Karen Carpenter

How about Eva Cassidy?

Cheers,
Rob

Who's Karen Carpenter?

Who's Eva Cassidy?

kct webber said:

Who's Karen Carpenter?

Who's Eva Cassidy?

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They were both vocalists and Karen was a talented drummer as well. Both have passed away, Karen at age 32 and Eva at age 33. Karen before Eva... may their voices ring as true in heaven as they have here on Earth.

Karen Carpenter's Rainy Days and Mondays

Eva Cassidy's Fields of Gold

Something interesting about Karen that I heard one time is that she never thought she could sing, and she became the Carpenters' vocalist sort of by default. She was a drummer. Can you imagine if her voice was never "discovered"? She really did have a rare voice. It was so clear and precise.

Absolutely. Karen's was smooth as silk.

Miss Karen was outstanding, and she had Paul Williams to provide her with so many wonderful songs.

But I can recommend some other magical voices:

Diana Krall
Sarah Maclachlan
Alison Krauss

Anita Baker. Lock. Thread.

Whitney Houston http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yvsU4SNWPA

Celine Dion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMHGgnlXfSA

Carly Simon

kct webber said:

Who's Karen Carpenter?

Who's Eva Cassidy?

Click to expand...

I could understand asking about Eva. She only had local recognition during her life, and didn't become known to a larger audience until years after her death, as described here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_cassidy#Posthumous_recognition

But Karen Carpenter had several big hit songs in the 1970's before she died. I suppose it's possible you're too young, and you don't remember Bread either...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGMHSbcd_qI

Joan.

I love Karen Carpenter's voice.

RumpleTumbler said:

That's a great one.

If you liked that you'll love this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcrEqIpi6sg

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I love Joni too.

Dar Williams

Here's a nice live performance.

This shows her soulful side.

Some of her best songs, sadly, are not to be found on YouTube. I have most of her CDs.

After a bit of digging I found a free version of her song about the Berrigan Brothers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClgfwBMsB1w

You can't leave Janis Ian out of this conversation.

Nope it's Karen, always and forever. I used to want to be her. I learned how to sing by practicing her songs.

Karen was indeed excellent, though some of her top-40 songs were, oh, what's the word for it...well, they weren't the 'cool' rock'n'roll stuff on the radio at the time, that's how I'll say it.

I've always been enchanced by Linda Rondstadt singing almost anything, as discussed in previous threads on female vocalists.

Through listening to an odd show named "Weekend Radio" I heard Ann Mortifee singing the song "Baptism." It's exquisite, and you can hear it here, as the second mp3 link:
http://www.annmortifee.com/HJPAGE.html

I once read that Karen's singing voice was considered "the purest" voice. I'm not sure what that means, but everytime I hear one of her songs, I think of that comment, and I agree.