Legendary Bands - The Carpenters Posters

The brother-and-sister team of Richard and Karen Carpenter may be the best thing to ever come out of their native Downey, Calif. The former child prodigies became superstars after Herb Alpert discovered them and soon helped transform them into one of the biggest acts ever on his (at-the-time) still fledgling A&M label.

The duo has often been written off as MOR soft-pop dreck--but the truth is that Richard Carpenter basically modeled his production techniques after those of Brian Wilson, making him a superb studio technician. If anything, the hit singles always sounded great. And despite the vanilla accusations, Karen definitely had a certain soulfulness to her vocals, most evident on melancholic masterpieces like "Rainy Days And Mondays." To this day, the song can actually make the listener feel the sadness that the lyrics convey.

Karen became something of a feminist hero (after all, she remains one of the most famous female drummers of all time, though super session player Hal Blaine actually provided the percussion part to most of the records) following her death from anorexia in 1982. The duo has been the subject of a relatively weak TV movie, and a far better biography by British writer Richard Coleman. Their legend continues to grow, however, with time--and the Carpenters live on as long as there are American easy-listening stations playing their classic singles. In fact, it was the singles that helped create their legend, as no Carpenters album is really consistent beyond the hits.

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