Richard Carpenter Is Still Playing the Carpenters’ Hits
As pianist, arranger, and singer of soft rock duo the Carpenters, Richard Carpenter, alongside his singing and drumming sister Karen, dominated the charts in the ’70s. Hits like “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “(They Long to Be) Close fo You” and “Superstar” made them one of the best-selling bands of all time, with 12 Billboard top 10 hits and millions of albums sold. But following Karen’s tragic death in 1983, Richard stepped back from the limelight. What has he been up to in the decades since?
Early Carpenter years
Older than Karen by four years, Richard Carpenter was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1946, where he and Karen spent their early years. In 1963, the family relocated to the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, California, to aid Richard in his nascent career music career — he was considered something of a child prodigy and could already play multiple instruments.
After the siblings banded together to create a few bands that didn’t quite go anywhere, like the Carpenter Trio and Spectrum, they formed the Carpenters in 1968, and were signed to A & M Records, where they released their debut album, Offering, better known as Ticket to Ride, in 1969. Though the album got some chart traction, it was nothing compared to 1970’s Close to You, an instant blockbuster that sold millions of copies. Though many of the Carpenters’ hits were covers, Richard wrote a number of their songs, including “Top of the World;” he also produced and arranged the lush, multi-tracked arrangements of each song that became the band’s sonic signature.
Karen Carpenter, Richard Carpenter, 1971. Raphael/TV Guide/Courtesy Everett Collection
The Carpenters spent the rest of the decade working: touring the world, frequently appearing on TV, and releasing 10 studio albums between 1969 and 1981, as well as countless live recordings. But the demands of stardom placed tremendous strain on the pair: Richard became addicted to Quaaludes over the course of the ’70s, kicking his habit in 1979, and Karen developed anorexia nervosa, which despite treatment, took her life in 1983.
Life after Karen’s death
After Karen’s death, Richard remained active in the music industry, both releasing solo albums and producing other performers for A & M Records. In 1983, he released the Carpenters album Voice of the Heart, which included tracks cut from previous recording sessions with Karen; the following year, he released the Carpenters Christmas album, An Old-Fashioned Christmas. Also in 1984, Richard married Mary Rudolph, with whom he would go on to have five children.
Richard Carpenter with his wife and daughter at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards. Hulton Archive/Getty
In 1986, he released his first solo album, Time, which included new songs and collaborations with Dusty Springfield and Dionne Warwick. Despite his distaste for participating in public conversation about his sister’s death, in 1988, he was a producer on the made-for-TV movie The Karen Carpenter Story; as he told the Los Angeles Times at the time, he was hesitant to make the film, but “If it has to be made, we’re the people who should be making it.” The film included two previously unreleased Carpenters tracks; those songs appeared on the 1988 Carpenters outtakes collection, Lovelines.
Richard’s next solo album, 1997’s Pianist, Arranger, Composer, Conductor, looked back towards his career with Karen, featuring new arrangements of the pair’s hits. But it failed to make much of a splash.
In the 2000s, Richard underwrote the Richard Carpenter Scholarship Competition in Thousand Oaks, California, for young singers, dancers and musicians.
In 2008, Carpenter planned a comeback. “It’s a different business. Music is a different world from when Karen and I were signed by Herb Alpert in 1969,” he said in an Associated Press interview at the time. “But I feel I have some talent.” He planned to release a Carpenters tribute album, a Christmas album, and then a solo album.
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The only one of those that seemed to materialize was 2021’s Richard Carpenter’s Piano Songbook, which again saw him revisiting Carpenter’s hits.
Today, Richard can periodically be seen playing live with his children, who perform a mix of Carpenters tunes and standards with him as the Carpenter Family Singers.
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May 2019
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