Karen Carpenter was born today in 1950 in New Haven, Connecticut. She made up half of the brother-sister duo Carpenters (there officially was no "The" in their name) that took the world by storm in the 1970s. While not exactly an overnight success, once Carpenters hit they hit like a hammer seriously pissed off at a nail.

Karen began playing drums while in high school and was a frighteningly quick study. Her brother, Richard, was a child prodigy on the piano and became an excellent arranger and composer. The siblings, along with another school friend, formed a jazz band called The Richard Carpenter Trio and entered and won the Hollywood Battle of the Bands in 1966, resulting in their first recording contract.

They were quickly dropped from the label but remained undaunted. They made a television appearance in 1968 and shortly thereafter were signed by Herb Alpert at A&M records. Their first album, "Ticket to Ride", was released in 1969 and was decidedly underwhelming, only reaching #150 on the album chart. This time their label had their back and Carpenters sophomore effort, "Close to You", followed less than a year later.

You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but the two songs that propelled "Close to You" to #2 on the album chart were a cover of a Burt Bacharach song, which is reasonable given that Bacharach was a bona fide hit machine, and a cover of a song that was previously only used in a television commercial for a bank. This is a testament to both Richard's arrangement skills and Karen's voice. The two songs, "(They Long To Be) Close To You" and "We've Only Just Begun", reached #1 and #2 on the singles chart and both sold over a million copies.

After this initial success, Carpenters released three consecutive top 5 albums, two top 40 albums and two more top 100 albums. Over this time Karen slowly emerged from behind the drum kit. While she considered herself a drummer who happened to sing, she also happened to be the face of one of the biggest bands in the world (Carpenters have sold over 100 million albums worldwide.)

That face and her beguiling voice attracted her a number of suitors. She dated Steve Martin, Tony Danza and Mark Harmon but in 1980 ended up marrying a civilian from outside the Hollywood spotlight. This marriage lasted barely a year and may have pushed Karen toward an early death. She suffered from anorexia for many years and her condition worsened dramatically after her marriage. She had used a variety of unprescribed medications to help her lose weight and they had caused a drastic weakening of her heart. Karen Carpenter died on Febraury 4, 1983 due to a heart attack due to anorexia nervosa.

While her death was tragic it has served to save thousands of others. Anorexia was not widely known and even more poorly understood by the general public in 1983. Karen's passing brought an enormous amount of attention to the disease while the foundation established in her memory helped fund research on eating disorders.

Other birthdays today:

Lou Reed: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/forum/anything-else/2016/03/68419/lou-reed...

Rory Gallagher: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/forum/anything-else/2016/06/71429/the-late...