Lead Sister: The Story of Karen Carpenter

by Lucy O'Brien

A groundbreaking biography reevaluating the life and legacy of transcendent musician Karen Carpenter As one of the biggest-selling acts of the 1970s, the Carpenters are celebrated for their melodic pop and unforgettable hits like “Close to You,” “Yesterday,” and “Top of the World.” Though Karen is rightly recognized as one of the greatest singers in popular music, the tragedy of her early death in 1983 at the young age of just thirty-two sometimes overshadows her incredible achievements. She has often been portrayed as a victim, controlled by her family and exploited by the music industry. Forty years after her death, this biography reframes her life and legacy as a pioneering woman with her own vision and agency. With exclusive interviews with friends, musicians, and collaborators, bestselling author Lucy O’Brien explores Karen’s contributions as a singer, drummer, arranger, and producer, and traces the roots of the Carpenters’ iconic sound. Lead Sister also honors Karen’s triumphs in the face of her struggle with anorexia, providing contemporary perspectives on eating disorders and mental health. Despite the chronic nature of her illness, Karen Carpenter was, above all, a creative, dedicated, and assured artist whose music delivers an emotional resonance that has transcended generations—and that is how she should be remembered.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Feminism, History, Addiction

370 pages, Paperback

Published October 8, 2024

Reviews

[Jim Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many people of my vintage, I grew up with The Carpenters. In fact, ‘Close to You’ was one of the first singles I ever bought, and their self-titled album ‘Carpenters’ (featuring the classics ‘Rainy Days & Mondays’ and ‘Superstar’) was the first album I owned (Led Zeppelin IV being the second!).

They were NEVER cool at the time, particularly as the ‘70s moved on. But, as Lucy O’Brien reveals in this well-researched biography, they were rediscovered by a later generation in the 1990s and 2000s and Karen Carpenter’s glorious voice was celebrated as a deeply soulful and infinitely sad gift to the world.

To be sure, The Carpenters’ songs were saccharine, but Karen’s voice so often elevated the material beyond Richard’s over-the-top arrangements.

But this book is about more than the music and focuses on how someone so clearly talented (Karen was also a superb drummer) could doubt herself so much, indeed to the point that she starved herself to death. The matriarch Agnes clearly was a manipulative and withholding mother who lived through her children’s success. The father Harold, meanwhile, was weak and withdrawn.

Karen therefore had no experience of being loved and only had her music and public life to sustain her, hence her succession of unhappy and unfulfilling relationships. O’Brien spends the last chapter of the book (following her account of Karen’s death in 1983 of anorexia nervosa) looking at her legacy in the music and entertainment industry’s gradual realisation of the special pressures on women entertainers.

This is a heartfelt but matter-of-fact account that recognises not only the artistic brilliance of Richard and Karen as musicians, but also the particularity of the time in which they lived. I think the tragedy of our perception of Karen is the realisation of how, if she lived today, she would be considered as living beyond the culture of the time. She was a musical genius. I have no doubt about it.

We owe her a duty.

[Karyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I am among the generation that thought the Carpenters were unhip (“it’s unhip to say you’re unhip” from the 1968 film I love you Alice B Toklas) I chose to read about Karen Carpenter and her truly rich and unique voice even though I have been dismissive about the overly orchestrated music that she and her brother Richard produced. My tastes are more Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, and Diana Ross to name a few.

Lead sister is methodical and informative and the fact that I read it from beginning to end without abandoning it has informed me that I was seeking what so many musicians and fans, from Dionne Warwick to Kim Gordon, felt from Karen the highly revered musician.

Success can and often does devour artists. In this case, Karen’s success and her own anxiety devoured her own body and ultimately her life. She loved and felt safe behind her drums and was forced to become the feminine face and form at the microphone. Women didn’t play drums. However, her voice soared and her millions of fans worldwide heard more than the Hallmark presentation and Richard Nixon approval that was such a turnoff for me.

Will I reexamine my view of Karen Carpenter? Yes I will, because Lucy O’Brien has challenged me to open my ears and mind. And listen.

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve always been a Carpenter’s fan, having grown up in the 70’s. I was interested in reading this book, hoping to find out more about Karen’s early life. The t.v. movie from the 80’s about the Carpenters had fascinated me, but left me curious. So, I was glad to find “Lead Sister” in my local library. It was well-written, and I was pleased about some details that I hadn’t known before. Also saddened, to read that Karen, at 5’4 and 145 pounds at seventeen years of age, would have been considered to be at her ideal body weight by today’s standards…

[Martin Maenza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lead Sister: The Story of Karen Carpenter will be published October 15, 2023. Rowman and Littlefield provided an early galley for review.

As a child of the early 70's, Karen's voice was ever-present on the radio and television. With the voice of an angel and looks to match, it was no surprise that she rose to such an iconic status in the music industry. And though I was very familiar with her life story, one that ended tragically much too soon, I was interested to see what kind of angle O'Brien would utilize for her take.

Of course, all the expected elements are here. We get the first two chapters covering her early home life and early teen years. From there, as she started to perform with her brother Richard, we slide into a chapter-per-year of her life. All the details of their rise and recordings are touched upon, as expected. However, there were several incidents in her life story that were new to me as well. So, I definitely got some additional details from this one. Also, as described, we see Karen's strength and important contributions to the group's success, despite all the obstacles that were thrown up by family and others. We also are able to see how all of this pressure and unhappiness fed into her mental and physical ailments.

The last chapters carry the most power as well as the most analysis. These were also the ones where I learned the most about her story - about her disastrous marriage, her work on her one solo album that eventually was released well-after her death, and the efforts she took to hide her illness from the world.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good look at Karen Carpenter's life, making sensible suggestions as to how she came to suffer from anorexia. It also looks at her as a woman in music at the time, especially how she was not given the freedom to define her career like her male counterparts. It lacks interviews with Richard Carpenter, and more surprisingly much detail over the songs themselves, with the exception of Karen's solo album which got very good coverage. Not brilliant, but certainly very good.

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent biography of the incomparable Karen Carpenter. Karen shines through as a real person in this account, not just a victim of the disease that stole her life and Lucy O'Brien makes some interesting arguments about Karen's musical legacy and the way in which the industry continues to treat female artists today.

[Susan Scribner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in middle school when the Carpenters hit their commercial and professional peak, and while I dutifully bought their Singles: 1969-73 record, a few years later I dismissed them as lame and turned to rockers like Peter Frampton and the Eagles. But I was saddened by Karen Carpenter's untimely 1983 death and vaguely heartened by later interest in her work such as If I Were a Carpenter, a 1995 alt-rock tribute album.

Lead Sister by music journalist Lucy O'Brien, engendered some renewed nostalgia, but the primary emotion I felt after finishing it was anger. At Karen's mother, who made no secret of her belief that Karen's brother Richard was the talented one (and her father, who passively allowed this favoritism to continue). At the patriarchal music industry that refused to let Karen play her beloved drums in concert and on most recorded songs because it wasn't "feminine." At Richard, who failed to support his sister when she recorded a solo album, and the other A&M records execs who refused to release it because it challenged the Carpenters' squeaky-clean image. At the media, whose obsession with women's bodies contributed to Karen's anorexia. And at all of the combined forces that made it impossible for Karen to live a long, authentic life, instead of dying from heart failure at only 32.

O'Brien combines older sources and new interviews with Karen's friends and colleagues to tell a riveting, devastating story, including enough historical context so the reader can appreciate the traditional sex role world of the 1960s and early 1970s. She wisely attributes Karen's anorexia to a number of factors, not just her emotionally withholding mother. And she shows Karen's strengths as a musician, singer, businesswoman, and loving friend to both the famous (Oliva Newton-John, Dionne Warwick, Petula Clark) and not. The book is occasionally repetitive but generally engrossing, with mounting dread as the reader approaches the inevitable tragedy.

Highly recommended for those who lived through the Carpenter's heyday, and for anyone interested in the struggles faced by women in the music industry. I'm off to find O'Brien's earlier book, She Bop: The Definitive History of Women in Popular Music.

ARC received from Net Galley in exchange for review.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong 3.5 overall.
I still have a lot of questions about Karen (and her brother).
It's sad how the era that she was famous in wasn't able to support her medical/mental health.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karen/Carpenters were a large part of the soundtrack of my high school years. I never lost my enjoyment of their music and was lucky enough to see them in concert in the summer of 1973. Her story has such a sad ending. Wish she’d been strong enough to resist the family that didn’t give her the love and support she needed and deserved.
One real drawback in this book is the emphasis on Downey being located in Orange County, California- a bastion of conservatism in the 70’s and 80’s (not as much anymore). Fact is, Downey is in Los Angeles county, not OC.
Not sure how the association of Carpenters with conservative OC messes with the author’s narrative when it’s not accurate.
Conservatism exists in LA county too.

[Fred Cheyunski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Source of Perspective - With the likes of Tori Holub on TikTok who sounds remarkably similar to Karen Carpenter and You Tube videos of the Carpenters’ live performances, I became interested in getting more background. Seeing this recent title by a woman writer seemed as though it would be a good source of perspective. While I would have preferred more about the Carpenters’ vocal blend, and work as a touring band, the text does bring into focus the many dimensions that Karen brought to their efforts.

More specifically, the book’s contents consist of an Introduction and 5 parts: (1) Offering, (2) Sing, (3) Superstar, (4) Horizon, and (5) Help. There are also an Epilogue, Notes, an Index and Other Information. After the introduction which refers to Karen working on a solo album in 1980, the narrative is primarily chronological with time spanning aspects needed to address different elements of the Carpenters’ music and progression.

Parts that stood out for me were those regarding the formation of the brother and sister act and development of Karen’s vocal style and the role she took on related to the band. For example, while Richard showed early piano talent and initially became involved in playing gigs when the family moved to California, it was not until later in High School and at Cal State Long Beach that Karen’s drumming and singing developed. As the author quotes Karen (in Kindle Location 501) “When I took up the drums, both the drums and the voice started to come together.” Along the way (Location 1039 ) one learns that “. . . Cal State choir director Frank Pooler, a creative visionary who took Karen on for Saturday morning voice lessons . . . became a key influence in helping Karen find her voice.” In addition to becoming the lead singer, “[p]ersonable and competitive, she did most of the talking in record company meetings, made swift decisions and wasn’t afraid to be confrontational. This contrasted with Richard, who was seen as more introverted and anxious” (Location 1051). Furthermore, “. . . though Richard made decisions on arrangements and song selection, when it came to the day-to-day running of the group Karen often took the lead, displaying an astute business sense” (Location 1794).

Even though I would have wanted more attention to the way Richard and Karen arrived at their particular musical style, O’Brien certainly covers the “life-cycle” of the group (so to speak), particularly where Karen is concerned. As mentioned (in Location 890), “. . . gigging experience had enriched their sound and Karen’s rhythmic drive on drums helped her phrasing as a singer. Richard studied the way vocal parts were stacked on songs like [those of] the Beach Boys . . . [and] the Beatles . . . Because they couldn’t afford session singers, Karen and Richard produced and recorded themselves, overdubbing their vocals to find an effortless blend in tone. The Beach Boys provided a . . . model . . . choral concept, so along with elements of third stream jazz (the 1950s fusion of jazz and classical they loved in Dave Brubeck), the Carpenters arrived at their sound.” On the road, (Locations 1915 and 2013) “Karen became a driving force in the band and she assumed a kind of management role . . . She was the one in control of all the fineries—the stagecraft, directing the musicians, etc. She was an amazing performer . . . clearly one of the great voices of all time.” Chrissy Hynde, who lauds Karen, writes in her biography “Reckless” as does Ben Folds in his “Dreaming of Lightening Bugs” of similar stories regarding the development of their own music and careers (see my reviews).

However, as is well known, all the recording industry, performance and touring pressures took their toll (see my review of Byrne’s “How Music Works”) on both Richard and Karen with his drug addition and her eating disorder (e.g. , see my review of Morton’s “Are U Ok”). The book addresses these matters and her death, but keeps the focus on the Carpenters music. Another title, Cidoni Lennox and May’s “Carpenters: The Musical Legacy” (written with Richard’s assistance) proves to be a good companion text in this regard and offers some fitting summary quotes. Responding to the authors’ questions about their issues, he explains (in Kindle Location 4221) that “The whole thing was, we were both supremely gifted, but also seriously screwed up, the two of us. I was lucky enough to get through my problem, but Karen wasn’t.” Further on (Location 4230), Richard reflects that “Individually, we were something. But, together, we were really something else.”

Despite its limitations for me, O’Brien’s book clearly highlights Karen’s efforts to realize her own identity as an artist and a woman (e.g. see my review of Goldin’s “Career and Family”) as well as her contributions to the enduring popular music the Carpenters have provided.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s inevitable that a biography of a superbly talented musician who died at the age of 32 is ultimately not an uplifting read. This is an important book though in placing Karen—not her pianist/composer elder brother Richard—at the centre of the Carpenters’ story.

Karen is most remembered of course for her rich and flawless alto singing voice but she’s also given due credit here as an excellent drummer, albeit one shamefully unappreciated and coaxed unwillingly out from behind the kit to take centre stage as lead singer. We come to know a largely happy, funny, sociable and popular person who lived for her music. The reasons for her decline into obsessive weight loss were numerous and complex, not least lack of self-esteem, an unremitting schedule of recording and international touring and, at that time (1970s/early 80s), a general lack of understanding of anorexia nervosa as a condition and how it should best be treated.

As author of ‘She Bop’, one of the key texts about women in popular music, as well as of authoritative biographies of Dusty Springfield, Madonna and Annie Lennox, Lucy O’Brien is well placed to uncover the Karen Carpenter story. Her research leaves no stone unturned, interviewing former friends, fellow musicians and other colleagues and citing specialist doctors and psychologists. There is also an interesting final chapter about the reappraisal of Carpenters music in the 1990s by bands like Sonic Youth and Bettie Serveert, along with discussion of other, more recent, artists whose health has suffered because of the pressures and expectations of fame and the music business. Would Karen’s story have ended differently if she had begun her career fifty years later? We hope so.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the first live concerts I saw was the Carpenters at the Wood County Fair in Marshfield, WI. I always have loved vocalists, and the first time I heard Rainy days and Mondays I was a fan. I remember how sad I was at Karen’s early death, so it was interesting to read this book which attempts to put her back where she belongs as a musician-vocalist, drummer, arranger, and more that was so often ignored or slighted by the music press and of course the male oriented music business. Terrible and sad to learn how much of the pressure and inferiority complex came from her family relationships.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this well researched book and a look into the life of one of my favorite singers. I bought my first Carpenters’ record at age 12 and played it till it nearly wore out. My very first concert was The Carpenters’ in 1974 at MacCourt in Eugene, OR. Although my music tastes and preferences have changed and evolved over the years, there is still nothing like hearing Karen’s sweet, clear, beautiful voice.

[Hannah Hough · Rating 5 out of 5]

to state that if she had developed anorexia in the 1990’s she would still be alive is hard to read and honestly completely true. very gruelling read but important to see how different levels of knowledge and stigma around mental health has detrimental effects on those suffering n leads to outcomes like karen’s.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a child of the seventies easy listening music was featured daily in my life mainly from the radio. I knew of Karen Carpenter and her tragic death and of course the songs but largely I dismissed the music as of its time and only of nostalgic value. I saw this book in a bookshop and thought it looked interesting but ended up waiting until the library had a copy. I read this in three days! Not only does the author cover Karen as a person she provides good detail about the music. As an audiophile and record collector I couldn’t help but listen to the music again. I immediately appreciated Karen’s perfect pitch but became intrigued by her deliberate enunciation and emotional delivery. The authors treatment of Karen’s decline pulls no punches and is insightful as it is harrowing about the insidious mental health issue of anorexia/bulimia. This is also a social history of the prevailing attitudes of the 70’s of misogyny, the rise of female liberation and parental detachment. A top read best served with the music of the Carpenters.

[Stuart Harland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took a while to warm to this book. Felt like a very clinical review of Karen’s life. The epilogue and benediction were very insightful though.

[Nick Melloan-ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this view of Karen as an artist. Loved reading about the solo album no one talks about that I love.

[Regina Oechsle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty dry story about the Carpenters and Karen in particular. If you want the story with more life watch a YouTube special.

[Superstar2me · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was hesitant about this book. Having read most of the other Karen biographies out there, I wondered what else could be said. But Lucy shone a new light on Karen’s story and offered a nuanced approach to her issues, her music and those around her. Highly recommended!

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The very first record I bought was Song For You, and my voice never recovered from the years I spent singing along with Karen Carpenter in that low low register. When my musical tastes expanded I kind of lost track of what the Carpenters were doing, although in the late summer of 1978 I had a ticket to see them with a friend at what was then the Worcester Civic Center - but we had a hurricane and although the show went on I can't imagine anybody was there.

Reading this book, it appears I might not have missed much. Richard was about to collapse into rehab from a quaalude addiction, so he'd pared down the program to things that he could still manage with shaking hands and fragile attention. Karen was deep into the anorexia that eventually killed her. That was their last tour.

I read a biography of Karen some years ago, so I knew the story and was prepared for how sad it was going to be. Lucy O'Brien brings her knowledge of other music and musicians to the story, and gives us a much more nuanced picture of Karen's strengths as a drummer and producer as well as a singer. She also does her best to avoid leaning unnecessarily into the toxicity of Karen's mother, which I kind of appreciated - pop psychology has for years leaned into the mothers-make-normal-people-mentally-ill trope, which is rather simplistic. Yes, the family was all about Richard; but it's not like their father was in a box for 30 years, his apparent lack of presence in just about everything is also a way of being in the family.

At about the same time that all this was happening in the lives of the Carpenters, a 12 year old girl in my home town died of complications of anorexia. The illness is much better understood now, although I just got a lecture this morning from a neighbor who said there can't possibly be as much mental illness among young people as they say, and they are just making up excuses... so who knows? In order to really recover, Karen would have had to do what Cherry Boone (Pat Boone's daughter) did - leave music, leave California, and go somewhere much different to devote years to combating her illness. She couldn't do that - besides the threat to her identity, she was the face of the money machine that needed to keep running, and her parents said "we don't do" mental health care in our family.

She tried various ways to break out. She was close to marrying one boyfriend, who seemed to really love her for what she was, but her mother suggested that because he had a child from a previous marriage, he was a risk to their money. While Richard was in rehab she went to New York, over the objections of everyone in her family, to make a solo recording, but when she brought it back to A&M they killed it because it wasn't the Carpenters style, Richard hated it, and she was crushed. When she finally did become engaged, it was to a shameless golddigger who married her to spend her money.

The saddest story in a book full of sad stories was one I'd heard before. Three days before her wedding, Tom Burris told Karen that despite having discussed children with her because it was something she really wanted, he'd had a vasectomy (evidently she didn't know it could be reversed). She was extremely upset, felt like he'd betrayed her trust, and went to her mother to say she wasn't sure she could go through with the marriage. Her mother told her - no, you have to go through with it because we've booked all the facilities and publicities and it would be too damaging to cancel it. I find that truly shocking.

Despite the family having insisted all along that Richard was the talent, once Karen was deceased he appears to have done almost nothing except remaster unrelease tapes of hers. He released one solo album that went nowhere. Even when he got married he remained inside the family system, marrying his cousin by adoption. Recognizing that Karen was the voice everyone wanted to hear exposes the strength of the trap she was in.

O'Brien has talked to many people who were her friends, worked on the recordings, and really knew her. This presents a refreshing perspective on someone who's become typecast as nothing but a tragic figure run down by those around her. I did find it somewhat confusing that there was a lot of narration about what was happening that was not footnoted or quoted from someone who was there, and I wonder where all that came from. I wish that we'd had a chance to hear more of her on her own away from the sheen of the Carpenters Sound.

[Robert Nagel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid effort by Lucy O’Brian in relating the tragic life and death of Karen Carpenter. Her flawless voice was an exceptional gift but Karen thought so little of herself that she didn’t even recognize it; hence her shock at John Lennon’s totally unsolicited comment about her vocals. Unfortunately Karen’s mother was a manipulative witch who successfully controlled every aspect of Karen’s life and who totally saw her brother Richard as the musical genius. Forced to come out from behind her drum kit as lead vocalist she was thrust into the spotlight she didn’t seek. That just started her downward spiral. It’s not easy to read a book like this when you know the sad ending. But I think I can appreciate the Carpenters music even more now.

[MB KARAPCIK · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mom used to always say that hearing Karen Carpenter sing made her cry. I can understand that sentiment, but Lead Sister by Lucy O'Brien covers more than a tragic figure in the music industry. Karen was so much more than her premature death from anorexia and bulimia made her seem--she was one of the most memorable and powerful singers from the 1970s. Her voice made you feel the emotions of a song and held you captive until the very last note. She put her all into singing hits like Close to You, Merry Christmas Darling, and countless others. This book chronicles her short life and the legacy she left behind.

I knew a lot about the Karen Carpenter story, but most movies and documentaries cover only the tragedy. They present the songs in such a way that you only feel the unhappiness that she felt deep down inside. But you learn of her childhood in New Haven, Connecticut, and how she originally wasn't the focal point--her brother Richard was the talent. After they moved to Southern California, things changed, and they developed the Carpenters.

The book covers how much she loved being a drummer, and how being the lead singer in the Carpenters took her away from her throne behind the drums where she was most comfortable. At the time, it didn't seem like most people took her seriously as a drummer, but in looking back, it sounds like she had an innate ability at drumming. Even though women's liberation was taking off, drumming wasn't part of that movement.

The family dynamic between Karen, her brother, and her parents is explored. It seemed like a perfect family until you really dug in and saw how Karen was made to feel secondary all her life. She obviously was looking for some kind of connection, but her parents weren't showy with their love and admiration. Were they incapable of love or were they just aloof? Or, in Karen's mother's case, convinced that her brother Richard was the star. Many of her relationships with men failed, and as tight as she was with other female musicians like Olivia Newton-John, Dionne Warwick, and more, she seemed to hold them at arm's length. It was hard to penetrate down to the core of Karen and give her the help and understanding she truly needed.

Of course, too, you find out about the harrowing details of Karen's anorexia and bulimia. It was well-hidden despite her gaunt appearance, but the 1970s was not the time to be experiencing this type of mental illness. No one really knew how to treat it, and Karen held a lot of weight on her shoulders (seriously, no pun intended) as one-half of their popular band. She was a perfectionist to the core, and, as they say with this disease, it's the one way some people feel they can control everything. She wasn't inclined to take a break even though she desperately needed to go off the grid and recover or at least find more normalcy without the pressure of being a star.

The book makes you wonder how she could have survived if she simply lived in another time. If she was born in the 1970s, and became a star in the 1990s, would she have received the help and guidance she deserved? Would she have become part of a set of disillusioned and angry singer-songwriters of the time who wanted to sing their truths, maybe like Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, or Alanis Morrissette or any of the girl bands? Who broke away from the family that seemed to be suffocating her? It's something to ponder, but she made herself known through her songs and expressed such depth and sorrow in a few lines of a song. That alone cemented her legacy, and when you do listen to her tunes, you feel that emotion that not every singer can express.

If you're curious about Karen Carpenter, this book covers a lot of ground. I enjoyed it even though, at times, it really made me feel sad and frustrated at her plight.

Thank you, Rowman & Littlefield, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! It was a pleasure!

[AnnieM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lead sister is a book about Karen Carpenter through her career and personal life. It is meticulously researched and is told chronologically using interviews to add to the feeling of "you are there." I love the origin story of "Lead Sister" - it was a typo supposed to say Lead Singer and the moniker stuck. I learned so much about her musicianship -- of course she was an incredible singer but I did not realize how gifted she was on drums as well since pretty early on in The Carpenters history she was told to move to the front to sing which in my view contributed to her feeling scrutinized and self-conscious about her body. The fact that she had anorexia nervosa before the medical establishment really understood the disease is a real tragedy. Her family (parents and brother Richard) do not come off well in my eyes - not only was Richard the favorite child, but her parents seemed withholding of love and nurturing which damages people's self esteem and confidence. But in this story, her talent and legacy shine through, especially as her friends described, her sense of humor. I am glad to finally read a book that gives us a fuller understanding of who she was.

Thank you to Netgalley and Rowman & Littlefield for an ARC and I left this review voluntarily.

[Sarah Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Expertly contextualizes the Carpenters music, and showcases the complexity of Karen's personality, career, and personal life. Bonus points to the author for not using photographs at all in the book - this avoids scrutinizing her body or making trauma porn out of her eating disorder. It was a very quick read!

[James Koenig · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read every book on the life of Karen Carpenter. Most of the books tend to place the blame for Karen’s fatal anorexia on her controlling mother, Agnes Carpenter. This book mentions the effect of Karen’s domineering mother, but also explores other reasons for Karen’s illness, taking a more comprehensive view, and also explores Karen’s responsibility as well.

The book breaks down each year of the Carpenters decade long career, looking for triggering factors that led to Karen’s anorexia. The illness of anorexia is explored and explained as well. Anorexia is a mental disorder characterized by a refusal to eat enough food to nourish the body, as well as a faulty sense of body dysmorphia. The victim sees a fat person in the mirror when in reality, the victim is in a dire state of starvation. The victim of anorexia uses the intake of food as a means to assert control of a life where the victim feels controlled and inhibited. Without intervention, many anorexics progress to chronic malnourishment which can lead to premature death. This is what happened to Karen Carpenter. Far too little was known about anorexia in the 1970’s and 80’s, and Karen did not get the help she needed to overcome her propensity for anorexia and bulemia.

It’s ultimately a sad and tragic story. Karen Carpenter, gifted with an angelic voice and percussion excellence in drums, slowly deteriorates over a decade until her heart, damaged by years of malnourishment and the use of laxatives and syrup of ipecac, gave out. Her heart stopped beating on February 4, 1983, ended her life at just 32 years old.

Karen Carpenter was a beloved person. She was widely admired for her musical talents and her caring, funny, and warm personality. Unfortunately, she never saw herself this way, always striving for her unrealistic ideal of perfection, but never able (in her mind) to achieve that perfection in her professional and personal life. She felt inferior, and powerless to emerge as a worthy individual from her tight-knit family dynamic.

Karen tried to get treatment for anorexia, but the treatment was on her terms, and not sufficient to what she truly needed to recover her sense of empowerment and self-worth. She abused laxatives and thyroid medication while undergoing a year of daily cognitive therapy in NYC. She got worse, losing more weight during that year and had to be hospitalized and fed intravenously. She gained weight in this passive manner and went from 78 pounds to 108 pounds. Deckaring herself “cured”, she discharged herself from the hospital and returned to Los Angeles to work with brother Richard on their next album. But Karen wasn’t cured. She was in complete denial of her illness, not realizing how compromised her health and body had become.

After her therapy in NYC, Karen began using Syrup of Ipecac to purge ingested food, (a dangerous way to prevent her from gaining more weight) and with her already severely weakened body and heart, the ipecac was the final straw that caused her heart failure.

The music industry lost a true star in Karen’s passing, and humanity lost a truly wonderful human being.

The only positive note that can be written as a postscript to Karen’s battle with anorexia is that she brought media attention to the disorder. Undoubtedly, her struggle and death from anorexia saved untold lives from the superior and more sophisticated treatments for anorexia thereafter.

Karen died over 50 years ago, but her musical legacy and battle against anorexia lives on to inspire and learn from a life that shined so strongly yet so briefly.

[Kirsti · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The money's in the basement." —Karen Carpenter, explaining why she sang in low tones despite having an impressive vocal range

"But Richard is the star, Karen's just the drummer." —Agnes Carpenter, blatantly favoring one of her children and completely misjudging the Carpenters' sound

Karen Carpenter and her brother Richard chased success. They wanted money and fame and popularity, and as a result they tended to choose safe, dated, or even reactionary musical styles. Even during and after the period where their sales plateaued, they strongly resisted trying new styles and forms. As a result, many music fans considered them to be awkward, sentimental, or fake. But THAT VOICE. It's one of the most distinctive and appealing in pop music history.

Karen and Richard's mother sounds appalling, blatantly favoring Richard and discouraging Karen from seeking therapy for the anorexia that killed her. Their father is meekly uncommunicative. And Richard sounds controlling and tiresome, full of bitterness and complaints whether the records are selling well or not. (The one time in the book when he seems pleased about something is in 1994, when the superb tribute album If I Were a Carpenter came out.)

Both Richard and Karen experienced severe anxiety, which they sought to control in different ways. Richard got addicted to downers, but because doctors had a better idea of how to treat his addiction, he survived. Karen became anorexic and bulimic and abused laxatives. Doctors knew very little about treating eating disorders at the time, so she did not survive.

Also, Karen dealt with a tremendous amount of sexism. Her brother and their record company made her give up the drums and front the band. They criticized her drum playing, but there was never any effort to make her better at the drums. Take a look at this clip to see how talented she was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o82d9... If you don't have time for the whole thing, just watch the drum solo at the end.

The other thing that gets me is how (male) colleagues assumed they understood her without asking her about anything. The parents considered Richard a musical prodigy from the age of three. They moved the family from Connecticut to southern California when the kids were teenagers so that Richard would have a better chance of professional success. Karen watched and listened all the time. She tried different instruments without much success. She became obsessed with jazz drumming as a young teenager. She worked with a choral teacher for years, both before and after she got famous. She joined the high school marching band and became the first girl on the drum line there, working her way up to co-leading the band. She experimented with singing in a higher and a lower register. And then she goes to an audition with Richard when she's sixteen and these guys insist "she was born with that voice, it just came out of her." What absolute bullshit. She worked and researched and strategized to get that sound.

[Michele Pfrogner · Rating 4 out of 5]

" 'There have been some who can belt out a song and do it wonderfully well, like Celine Deon or Whitney Houston. But Karen understated herself and the emotion. She never went for the big notes, because she knew that wasn't her.'" Karen's friend Nicky Chinn, quoted p. 306.

Karen's voice was from another world. She did not need to "yell" her songs, or play the diva with pointless melismatic gymnastics. (Just watch any American Idol or The Voice competitions.) And her voice, her musical talent, and perfectionism all contributed to her tragic story.
This British author has researched Karen's story well, but her imposition of politics is disturbing. Her negative focus on the Carpenters' visit to the White House under President Nixon undermines that time period in American history when we actually respected Presidents. People, whether artists, citizens, or athletes, when invited to the White House, usually went. O'Brien is not an American citizen, and I do not think she was a resident here in the 1970s.
I also take issue with yet another "feminist" writer trying to pigeonhole women into categories. "The 1970s was a cusp era, when women were redefining themselves, caught between the old models of passive, decorative femininity and a more liberated self-assertion" (181). Karen was a female drummer, for gosh sakes, who, unfortunately, did not have the support system from family or management. This is not just a "70s feminist" issue; it's much more complicated, but so easy for an author to compartmentalize as a "women's" issue.
On page 248, I read another disparaging tale of Paul Simon, as he verbally bashed Karen over a cover of one of his songs. I have never read anything positive about him as a person. Why people continue to work with this jerk is disgusting. Oh, yeah ...money and power.
Finally, I did appreciate the author's discussion of the "stage mom," which Karen's mother definitely was. Today, there are "stage moms" on steroids, thanks to social media. It is disgusting how some parents still play this game after their children are adults, living on their own.
Years after Karen's death, thanks to this book, I was finally able to understand the back story of her struggles, including her attempts to get well. The danger with Karen's story, as with other performer's deaths, like Freddie Mercury, is to focus on their early passing. Her legacy is so much more. Every time I hear her voice, I am hearing the voice of an angel.
"A star on earth--a star in heaven" (305).

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want so badly to give this book five stars, as it's probably the best biography of Karen Carpenter to date. It's obvious from the notes that the author must have done an exhaustive amount of research on Karen, and she interviewed so many people who knew Karen.

The flaw that forced me to hold back a star is the outdated information on anorexia that's presented as current knowledge. I'm unusually sensitive to it, having a child who has been fighting anorexia for the past year (and perhaps I should have known not to read this, already being so familiar with Karen's story). I was so upset and disturbed with the reference in Chapter 13 to the 2007 article discussing a link between anorexia and arrested development that I read the article and looked further into the conclusions and then specifically asked our therapist if that's still considered to be true, as I shudder at the thought of my child being stuck at the stage when anorexia reared its hideous head. The therapist assured me that the current knowledge does not hold that to be true (and of course, it may have been true in Karen's case, but as I have learned during our family's experience with anorexia, there are very few generalizations that can be made for people dealing with eating disorders and body dysmorphia).

That issue is likely much more glaring to me than the vast majority of those who will read this, and honestly I wouldn't even have noticed the outdated information if I had read this book right when it was released. Beyond that, this book was truly excellent and well done. The epilogue does a terrific job addressing the years after Karen's tragic death and doesn't hold back on criticism of Richard's choices. Bringing the issues of body dysmorphia and eating disorders to the current day by listing many current artists who have dealt with and/or spoken out about these things is a great way to show how Karen not only wasn't alone in her struggles, but that unfortunately it's still happening. I only wish Karen could have been less commodified, both by herself and others, and that she would have been encouraged to keep drumming, as it seemed to bring her so much joy.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

This is a nicely researched and easy to read biography of Karen Carpenter. The author clearly has been a huge fan all her life - which can either help or really hurt a biography. In this case, the love comes through but at the same time there is hardly a bad thing to be said about Carpenter, making the biography feel very one sided.

The book is chronological and based mostly on interviewers. As such, any friend or coworker who later talked about their relationship with the singer get special focus by the author. If you read the book, you'll believe everyone loved Karen and worried about her - we don't really hear much about any conflicts with people. Even the difficult relationship she had with her parents is nicely analyzed but falls short of doing any real incisive observations. Her parents are excused by their upbringing, her brother doesn't show up in the book much except as the family prodigy that eclipsed Karen, and even her husband doesn't really get much mention/analysis.

Karen is a hard subject to crack because she wasn't known to be intimate with anyone and kept to herself for the most part. So what we do get here in a biography is more Karen as seen through others' eyes. It's not a bad way to approach a biography but at the same time, it does make you wonder what Karen was really like as a person.

In all, I enjoyed the biography and appreciate the work went into researching the subject. If I had a wish, it would have been to hear more about the inspirations behind the songs, any information about the numerous tv specials (we really only hear briefly about the Disneyland special), and more about the final years beyond the anorexia. But in all, you can't go wrong here if you want to learn more about Karen Carpenter. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Ronald Zincone Photography · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read every book published about Karen Carpenter and her brother Richard and I must say that Lucy O'Brien's book is the most accurate. The book was well written with a nice pace and the author really drilled down deep to get to the real story behind Ms. Carpenter's untimely death. The book covers and introduces information that was never covered in the other publications. I have a feeling that brother Richard was not given the opportunity to censor this book as he had done with other publications and films. I wonder why? I am in total agreement with what Dr. O'Brien writes about and brings forward in Lead Sister. The book covered everything and I loved how the author uses a timeline, year to year, as we read KC's tragic character story. This book is going to be a big hit with the Carpenter fans and people really need to read this book. Such a tragedy in more ways than one in that KC was the "Carpenters". Her legendary, prodigy, one-take, greatest female voice of all time and let's not forget her kick-butt drumming (best female drummer period). This was her first legacy but her greatest legacy, unfortunately, through her passing, was putting a spotlight on anorexia nervosa and literally saving countless women from the same tragic ending. Why "Carpenters" music is no longer played, except for Christmas, why Richard was undervalued and forgotten and why the national radio stations choose to NOT PLAY their music, is beyond me and continues the tragic story. Get this book by Dr. O'Brien and lets petition the national radio stations to start playing THE VOICE. Lets spread the word on Youtube to keep the Carpenter Legacy going.