A Natural Woman: A Memoir

by Carole King

Read the New York Times Bestselling memoir that is "revealing, humble, and cool-aunt chatty" about the incredible life that inspired the hit Broadway musical Beautiful (Rolling Stone). Carole King takes us from her early beginnings in Brooklyn, to her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed songwriting and performing talents of all time. A Natural Woman chronicles King's extraordinary life, drawing readers into her musical world, including her phenomenally successful #1 album Tapestry, and into her journey as a performer, mother, wife and present-day activist. Deeply personal, King's long-awaited memoir offers readers a front-row seat to the woman behind the legend.

The book will include dozens of photos from King's childhood, her own family, and behind-the-scenes images from her performances.

Genres: Music, Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Audiobook, Autobiography, Biography Memoir

14 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She was most active as a singer during the first half of the 1970s, though she was a successful songwriter for considerably longer both before and after this period.

King has won four Grammy Awards and has been inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting, along with long-time partner Gerry Goffin.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Natural Woman: A Memoir by Carole King is a 2012 Grand Central Publication.

I have a feature on my blog called “Monday’s Musical Moments” where I spotlight a book with some kind of musical elements. Rock biographies and memoirs make up the majority of these posts, but recently, I have not used this feature because the books have been so lackluster I didn’t feel comfortable promoting them.

But, surely a memoir by Carole King would not fall into that category….

I didn’t read any reviews of this book in advance, so had no idea how well it was received, but I had really high hopes for it.

Growing up in the seventies, I heard all the songs from ‘Tapestry’ as they got loads of radio airplay and I knew every one of them by heart. It wasn’t until I got older, though, that I really understood why this album was so phenomenal. I also had no idea Carole co-authored so many hits in the fifties and sixties with her first husband, Gerry Goffin, until I was much older.

The amount of success, as a songwriter, that Carole has enjoyed is mind boggling. Just reading over the list of songs she has written is incredible. There is no doubt she is very gifted and her body of work is very impressive. However, this book is not….

The book is written by Carole King and she claims it took her twelve years to complete it. While she is certainly adept at composing music, authoring a book is not one of her strong suits. Although the book is organized chronologically for the most part, and is organized, the author’s choices of what to leave in or what to leave out were poor.

The first half of the book is told with great enthusiasm, as the author looks back over her childhood, her first musical successes and failures, her desire to act, her first marriage, parenthood, living as a traditional fifties housewife, as well as maintaining a career in the music field.

But, cracks began to appear as her first marriage dissolved and she moves to the west coast. By the time we got to how Carole went from being mostly behind the scenes or a ‘side man’, to taking center stage herself, the book began to lose ground as Carole herself did, in my opinion.

It was interesting how Carole was nudged into stepping out of the shadows and taking center stage herself and how easily she made that transition after having avoided it for so long. But, the author seemed to forget that while readers are curious about her personal life, the reason they long to know more about her is because of her career. Carole failed to balance her personal life with her career in this book, totally glossing over any insights into ‘Tapestry’, giving the making of this iconic album little time, but did spend tons of space relating her legal battles over land in Idaho.

Carole’s personal life was marred by troubled relationships with men, having four failed marriages, one of which was abusive.

Once more, a musical memoir has left me with the feeling of ‘what you don’t know won't hurt you’. I have admired Ms. King for decades and love, love, love her music. But, her personality, and the way she handled her personal life left me less than impressed and I now regret having read this book.

It is sometimes difficult to separate what we know about an artist personally from what they do for a living. I can do that in most cases, so I will always love Carole’s contribution to music and enjoy her songs just as I always have, but do wish I could have been as impressed by her personal life as I have been with her professional one.

At this point, the future of ‘Monday’s Musical Moment’ spotlight is up in the air as I have become a bit uneasy about reading more memoirs written by musicians….


Overall, this one gets 2 stars

[Ris · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading "Girls Like Us," I was encouraged to pick up King's autobio. Hm. I enjoyed the first half, which filled in details about how she learned piano and songwriting, and personal moments like when she got her first contract. The second half of the book falls flat to me, and most of it reads like quick highlights of things an editor might have told her to include. Often King spends more time on things I have no interest in and brushes past things that I do (like her first husband, Gerry Goffin, and his outrageous affair and subsequent love-child -- now that's interesting). I do give her credit for confronting the abusive relationship to some extent, but even that felt tempered somehow. I think King doesn't like to be mean to anyone, but that often means that she shies away from full disclosure.

I admire King's work a lot, but this read as more than a little saccharine, and made me realize that hearing about her life and accomplishments in her own voice actually dilutes their power. After all, she's a songwriter and performer, not a writer. I'll go back to "Girls Like Us" before this to rekindle my respect for her.

[John DeDakis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book.

Since the recent death of my youngest son, I've been almost constantly playing Carole's evocative, mega-platinum CD "Tapestry" from 1971. Her music hits me where I am. Reading her memoir is like getting to know an old friend -- it adds depth to what I already knew about her. It was good to be reminded that she helped pen the soundtrack of my youth in the '60s and '70s: "Up on the Roof" by the Drifters; "The Locomotion" by Little Eva; "A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin, not to mention "You've Got a Friend" made famous by James Taylor. There's a very powerful chapter describing the moment when James nudged Carole into the solo spotlight for the first time.

I liked Carole King's humility and her willingness to unflinchingly examine her personal life, including why she stayed married to a man who physically abused her. That section alone is worth the price. But there's so much more, including helpful insights on the creative process. I loved this phrase describing what it was like to jam with James Taylor: "Our musical vocabulary was the same, and we found that we had an impeccable vocal blend. Piano. guitar, chords, notes, and vocal harmonies rolled around each other like puppies playing in a pile of newly cut grass." Nice. And she wrote this without the help of a ghostwriter.

"A Natural Woman" is a good read written by a woman who has every right to be a diva yet is refreshingly down to earth.

[Mike French · Rating 4 out of 5]

After seeing a PBS special and her 2 part interview on Tavis Smiley, I knew I had to read A NATURAL WOMAN! Being a Baby-Boomer and a fan of Rock and Roll, I was interested in her story. I was not disappointed. Found it very enjoyable and entertaining! Made we want to find my Tapestry albumn and listen!

[Larry Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

in nearly 10 years after reading the print copy of this book, I have just finished listening to the audible version. I have to say that audible is definitely the way to go. As I was listening, I was sure that I had read this book before but it all seemed brand new to me. that just says more about my 10 year old memory than anything else.

When the audible first began playing, and I heard the voice, I thought “this woman is not a good reader“. Her voice sounded funny. But I got used to it pretty quickly. And the fascinating part about an audible book read by the person, who wrote it in this case is that Carole occasionally breaks into a cappella song. And her piano is also inserted several times.

Listening to this book told me a lot about the singer who was close to the top of my list of favorites in the 1970s and 1980s. I realize that probably I only ever listen to a few of her albums frequently. I remember knowing that she had relocated to Idaho, and I remember thinking at the time that that seemed pretty weird. What impressed me this time around was the relatively significant number of significant short term (less than 10 years) relationships that she had. Some ending in fairly problematic ways.

I really bumped up the number of stars from 3 to 5, and that is totally due to the success in my opinion of the Audible presentation. The book is filled with lots of famous names, and interactions with famous people. But there is not really much that helped me to understand how she reached such stardom. She started off writing the melodies with a guy who wrote the words. She never wanted to be a performer. And she says she never wanted to be a star. She kind of got forced into performing and then into touring. She made a lot of records that I never heard of. so it was interesting to discover her again with the material in this book that I had no recollection of ever knowing before for the most part.

She is maybe about five years older than I am, so she might die before I do. If that happens, I will probably play some of her records again via Apple Music.
————————————-
I am not a “groupie” fan but I am a person of the 1960s. The album “Tapestry” is playing as I sit in my living room and begin to read Carole King’s memoir, A Natural Woman. Recorded in 1971, the album and the songs on it have been a part of my life for over forty years. My eyes tear up and my skin tingles as I read and listen. Carole King says she wrote this book of stories herself, taking twelve years to complete. I am looking forward to reading it and see Carole King as a good writer. After all, hasn’t she written a lot of really great songs?

Carole King reminds me of people and places and feelings. I have never seen her perform in person. I like women singers like Holly Near, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon.

Listening to Carole talk about her “work” of writing songs puts her in my mind as working class. She just grinds her gears and out pops the product.

My contribution to “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” included writing the melody, playing piano in the studio, and arranging the string parts. Though I have previously written choral parts, I had never composed a string arrangement. But when Gerry [Goffin] suggested we use strings I was fearless in volunteering. I knew how to write and read music. I would work out the parts on the piano and refer to an arranger’s handbook for transposition and range.

And it sounds like an assembly line:

With “There Goes My Baby” as our model, I incorporated Gerry’s ideas and my melodic lines into an arrangement meant to complement the voices of the Shirelles. I tried to make my charts look as professional as the ones I’d seen on the music stands at Don Costa’s sessions by hand-copying the part for each instrument separately on music staff paper with a steel ruler and India ink. I wish I’d known that an arranger had only to scratch out a score in pencil and a team of copyists would work overnight to make the charts look the way they did on the music stands. After many hours handwriting more than fifteen charts, I was bleary-eyed. I looked at the clock. It was 4:45 a.m. I looked in on Louise and then went to bed.

Carole was seventeen when she was married and eighteen when her first daughter, Louise, was born. Gerry was a few years older. And they were collaborating to write hit tunes! Reading the part of the book where Carole talks about what fun they had writing the hits of the 1960s is fun to read. These were the teen hits “It Might as Well Rain Until September,” “Chains,” “The Loco-Motion,” and “I’m Into Something Good.”

Each week Gerry eagerly awaited the arrival of Billboard and Cashbox. It was a heady feeling in 1964 to see a new release of ours show up in the top 10 with a bullet. Rational adults a decade older than we were probably would have had trouble keeping so much success in perspective. At twenty-five and twenty-two, Gerry and I never considered the possibility that our success might not last forever.

I am not much of a singer and know very little about the technical side of music production but I enjoyed how Carole described how the album “Tapestry” was created. I could tell that she has a lot of knowledge about the process but her descriptions kept it within an understandable range for me – a sense of the complexity and the artistry – along with talking about how the technology has changed from making vinyl discs to CDs.

Carole writes a book for a PG audience. No lurid detail. The “tell all” book is still out there in the future and probably will be written by someone other than Carole if anyone is interested in that detail!

Carole King was a songwriter, actually she mostly did the music, someone else usually did the words, a long time before she became a performer. She claims she was not a natural performer.

Performing wasn’t something to fear; it was merely a larger collaboration. The more I communicated my joy to the audience, the more joy they communicated back to me. All I needed to do was sing with conviction, speak my truth from the heart, honestly and straightforwardly, and offer my words, ideas, and music to the audience as if they were one collective friend that I’d known for a very long time. I had found the key to success in performing. It was to be authentically myself.

That’s Carole writing. Pretty hokey, huh?

Then this sweet book gets really scary.

I was in the bedroom putting away some folded laundry when Rick entered the room and asked about a phone call I had received earlier. He wanted to know who it was. I answered truthfully that it was someone in my business manager’s office. Without warning, he struck me with his right fist. He hit me hard, as if he were in a boxing ring, except her wasn’t wearing gloves, and he wasn’t in a boxing ring.

I had read that Carole King had been in an abusive relationship but this shocked me. I had not seen it coming. And, yet, there it was, on page 282. What happened to this sweet book?

There is a lot more book to go at this point and now I am waiting for the next time for the shit to hit the fan. I am remembering my experience with An Anon. Whew! Where is my serenity?

Carole King must wear rose colored glasses. Can you imagine falling fifteen feet off a stage after performing with Bob Dylan being a positive experience? Or moving through a handful of men who must have wanted something from her more than money that she just couldn’t manage to provide in the long run.

One story is that her father was a fixer who wanted to make everything right in her life and she always looked for a man who could fill that role for her. My relationship with her was limited to two of her albums: Tapestry and Touch the Sky. I never knew much about her life beyond that but the impact of those albums on my life was significant. At least my associations with that part of her music have been lasting. This book shattered the “strong woman” version of Carole King I carried in my head. The songs on those two albums have lost a little of their luster for me. But, to the large extent that my association with the songs of Carole King is more emotional than rational, this book cannot remove those associations completely. The songs trump the book.

This is a three star book for me. For some part of the book I wanted to give it an extra star for the impact this fictional woman had on my life. But the book did make it clear to me that my mental version of Carole King is indeed fictional. I can adjust to that fact. It is possible that I have already made that adjustment beginning on page 282.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carole King is an accidental star. She loved music and her career in writing songs but performance, and the touring it required, was not on her wish list. She wanted a domestic life and had something like it in the early Goffin years, but through the book it is elusive.

The best parts are King telling how her early career developed and how she came to settle in Idaho.

The book starts strong. The rendering of her childhood and first marriage are heavy with the background of the times. The later part doesn’t show the same depth of understanding that she has regarding her roots. Perhaps, now, 12 years post-publication, there will be a follow up.

Her childhood was happy. She played the family piano and was indulged by both parents. It was not her talent but her brains that had her skipping not just one grade, not two. She writes of the social impact of being two years younger than peers particularly when they hit puberty having physical and emotional experiences she could not share.

There is detail on her writing career… how music and lyrics are written… how she was received in the offices of talent recruiters (in the 1950’s you could just walk in and see a decision maker) … how music was composed in cubicles in the Brill building and how at age 17 she married Garry Goffin.

She shows how the mores of the time had her doing more for the team writing while juggling child care and home life without question of its fairness. She writes of her husband’s mental problems and the decision she had to make. She also writes of leaving the well established (and expensively furnished home), and the career partnership for a single personal and professional life.

After this, the text, which remains strong and good reading, typically moves from one episode to another.

There are snippets about the recordings and performances (who promoted them, who played back up etc.) awards received. All of a sudden there are acting gigs.

There are vignettes about recording with Dylan, touring with James Taylor, meeting John and Yoko and how she met Charles Larkey and decided to move to Idaho.

The amount of text devoted to the legal issues of a road on her Idaho property is told in greater depth than the text devoted to her children and the impact of the Idaho move (and Charles Larkey's behavior and death.

She is upbeat throughout the book. The Sara Weller portrait of King's life in Idaho makes it sound exhausting Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon - and the Journey of a Generation but King writes of how mush she loves it.

King is diplomatic about the men in her life. She describes Charles Larkey’s abuse and it must have been painful to publish her accommodating responses. This is an important chapter and can be meaningful for women in these situations and as an example of how abuse happens.

With the exit of the last (fourth) husband there do not seem to be others which, given her experiences, may have come to her as a relief.

Throughout King writes that she is glad she can support her family through writing... but she writes as though this is a good, but modest amount. It would seem with the body of work, this must be millions.

Overall this is a good read where you learn what Carole King has been doing all these years (she has not been one for interviews or photo spreads). Fans have most likely devoured it. Most baby boomers who remember the fresh sounds of the Goffin King repertoire can enjoy learning about the music, the times and one of its most prolific writers.

[Jaylia3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even leaving out her entertainment career, Carole King has led a fascinating, full life. In her personable and engaging new book she references the many current events, societal shifts and pervasive memes that have had an effect on her, so besides being the memoir of someone at the heart of the music business, A Natural Woman is an absorbing cultural history of the last 60-some years. I couldn’t put it down.

Carole King has a lot to recount about her long love of music. She began making up songs when she was three and had her first public performance on the Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour television show at eight. As a young adolescent, her ability to compose and sing helped her begin to make the move from nerdy toward cool. Barely out of high school, she and her young husband got jobs writing popular, highly acclaimed songs, many of which are still covered, including Loco-motion and the at the time risqué Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow. By the early 1970s her album Tapestry added multiple Grammy winning recording star to her list of accomplishments, and she’s still creating and performing today.

But Carole King’s career in music is only part of what makes her wide ranging story so interesting. She married and had her first children while not much more than a child herself, just before the free-love era of the later 1960s, and there were three other marriages, two more children, and several long term relationships, all of which she writes about in a reasonably candid manner. One husband became a drug addict, another was physically abusive, and she explores the reasons why she stayed with them as long as she did, and offers advice to women in similar situations. Carole grew up in the New York City area, moved with her children to the hip Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles when her first marriage ended, where she jammed with other famous and soon-to-be-famous musicians, and then lived a rugged, off-the-grid, back-to-the-land life in Idaho where she fought a multi-year legal battle to retain property rights to a road through her homestead. Because she had children while she was still young, all her musical and peripatetic adventures had to not compromise what she thought would be best for her offspring, though she admits to making mistakes. Carole’s life and her capacities for engagement and reinvention are remarkable enough to make for captivating reading, but she’s ordinary and everywoman enough to make it feel like she’s one of us.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

My college years were all about Carole King and her Tapestry album. I love that music with all my heart. I recently saw the musical based on her early life, Beautiful which I adored. All of this positivity inspired me to want to read her memoir.

Meh, the woman can sing and write music but her book was pretty trite. She's a star with a lot of money and talent. She meets tons of famous people and sings in many cool places. She gets acting gigs. It's like a list of every darn thing and person she ever met.

She also was dumb and had four marriages, 3 of them spectacularly awful. She seems like a pretty neglectful Mom; she ran in streaks. She parented with so much help, a wonderful live in Nanny, that I wonder if she really knows that loving a child is just as cool as singing with Bob Dylan. Really, in my book, cooler.

I should have just stayed with loving her music because as a person, is not impressive. I don't even want to have lunch with her. She just doesn't have that much to say, better she stick to songs.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very,very enjoyable read. King is a fascinating woman with an unbelievable history. Her conversational style of writing made this an especially interesting reading experience. From her writing stardom in her early twenties, to the runaway success of her album Tapestry, to her self imposed exile in backwoods Idaho, to her continued work as an actress and musical performer, I am very glad that she has written her story to share. Though the entire book was interesting, my favorite part was early on, when she tells the story behind writing the song Natural Woman for Aretha Franklin.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I idolized Carole King as a kid, and must have listened to her albums a thousand times. I stopped following her musically decades ago but was still intrigued enough by my teenaged King-worship to get this book. However, after about the half-way point I found it boring and frustrating.

The early chapters are the most interesting, as King talks about her early life with her family and her love of music and performing. She shows real gumption in approaching the New York music producers at the time and managing to get her first contract to write songs at age 15. And she is admirably modest in describing her rise to tremendous career success, and scrupulous about giving credit to her collaborators, producers, and friends who helped along the way.

She devotes a great deal of time to writing about the craft of writing and playing music, which is logical, but for those who are more interested in the arc of her personal life, why she made the choices she made, it is harder to sustain interest. I really wondered about what she thought of the demise of the "soft rock" genre in which she succeeded, and if she was disappointed at the rise of hip-hop and other trendy music which has none of the musical complexity and gentleness that King's own music usually featured. But she only makes passing reference to being open to the newer musical styles, without commenting on what to many seems a downward trajectory in the quality and creativity of modern music.

King also made a series of almost astonishingly poor and impulsive decisions in her romantic life, leading to several failed marriages. The amount of personal reflection she gives in these matters is brief; perhaps it was a place she was unwilling to go.

She also spends several chapters about her years in Idaho, which are interesting to a point (after all, how many multimillionaire celebs give up a life of luxury to go live in the middle of nowhere and with no electricity?) but she spends a lopsided amount of time on her legal battles to keep the road to her ranch private. King herself misses the irony of having showered praise on John Lennon's song "Imagine" as one of the most moving and inspiring songs she knew of, although it celebrates a mythical world in which nobody has any possessions, let alone fights for the preservation of property rights.

Her politics really overshadow the last third of the book. She writes about campaigning for Gary Hart in 1984 and what a great president he would have made, but says nothing about the revelations about his affairs that helped doom the campaign. She also -- I think unintentionally -- reveals the condescending and uninformed viewpoint of so many who live in a bubble of liberal thinking when she writes of her inability to stay out of political involvement: "I would be drawn into politics again and again by my joy in finding common purpose with other Americans who loved their country as much as I did, who had come to politics not out of fear, hatred, or greed but because they wanted to make the world better." Get it? If you are not on the left you are by definition fearful, hateful and greedy. This sort of drivel continues and gets worse, when she refers to the 9/11 terrorists as "nineteen human beings with the deliberate intention of hurting as many Americans as possible." She can't even call them terrorists, and can't admit they set out to commit mass murder.

I still appreciate the countless hours I spent listening to and immersing myself in the lovely and funky music Carole King gave to the world. But you'd have to share a lot of her politics and be satisfied with very little personal reflection to enjoy this book.

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I am a huge fan of Carole King's music, I found this memoir disappointing. Although I wasn't expecting polished prose (her writing was actually pretty good)a better edit might have improved the book. There was just too much superfluous material that detracted from her life story and career. Even the photos were lacking, not really showing a consistent flow of her life. I do give her credit for the disclaimer at the beginning of Chapter 22, "if you disagree with my political views feel free to skip this..." as I dislike celebrities thrusting their positions on others.

[Leslie M · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable memoir. This wasn't a book that had clips of the music (I did read it on Kindle) but still I had the music running through my head, even though I think the last album of hers that I got was Jazzman. And Carole hit it on the head when she said near the end that her audiences weren't just applauding for her, but also for the memories that her music brings back. For me one of those memories was the Christmas when my brother and I gave each other the same present - Tapestry.

[Noe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Carole King basically skimmed through her life in this memoir while going into detail about things of only minimal - and in some cases, no - interest to me, such as mixing boards, disputes about a private road in Idaho, and New York subways. In the beginning of the book, describing her youth, she brings up historical events, perhaps to give some context, but then she admits that, as a young person, for the most part, she was unaware of these things. Those of us who are older (at least for us who did not have to deal with the blatant disregard for human rights in our everyday life) can understand how and why a young person would have their mind on things other than the news of the day. But the point is, why did she feel the need to bring those things up only to have to say she was unaware or that those events had nothing to do with what she did at the time she was relating? She mentions as a youth that she and her friends would get up to things they would prefer that their parents not catch them doing, like smoking cigarettes, but instead of entertaining us with at least one of those days, she sweeps it all by as briefly as I just have and yet writes at some length about well-known happenings of the day.
Moving on to when she is married to Goffen and they were both writing songs for Don Kirshner, there was one day when Goffen was writing with someone other than Carole while she was spending the day writing with Howard Greenfield. On that day, she and Greenfield wrote "Crying in the Rain" for the Everly Brothers, but instead of giving us details about that one day, she just rushes past it. Come on! "Crying in the Rain" written in just one day, a day that happened by chance! That’s the kind of stories that are sorely missing, the kind of stories that would have made this a real pleasure to read.
The way Carole wrote the book most of the time, I got the same feeling I get when two or three people are talking about an experience they had in common and are not sharing any details with the outsider, me. As a result, I get the idea but not the whole picture and still feel out of the loop. You know the feeling, everyone is laughing but you, or saying how great it was, and you’re saying to yourself, “No, I really don’t know how great it was.” Well, I guess you just had to be there. But isn’t that the point of someone like Carole King writing a memoir? They give you a chance to be there, but only rarely do you get that feeling of being there in this book. It was brave of her to write this on her own, but she could have used some advice from someone who knows how to write - a book that is, not a song. She definitely knows how to write great songs!

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I never had any of her albums till this past year, somewhere along the line in the last five years or so, I became a Carole King fan. It's hardly surprising. Being a fan of 60s and 70s music, my music library is littered with songs where Carole has at least part of the songwriting credit.

I've always thought of Carole King as a really kind, down-to-earth lady. I don't know why, she just comes off that way when she performs, and even in the way she sings. I am happy to say this book only confirmed what I had known all along, she really is like that. A "natural woman", if you will.

One of my favourite parts was getting to drool over all the people she got to meet. Though Carole never got into the hardcore hippie culture, she certainly knew (or met, at least) enough people of that crowd. She jammed with Paul Simon at their college; met all the Beatles in 1965; knew Sandy Hurvitz (no, I don't expect that name to mean anything to anyone else) in Laurel Canyon; ran into Yoko Ono in a restroom at a movie theater and then hung out with her and John at their apartment. By the time she was hobnobbing with Paul and Linda McCartney in Tokyo my mouth was agape. I am HUGE fan of Linda, and a HUGE fan of Paul, so my heart was throbbing with envy and happiness. Carole essentially ended up writing a beautiful, moving tribute to the amazing woman Linda was that had me in tears by the end.

Though this was a small part, and probably not worth mentioning, I loved learning how people-watching on the subway helped inspire one of my favourite Carole King songs, 'Beautiful'.

Anyway, definitely a memoir I would recommend, either to Carole King fans or people who are interested in life in the 60s and 70s.

[Spencer Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent memoir. Life in the music biz in the 60's and 70's from growing up Jewish in NYC, meeting songwriting partner and later, husband, Gerry Goffin, writing hits for the Shirelles and the Drifters, raising kids while the husband drifts off to acidland and moves to LA, eventually following, and writing for the Monkees and the Byrds, to huge singer-songwriter success in the 70's, and beyond. Through the whole trip, it's impossible not to like her. And the writing is quality. Highly recommended.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carole King's speaking voice has the same smile in it as her singing voice. This is a very easy book to listen to, punctuated by piano riffs and vocalizations. There are few surprises to those who are familiar with the facts of her life, but King is generous in her details and addresses the negatives without self pity and the positives without boasting.

[Kath · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the longest book I have ever read, and I'm not talking about book length. I liked Carole King's music, so I was curious about her as a person. I've found out I don't like her very much. I can't stand her writer's voice. I don't need her to summarize history for me. It's been a slog and I'm glad it's over.

[Robert Carraher · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a baby boomer , indeed, if you were alive anytime after 1960 and were born blessed with hearing then you have heard a Carole King song. She had her first Number 1 hit at the age of 18, incidentally launching the ‘Girl Group’ craze of the early ‘60s, with the Goffin & King classic, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". In 1997, she had her last chart topper with “The Reason” which was written for Aerosmith, but performed by Celine Dion. In May 4, 2010 King and James Taylor released an album called Live at the Troubadour, which debuted at No.4 in the United States. In between she had 116 other pop hits, according to Billboard Magazine. Making her, far and away, the most successful female songwriters of the last half of the 20th Century.


“Will You Love Me Tomorrow” performed by The Shirelles
As if that wasn’t enough, her 1971 album, Tapestry, won her 4 Grammy Awards as a performer. It also topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks in 1971, and remained on the charts for more than six years. Until Michael Jacksons Thriller, it was the biggest selling pop album by a solo artist in history. She still holds the record for the longest time for an album by a solo female to remain on the charts for Tapestry at 306 weeks. An amazing feat when you consider the competition; Madonna, Cher, Aretha, Barbra Streisand, Joni Mitchell, the list is endless and impressive.

Doubly impressive when you take into account she hates touring, and even at the height of her career as a singer & performer she only toured for short stints away from home, as she wouldn’t be separated from her children for any length of time. She also hated being in the spotlight.


“I Feel The Earth Move” by Carole King from the album “Tapestry” 1971
But this isn’t about the most successful female songwriter of (probably) all time. And it’s not about the singing sensation with the four Grammys and perhaps the record-est breaking album by a female singer or a solo artist. It’s not even about the woman who , if not the creator of,then certainly is one of the pioneers and legends of the “Singer/Songwriter” genre of the early ‘70s (think Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, Leon Russell, James Taylor, Jim Croce et al). It’s not even about the woman who has starred on Broadway as the lead actress. It’s not about the woman who was the subject of Neil Sedaka’s first hit song in 1958, about his then girlfriend, Carol Klein who would change her name for a less ‘Jewish sounding’ name to Carole King. It's about A Natural Woman. And it’s about a woman who not only achieved all of those marvelous goals listed above, but who has written one of the most engaging, honest, stories this reader has read in a very long time. And what is more, it’s her story.



Carole King has written a memoir that is not only autobiography but the narrative of a generation. The book isn’t only about Carole King and her life, it is an honest observation into all the cultural phenomena of the past 60 years or so. The birth of rock and roll and it’s impact not only on America’s young, but it’s role in breaking down racial barriers. The British Invasion which would forever change pop music. The civil rights movement of the ‘60s. The drug culture, the hippie movement.The birth of America’s awakening to ecological issues. Women’s Lib, which would not only adopt one of King’s songs as an anthem, but to some extent adopt her.


“A Natural Woman”
She also takes us inside the music business itself. From sound checks and a performers thoughts, fears, egos and personality's to the rewards, both financially and artistically. She even falls for Bob Dylan, literally. She fell off of the stage after a performance with Dylan in Ireland and injured herself. The event caused a media storm where they got it mostly wrong, but the thing she remembers most is Dylan’s honest concern, even though it was in no way his fault.

Along the way she writes with her first husband Gerry Goffin, whose brilliance as a lyricist was only eclipsed by his chemical explorations and mental struggles. She goes to school with Paul Simon, Neil Sedaka, Al Pacino, Rafael Campos, the children of Lee Strasberg. She writes with rock/pop luminaries, Bob Dylan, Cynthia Weil, Paul McCarthy, James Taylor, Brian Wilson and so many other giants. Her songs, either in collaboration with other songwriters or singly, were recorded by The Shilelles, The Beatles (“Chains”) the Hollies, Herman’s Hermits, The Everly Brothers, Bobby Vee, Blood Sweat and Tears, the list is a “whose who” of pop music. She has dinner with John and Yoko and confronts John over an earlier insult, and reveals his oh so human side of kindness and concern. She lives next door to The Eagles, Graham Nash (who wrote “Our House” about a house there, where he and Joni Mitchell lived) Leon Russell and the rest of Laurel Canyon musicians, actors and song writers in that early 70s hotbed of creativity. A wonderful moment takes place when she was in the studio to cut the historic record, Tapestry. In the studio on either side of her was James Taylor recording Mudslide Slim and the Blue Horizon, and Joni Mitchell was in the other studio recording Blue. Almost naturally, they all played on each others albums.

Then she moves herself and her children at the very height of her commercial success to a cabin in Idaho that had no running water, electricity, or modern convenience. She bathed and wash laundry in a hot springs and hauled water to cook with and drink by the bucket.


“You’ve Got A Friend” Carole King and James Taylor
She marries four times in search of the approval of a strong man only to find weakness. She becomes a battered wife, and eventually manages to extricate herself.She also raises four children who become successful in their own right, and maybe that says more about Carole King than anything else.

She talks about the almost religious experience of hearing Aretha Franklin sing the title of this book. “Few people would consider it hyperbole to call Aretha’s voice one of the most expressive vocal instruments of the twentieth century. Hearing that instrument sing a song I had participated in creating touched me more than any recording of any song I had ever written.”

When I started A Natural Woman I read it on my Kindle, and I love the “notes and highlight” function. It’s so useful when you get down to writing the review. Well, I went to look at those notes and highlights when I started this and found that I have , highlighted nearly half of the 496 pages. The book is that memorable and quote worthy. King’s writing style is also engaging. It’s like sitting around the kitchen table listening to a friend tell the story of their life, and finding commonalities to your own. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry you’ll smile in both remembrance of an event and at the jokes life plays on us, great and small. The story is told without bitterness and with very little regret. The story paints the life of one of the greatest songwriters of all time, but it also paint the journey that we all take. There is frustration, compassion, love and the joy of creating, the love of making an audience come alive. There is a spiritual journey and a cultural journey and a personal journey of growth. It is, indeed, a Tapestry woven by the last half of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first. She discovers, along the way that the key to success in performing her music is to be authentically herself. She also discovered that that is the key to living life.


The book is available tomorrow, April 10th at all the usual places.



The Dirty Lowdown

[Scottsdale Public Library]

If you love American pop music, you no doubt know iconic songs like Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Up on the Roof, Natural Woman, The Loco-Motion, and You’ve Got a Friend among countless others. These songs were either written or co-written by Carole King, a consummate pianist and songwriter.

Carole King shares her story covering her life, loves, creative inspirations, and her lifelong friendships (James Taylor being one of the most famous). Uniquely, Carole shares some of her life story by providing historical context as well including everything from race relations in the 1960’s to political campaigns. Most interesting was Carole’s love of the natural world and her experiences living in rural Idaho where at one point she and her family lived “off the grid.”

Although not a tell-all, she shares many mistakes about her relationships and not all was pretty. She is honest about her struggles and how she moved on from devastating moments in her life to persevere. An inspiring memoir from a naturally gifted artist, I recommend this insightful autobiography. -Sara H.

[Darius Murretti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual 4.4 starts
Highly recommend
after reading Carol King's memoir "natraral Woman " BTW here is the text on line https://libraryaware.com/645/Records/...


Through then magic of Youtube (time machine) I found these glimpeses of her life ( I see the appeal)
Interracial Teens Dance on Alan Freed's Big Beat Show 1959
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er-Dv...
Little Richard - Tutti Frutti
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SlOj...
Chances Are- Johhy mathis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cieo...

Still in Style street corner Doowop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qauZ...

1963--Oh! Oh! It Started All Over Again--CAROLE KING-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Vjy...


"The summer of ’55 was a succession of salad days—a sweet, simple, peaceful time of golden youth and green innocence. There was nothing but the vine-ripe fruit of each delicious day and honeysuckle night. I thought, If every child on earth could experience just one such summer, it would be a much better world."

“Leave, Schkeeve.” My God! Of all the songs we sang, I can’t believe that’s the one I remember. We wrote that song as a group. I had no idea what a schkeeve was, but it rhymed with “leave,” and that was all that mattered. Only a teenager with no social life would have put so much effort into arranging a song whose main lyric was “Leave, schkeeve / Bum doo-bee doo-wop.”

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this on my kindle. A good memoir from Carole King. After watching the fantastic play "Beautiful" I wanted to learn more about this talented woman' life. Born in New York.She grows up there attends the high school of performing arts. Meets songwriter Gerry Goffin in college marries him. Together they write many famous songs in the 1960s. moves to California after her divorce, marries again two more kids in addition to her two from Gerry. Moves to Idaho with third husband and keeps a home there with her fourth husband for decades. So much more in between. she packs in a lot of her life. The ups and downs. they book ends in 2011. A good read if you want to know more about Carole King.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an easy, comfortable read. It's an autobiography, that is true. I've been on the soap box about autobiographies before so I won't tread on a well worn path. This got four stars from me because it was written by a musician. I too am a musician, so I speak the same language.

Every now and then Carole threw a word in the text that made me think....okay she's using a Thesaurus to find a big word because she thinks, since she's writing a book, she should be sure we know she is brilliant. Well Carole, I know you're brilliant, and at seventy....you still look pretty damn good too.....must be the Yoga.....mgc

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glad to read a first-person experience of such an essential voice of 60's and 70's music, but all in all, even though I enjoyed the book, this is a "thin" reads. No real depth to the relating of events or musical production that King experienced or offered. A bit of insight to some bad choices in her personal relationships, but rather superficial.

Most enjoyable were the early years (as is so often the case in these sorts of memoirs) when King recounts her family background and influences, and education in music and theatre.

[Harold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually 3 1/2 stars. Overall I liked it but there were parts I found tedious. Of most interest to me was her NYC period in the 60s. As I've mentioned in other reviews the familiarity of the locale and some of the people adds to my enjoyment. BTW - this book contains the 4th reference I've seen in books in the past year or so to the character named Larry that used to hang in front of 1619 Broadway and swear at passerbys. At least 4 book references and an album cover - I wonder if he ever knew he was a celebrity!

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn't the most compelling autobio from start to finish, but a lot of it I found very interesting. Her childhood and marriages--four failed marriages/longterm relationships. So interesting how she was just a basic mom at heart--never did drugs or alcohol, didn't want stardom. Had to be forced onstage solo. But so talented and hardworking and smart. I especially enjoyed reading about how she fell in love with Idaho!! She lived on a section of highway between idaho city and boise first, where I was last fall. She was also in Bergdorf hot springs near mccall living on the land. And finally in the Stanley area where I also stayed overnight last fall! I love it all! I love northern Idaho. Also sooooo fascinating, she was physically abused (punched in the face etc) by her 3rd husband and stayed in the marriage till he died of a drug overdose. She never witnessed or experienced abuse as a child and always vowed she would never ever stay in an abusive relationship. So so interesting how all that plays out.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having owned and played my Tapestry album until it was trampled by toddlers in my later life, Carole King has been one of my musical heroes. Once I started reading this book, it occurred to me that I really knew next to nothing about her, or her life.

Her troubles with men surprised me - her songs seems to predict she'd be a good manager of all those situations, so one theory shot. As I read on, she seems to be so normal, doing normal things. I loved that. The book did go on and on about odd things - litigation with neighbors. . . who knew? But, for me memoirs get to do that - wander and free associate - that's what we do with friends when we are telling our life stories, right? Anyway, a good read, hit the spot.

May she live long in the land and continue her journey surrounded by love and music.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would've been 5 stars easily, if not for the diatribe about road rights on her Idaho property. A couple of her lengthy marriages were wrapped up in a fraction of the time! Aside from that, King gives the reader a lot of what they came for: details about her songwriting genius and those fruitfully creative years with her first husband, songwriting partner Gerry Goffin. Lovely stuff. Great anecdotes. Skim through the Idaho road rage and you've got yourself a hell of an autobio!

[Kathy McC · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW- what a life Ms King has lived. I knew many of the musical facts, but most of the personal experiences were quite surprising to me. I loved the sections about James Taylor, but I wish she had included a discussion of the iconic "You've Got a Friend" somewhere in these pages.
I wish I could thank her for the joy her Tapestry album has brought me since 1971.

"The top songs on the Hit Parade sailed out over the airwaves like sonic ships over the fair-weather sea, bringing cultural commonality to delighted listeners across America."

[Kathy (Bermudaonion) · Rating 4 out of 5]

King has lead a fascinating life and, while I enjoyed this book, I did find it a bit uneven. I learned a lot about her, though - I had no idea she’s such a prolific songwriter! King fans won’t want to miss her life story.