"There is something about her voice — a quality — that you really can't put into words. It's a magical quality."
— Sting, after Eva Cassidy had recorded a version of his song "Fields of Gold" in 1996, the year she died.
Going Against the Grain
Almost a generation apart in age, Karen Carpenter and Eva Cassidy were, simply put, two of the finest singers ever to grace our lives. In both instances, their musical careers were defined by their shyness and vulnerabilities but, also, by sheer dedication and a quiet determination to succeed at what they loved so dearly.
In the mid-1990s, not long before her life was tragically cut short by cancer, I had the opportunity with some friends to watch Cassidy perform in Georgetown’s Blues Alley in NW Washington, DC. As mesmerized I was by her voice at the time, I had no idea that several years after her death, she would become a singing superstar.
In a PBS music special broadcast several years ago, Paul Williams, the diminutive Hollywood singer-songwriter, defended Karen and Richard Carpenter's music during the culturally and politically turbulent 1960s and early 1970s.
I can't help but think that in some respects, Williams' appreciation of the Carpenters' going-against-the-grain music only serves to magnify Karen's immense musical contributions.
“They were certainly against the grain as far as what was going on visually. Somebody was talking about their sound being vanilla at one point. But what an exquisite flavor vanilla is. They made great music.
They took our records and gave them life.”
Attribution for the above comic sketch: “Vermonter Sally Olson Sings in Tribute to Karen Carpenter,” Seven Days, July 6, 2016. Read more about her in "Sally Olson is Karen Carpenter: Rutland native brings her Las Vegas show home," Rutland Reader, October 17, 2019. I first posted a shorter version of this diary in 2011.
As this article in Rolling Stone magazine indicated, the Carpenters had plenty of other admirers, including many legendary performers.
Karen Carpenter's white-bread image and sad fate — she died of anorexia in 1983 — have overshadowed her chocolate-and-cream alto voice. But other performers know the score: Elton John called her "one of the greatest voices of our lifetime," and Madonna has said she is "completely influenced by her harmonic sensibility."
Impossibly lush and almost shockingly intimate, Carpenter's performances were a new kind of torch singing, built on understatement and tiny details of inflection that made even the sappiest songs sound like she was staring directly into your eyes. Still, she's a guilty pleasure for many.
"Karen Carpenter had a great sound," John Fogerty once told Rolling Stone, "but if you've got three guys out on the ballfield and one of them started humming [a Carpenters song], the other two guys would pants him."
Attribution for the above pic: Facebook.
“All She Does is Sing”
Eva Cassidy was not encumbered by the expectations and pursuit of commercial success. Her reward came by singing what she liked and selling cassettes of her songs from the trunk of her car. She hated and resisted being pegged and pigeonholed into one genre of music; jazz, blues, rock, folk, and gospel music fascinated and inspired her.
Music was music and she wasn't going to conform to the whims of music producers, many of whom only cared about making money off of her records. As one of her friends said, "All she does is sing."
Five years after her death from cancer in 1996, ABC's Nightline did a story on her in 2001 — The Musical Story Of Eva Cassidy — and the incredible success she was having in England. Her stunning version of Judy Garland's classic ballad Over the Rainbow was so powerful that it will make you cry. Taking the song — long identified with Garland and regarded by the recording industry as the #1 song of the 20th century — and making it her signature song was quite an achievement.
A BBC Radio producer in London first heard it a couple of years after her death and the song became so popular with the show's almost seven million listeners that it propelled her from "obscurity to the spotlight" in Great Britain.
The response to her magical voice was simply incredible!
During her life, Eva was a painfully shy person who had been singing in small clubs in Washington, D.C. Eventually coming to the attention of D.C.'s legendary "Godfather of Go-go" and soul music Chuck Brown, Eva collaborated with him to record several songs that simply blew him away.
But Eva never sought fame and fortune. One of the record company executives, Bruce Lundvall, expressed profound regret and apologized to Eva's parents saying that he had made a "terrible mistake" by not signing her while she was still alive.
On November 2, 1996 — after fighting to overcome cancer for several months — Eva Cassidy died at her family home in Bowie, Maryland, a Washington, D.C. suburb. She was 33 years old.
A film about her life produced by Robert Redford's daughter has been in the works for several years. Her parents suggested that either actresses Kirsten Dunst or Emily Watson play her in the movie. You can learn more about her life by watching this Dutch fan video The Story of Eva Cassidy; by reading the book Eva Cassidy: Songbird; or by perusing this Eva Cassidy Fan Club website.
As narrator Dave Marash said in the ABC video, "Death doesn't always get the last word."
The Superstar from Downey, California
Most of us are probably very familiar with Karen Carpenter's tragic life story. She, too, died very
young in 1983 at the age of thirty-two from anorexia nervosa, a little-known eating disorder at the time. But not before she and her brother Richard had recorded some great songs in Karen's silky-smooth voice from the late 1960's to the early 1980's.
A great deal has been written about her life in magazines and newspapers. Many years ago, PBS did a wonderful special Close To You — Remembering The Carpenters. In a biography written by Randy Schmidt, Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter, her story is described as "an intimate profile of Karen Carpenter, a girl from a modest Connecticut upbringing who became a Southern California superstar."
Schmidt also wrote this article in Britain's Guardian newspaper in 2010, one which also recounts her last days.
Karen Carpenter's velvet voice charmed millions in the 70s but behind the wholesome image she was in turmoil. Desperate to look slim on stage — and above all desperate to please the domineering mother who preferred her brother — she became the first celebrity victim of anorexia...
The Carpenters were one of the biggest-selling American musical acts of all time. Between 1970 and 1984 brother and sister Richard and Karen Carpenter had 17 top 20 hits, including "Goodbye to Love", "Yesterday Once More", "Close to You" and "Rainy Days and Mondays". They notched up 10 gold singles, nine gold albums, one multi-platinum album and three Grammy awards. Karen's velvety voice and Richard's airy melodies and meticulously crafted arrangements stood in direct contrast to the louder, wilder rock dominating the rest of the charts at the time, yet they became immensely popular, selling more than 100m records.
The Songs of Eva Cassidy and Karen Carpenter
I love many of Eva Cassidy's songs but will share these three songs (the links will take you to YouTube) as examples of her near-perfect voice and exceptional talent. She sang these at The Blues Alley, where as I mentioned above, I had the good fortune of watching her perform once.
- Stormy Monday is a song written by T-Bone Walker in 1947 and performed by many great artists including Albert King, Jethro Tull, Eric Clapton, and the Allman Brothers Band.
- What a Wonderful World is a classic song first recorded and released in 1968 by Louis Armstrong. It has since been recorded by numerous other artists including Tony Bennett, Diana Ross, Don McLean, B.B. King, Keb' Mo', Natalie Cole, John Legend, and Sarah Brightman.
- People Get Ready is a song by Curtis Mayfield. Considered one of the greatest songs ever, it was designated as the unofficial anthem of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Among others, it has been sung by Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, and the Chambers Brothers.
Karen Carpenter had numerous hits, but I’ll list just these three songs here. All links go to YouTube.
- Solitaire is a song written by Neil Sedaka and recorded by Karen in 1975. Many fans "consider this song to be one of Karen's very finest vocal performances."
- This Masquerade was written by Leon Russell. It has been recorded by many other singers including Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77, Robert Goulet, Helen Reddy, and Kenny Rogers. Karen also did this unforgettable duet with another legendary singer, Ella Fitzgerald.
- A Song for You was written by singer and pianist Leon Russell. Andy Williams, Whitney Houston, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, Willie Nelson, and Aretha Franklin were among several other performers who sang this brilliant song.
A Few Final Words
Linus Van Pelt of Peanuts fame once said "There's no heavier burden than a great potential."
So many people wander through the years wondering if they will ever realize or fulfill their potential by putting their talents to work and achieving what they had dreamily visualized as children. Along life's twisted paths and winding roads, there are obstacles to overcome and hills to climb. Unsure of what the future awaits them, they stumble, muddle through, and continue to strive. And, then, haltingly but surely, a few of them even get there.
At what point does one know that they have actually made it, and particularly if one's life is cut short before recognition comes their way? Sometimes that cannot be known until a person departs from this good earth. Death immortalizes celebrities in the public’s eye and more so if they happen to die young. Memories of rock stars like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain are frozen in time. I'm sure they would want us to remember them at their early youthful best.
Karen Carpenter was one of the most famous performers in the world by her early twenties. In Eva Cassidy's case, fame would eventually knock on her door but not until a few years after her death. In their quiet, unassuming ways, both would leave an indelible mark on the world of music. Long after these talented singers died at a relatively young age, their music lives on and continues to thrill us. And we, who are lovers of music, are all the more richer for it.
Indeed, death does not sometimes get the last word.
Diary Poll
I love the blues and perhaps not unlike most of you, enjoy listening to many other genres of music including classic/soft rock, soul, and jazz. But, does good music necessarily have to be loud to be appreciated and celebrated by its fans?
The answer lies in your music tastes and preferences.
Over a week or month, most normal people listen to music in several different locations. What I’m interested in finding out is where you mostly listen to music. Is it in the house, working out, commuting to work, or during other activities elsewhere?
A new report has been published by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) showing the global rise of music consumption [in 2022]. Based on the results of almost 45,000 people around the world, this report is the largest study of its kind in music.
People are listening to more music than ever before. The average person now spends 20.1 hours a week listening to music, up from 18.4 hours in 2021.
This increase is largely due to the growing popularity of streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. More than 45% of music fans now choose to pay for a premium subscription audio service.
The study showed that on average, people use more than six different methods to engage with music including streaming, radio, games, social media apps, and video content...People are also listening to a very wide range of music, more than 500 different genres were identified by the survey.
You are welcome to talk about and post songs from any genre of music in the comments section. Don't forget to take the diary poll.
A couple of helpful lists.