Karen Carpenter was born on March 2, 1950 in New Haven, Connecticut, per Biography. Her family moved to Downey, California when she was 13. As a teenager, Carpenter developed an interest in music and started playing glockenspiel and drums. She formed a band with her brother, Richard, and they won a battle of the bands at the Hollywood Bowl in 1966.

Karen and Richard Carpenter eventually became a duo, the Carpenters, and signed a record deal with A&M. Their first album, 1969’s “Offering,” was a bit of a dud, but their follow up, 1970’s “Close To You,” was a hit. The title track, “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” topped the Billboard Top 100 in July of 1970, and won a Grammy. The Carpenters also won a Grammy for Best New Artist and became soft rock icons, with a string of hits including “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Rainy Days and Mondays,” “Superstar,” and “Hurting Each Other.”

Karen Carpenter was particularly lauded for her beautiful alto singing voice. The Chicago Tribune once claimed her “evocative lower register had a richness that no female pop singer ever has matched” and called her voice “at once incredibly beautiful and strikingly neutral.”

Karen Carpenter was a cash-poor multimillionaire

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