# 1 American Female Singer of All Time - Karen Carpenter

[protectionist]

It's hard to beat the sentiment in "Bless the Beasts and the Children."

Nothing warms the heart at Christmastime quite like a Carpenters song. Like sent from Heaven.

 

[skye]

She was amazing! .....best of the best.

 

[protectionist]

I almost forgot to mention one of the most IMPORTANT and stunning facts about the Carpenters. They produced the most top 10 singles in a row, without missing. NOBODY has ever done that, except the Carpenters (not Elvis, not the Beatles,)

When you are the best of the best, it won't remain hidden. The public, worldwide, reacts.

 

[bluzman61]

Karen Carpenter did have a wonderful voice. It's a shame she died so young. Linda Ronstadt in her prime was CLOSE to being as good as Karen. Aretha Franklin was called the "Queen of Soul" for good reason. She had the best female soul voice I've heard.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

When Karen Carpenter was alive, Paul McCartney, then at the height of his fame, referring to her, said that she has “the best female voice in the world: melodic, tuneful and distinctive.” That was a massive compliment back in the day, but it remains solid to this day, by music critics and other professional singer-musicians, of which I am one. John Lennon also praised her as having a beautiful voice.

Here we are in that time of the year again, and supermarkets and department stores play Christmas songs through their PA speakers, giving us that Christmas feeling while we shop. And whose songs do we hear all over America, every year in the stores ? Karen Carpenter. I have lived in 4 states of the US in my life, and I sometimes visit friends there (New York, Tennessee, California). In all of these, plus my home state of Florida, it is a longtime ritual for Karen Carpenter songs to be heard along with our Christmas shopping - and this has been going on for 50 years.

Looks like Paul McCartney has plenty of company for his music appreciation. Notably, Karen sang in a contralto range (ie. The lowest female voice or voice part, higher than tenor and lower than soprano. The terms contralto and alto refer to a similar musical pitch, but among singers, the term contralto is reserved for female singers; the equivalent male form is counter-tenor.

Quite remarkable Karen was one of the very few singers ever, who sang across 3 different octaves, and she did it consistently and effortlessly. As you walk around in the stores this Christmas season, undoubtably you'll hear that wide ranging contralto voice, and if you have an ear for music, you can feel fortunate to have such a marvelous voice there while you shop.

View attachment 731488
Karen Carpenter with Olivia Newton John in 1981.

Truly a wonderful voice, and gone way too soon. I do not think there is any other singer in my lifetime, with a voice that can consistently compare to hers. Maybe Madonna, in her younger days, before all the drugs or whatever else she did to herself not long after she became famous.

Linda Ronstadt, here and there…



…and Vanessa Williams…



…and Carly Simon…



…and Diana Ross…



…and Natalie Cole…

[Turns out I'm up against a limit as to how many of these I can pot in one post. This item and one other will go into my next post.]

…and here's an obscure one, Laura Osnes…

[Turns out I'm up against a limit as to how many of these I can pot in one post. This item and one other will go into my next post.]


Several beautiful women, with beautiful voices, whose time on this mortal coil have overlapped my own, occasionally capable of sounding as beautiful as Karen Carpenter always did.

But none who consistently, reliably, always sang as beautifully as Ms. Carpenter always sang without fail, every time.

That last example I showed, Laura Osnes—I would have to say that if she could always sing as beautifully as she sang in that performance she'd beat Karen Carpenter by a long shot. Not to denigrate her as a singer, but this one performance seems to be the best I ever found of hers, far more beautiful than any by Karen Carpenter, but like the other women that I've named, most of her performances that I've found, while quite beautiful in their own right, are not at the Karen Carpenter level of beautiful.

I guess the thing that is extraordinary about Karen Carpenter is not so much how beautifully she could sing, but how consistently and reliably she was able to sing that beautifully. The other women I've named could sometimes sing as beautifully as Karen Carpenter, or even more so, but usually not.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

And here are the missing items from my previous post…

Natalie Cole… [Alas, I was surprised to learn, recently, that she passed away in 2015, at the age of 65.]


Laura Osnes… [If you don't listen to any of the others I just posted, please listen to this one. Trust me; it's worth it. I feel confident in saying that none of you have ever heard, nor ever will, a voice more beautiful than this.]

 

[Montrovant]

I'm a MUSICIAN and singer, who plays 5 different instruments all on a professional level, and in 10 different genres. And you ? Other than being an annoying troll, messing up a nice thread, that really shouldn't have a word of disagreement.

Of course, how dare anyone disagree with your entirely subjective thread?

I prefer Tori Amos myself, but that has to do with the music as well as her voice, so I’m not going to declare she’s a better singer than Karen Carpenter. I’d certainly call her a better songwriter, but again, subjective opinion.

 

[protectionist]

Of course, how dare anyone disagree with your entirely subjective thread?

I prefer Tori Amos myself, but that has to do with the music as well as her voice, so I’m not going to declare she’s a better singer than Karen Carpenter. I’d certainly call her a better songwriter, but again, subjective opinion.

What isn't subjective is that recording studios said that Karen Carpenter was the ONLY singer (male or female) who consistently produced a perfect recording ON ONE TAKE. They used to call her "One Take Karen" because of how unusual that is.

She also was known to have perfect pitch consistently, over 3 octaves, and amazingly, NEVER missed a note. Almost as if Heaven was controlling her voice. Unearthly odd.

 

[themirrorthief]

What isn't subjective is that recording studios said that Karen Carpenter was the ONLY singer (male or female) who consistently produced a perfect recording ON ONE TAKE. They used to call her "One Take Karen" because of how unusual that is.

She also was known to have perfect pitch consistently, over 3 octaves, and amazingly, NEVER missed a note. Almost as if Heaven was controlling her voice. Unearthly odd.

nobody comes close to Miley Cyrus cmon man

 

[themirrorthief]

Hardly. Just not stuck in the 60-70's...

instead you are stuck in your gay friend

 

[Bob Blaylock]

What isn't subjective is that recording studios said that Karen Carpenter was the ONLY singer (male or female) who consistently produced a perfect recording ON ONE TAKE. They used to call her "One Take Karen" because of how unusual that is.

She also was known to have perfect pitch consistently, over 3 octaves, and amazingly, NEVER missed a note. Almost as if Heaven was controlling her voice. Unearthly odd.

I've never been up on any of that behind the scenes stuff, but given how consistently beautiful her finished products always sounded, I suppose if there was any singer with which I had any familiarity at all, who would have the traits that you described, it would be her.

In my two previous posts, I gave example of singers who could some times sound as beautiful or even more so, that Ms. Carpenter could, but none of them could do it consistently. With Ms. Carpenter, everything she produced, by the time it reached my ears, it was always beautiful, at a level that other singers only occasionally achieve.

 

[BackAgain]

When Karen Carpenter was alive, Paul McCartney, then at the height of his fame, referring to her, said that she has “the best female voice in the world: melodic, tuneful and distinctive.” That was a massive compliment back in the day, but it remains solid to this day, by music critics and other professional singer-musicians, of which I am one. John Lennon also praised her as having a beautiful voice.

Here we are in that time of the year again, and supermarkets and department stores play Christmas songs through their PA speakers, giving us that Christmas feeling while we shop. And whose songs do we hear all over America, every year in the stores ? Karen Carpenter. I have lived in 4 states of the US in my life, and I sometimes visit friends there (New York, Tennessee, California). In all of these, plus my home state of Florida, it is a longtime ritual for Karen Carpenter songs to be heard along with our Christmas shopping - and this has been going on for 50 years.

Looks like Paul McCartney has plenty of company for his music appreciation. Notably, Karen sang in a contralto range (ie. The lowest female voice or voice part, higher than tenor and lower than soprano. The terms contralto and alto refer to a similar musical pitch, but among singers, the term contralto is reserved for female singers; the equivalent male form is counter-tenor.

Quite remarkable Karen was one of the very few singers ever, who sang across 3 different octaves, and she did it consistently and effortlessly. As you walk around in the stores this Christmas season, undoubtably you'll hear that wide ranging contralto voice, and if you have an ear for music, you can feel fortunate to have such a marvelous voice there while you shop.

View attachment 731488
Karen Carpenter with Olivia Newton John in 1981.

She was such a heifer, though. Great Voice but morbidly obese.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

She was such a heifer, though. Great Voice but morbidly obese.

That's the kind of talk, the kind of thinking, that eventually led to her tragic, premature death.

She was never seriously overweight, but she got it into her head that she was, and others around her urged her to think that she was. She developed anorexia, and it was complications from that which eventually killed her.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

That's the kind of talk, the kind of thinking, that eventually led to her tragic, premature death.

She was never seriously overweight, but she got it into her head that she was, and others around her urged her to think that she was. She developed anorexia, and it was complications from that which eventually killed her.

I saw an interview with her shortly before her death. She was skeletal. Today, she would be living her truth and prescribed weight loss drugs.

 

[luiza]

We all have our favourites and KC deserves to be, and surely is, high in any list , if only because of her tone and pitch . And I am a huge fan . But compared to great singers like Ella Fitzgerald , Etta James , Janis Joplin , Sarah Vaughan, she gets splendid billing but she is not quite in that top drawer of "all time best "league . For sheer voice, listen to Yma Sumac --with an almost unheard of five octave range.

 

[JackOfNoTrades]

What isn't subjective is that recording studios said that Karen Carpenter was the ONLY singer (male or female) who consistently produced a perfect recording ON ONE TAKE. They used to call her "One Take Karen" because of how unusual that is.

She also was known to have perfect pitch consistently, over 3 octaves, and amazingly, NEVER missed a note. Almost as if Heaven was controlling her voice. Unearthly odd.

She was also a really good drummer.

 

[Blues Man]

Karen's voice was stunning.

She had such control that her vibrato was metronome perfect. And that lower register was sexy as hell too

And she was a pretty good drummer.

 

[Blues Man]

 

[BackAgain]

That's the kind of talk, the kind of thinking, that eventually led to her tragic, premature death.

She was never seriously overweight, but she got it into her head that she was, and others around her urged her to think that she was. She developed anorexia, and it was complications from that which eventually killed her.

I know. I was noting Only her anorexia.

Fact is I enjoyed her voice.

 

[Blaster]

I love Karen Carpenter.