved. She came with a new sound, a new song to sing. When you heard her sing for the first few seconds you knew it was her. A sense of familiarity, leading to joy...and you sang along. They say she could have sung anything. Yes, very true. Her voice was such that she could have sung anything...disco, broadway, singer-songwriter, easy listening, country, blues, jazz, gospel. And any one of her tunes, can fall in each of those categories.
What an amazing woman! Who had an amazing talent! Karen rest in peace. Know that you are not forgotten, but still revered and loved. We miss all that you could have sung! Our music world is empty to millions of fans with your departure 26 years ago today...
My thoughts,
Cameron
Canada
Yes, today is a sad day. 26 years ago, we lost Karen. I remember watching it on television, of the news report on her death. I was 10 years old.
She carried me thru my turbulent late teens, age 15 and up with her music. I can remember the joy I felt listening to her voice. Every new album I obtained of hers, I felt as if I were in heaven. First album I ever listened to The Singles 1969-1973, followed by Made In America, Voice of the Heart and A Kind of Hush and The Singles 1974-1978, followed by Close To You, Now and Then, Carpenters, Christmas Portrait, An Old Fashioned Christmas, and then the other albums came ( Horizon, A Song For You, Ticket To Ride, Passage which are good albums but NOT my favorites).
Her voice is one that I have never heard the likes of since. There are singers today, who remind me a bit of her style, intonation and phrasing, but have none of her warmth or the crystalline aspect in her vocals. She is one of a kind. It amazes me when I think that she was never planning to be a singer, and then how, thru the coaching of her brother, timidly at first accepted it and then she became the singer that everyone loved. She came with a new sound, a new song to sing. When you heard her sing for the first few seconds you knew it was her. A sense of familiarity, leading to joy...and you sang along. They say she could have sung anything. Yes, very true. Her voice was such that she could have sung anything...disco, broadway, singer-songwriter, easy listening, country, blues, jazz, gospel. And any one of her tunes, can fall in each of those categories.
What an amazing woman! Who had an amazing talent! Karen rest in peace. Know that you are not forgotten, but still revered and loved. We miss all that you could have sung! Our music world is empty to millions of fans with your departure 26 years ago today...
My thoughts,
Cameron
Canada
