What Karen Carpenter's friends have to say

The following quotes come from the 2009 released e-book entitled The Carpenters Online Interviews. In these interviews several people that worked with Carpenters and/or Karen Carpenter were interviewed. For this article I pulled a few interesting quotes from some of the interviews.

Klaatu is a Canadian group best known for causing a stir in 1976 when they released their debut album which had a Beatlesque sound. There weren't any pictures or names of the band members anywhere on the album cover or liner notes, thus a rumor swept the world that Klaatu was actually The Beatles reunited. Klaatu is also famous for writing and recording "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft", a song which Carpenters covered and made into a worldwide hit. Dee Long of Klaatu has said he has always been a bit of a Carpenters fan. He says he was thrilled when Carpenters recorded "Occupants". He has always been an admirer of Karen's singing and was very saddened by her untimely passing.

Steve Eaton wrote the song "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" up on Scout Mountain in Pocatello, Idaho. He took his guitar up there to be alone with his thoughts. It was about a girlfriend that broke up with him. He wrote the song in 1970 but it wasn't recorded until 1974 when the Righteous Brothers recorded it. It wasn't until Carpenters' 1977 rendition that the song received any real sort of recognition. Eaton never met Karen but he says that he loves he silky honey toned voice. "She sounded much more mature than what she looked like, she was truly gifted", Eaton said.

Leo Bonaventura wrote the book "Leave Yesterday Behind" in which his main character Karen Carpenter comes to him in a dream. It a love story which breaks the barriers of time and space. After writing his book and it's eventual sales of more than 5,000 copies Leo has come to know some of Karen's friends. Leo said in The Carpenters Online Interviews, "I will say that I have had a great ride since writing the book. I have learned a lot about Karen from her closest friends who have read the book. The thing that seems to be recurring is how much Karen wanted a "normal" life. How she wanted to be Karen the person and Karen of the Carpenters was only her job".

Chris Christian is a popular contemporary Christian singer, songwriter, producer, musician. He has written over 2,000 songs, half of which are pop songs recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, Olivia Newton-John, Marilyn McCoo, B.J. Thomas, Cheryl Ladd and a host of many others. Chris Christian is also known for bringing Amy Grant to the forefront. Christian says that the Carpenters sound and harmonies played a big influence in the recording of Amy Grant's earliest albums. He also says Carpenters' bass player Joe Osborn performed on several of the albums he produced in the 70's and 80's. Christian describes Karen's voice as being Angelic.

Karen Carpenter recorded the song "Guess I Just Lost My Head" for her solo album. This fantastic lite jazz tune was written by musician extraordinaire, Rob Mounsey. In his recollections of working with Karen on her solo album Rob said the following, "I was so happy that she wanted to do my song... The only problem was that it was really a man's song to sing to a woman... The second line was "I was only watching the flower in your hair..." Not being a congenital lyricist I was stumped for a substitute line, and it was Karen who came up with "only trying to memorize you there."

Karen Carpenter fondly called him, Lib. Liberty DeVitto played drums on many of the tracks on Karen's solo album. Lib had a strong affection for Karen, one most people call a crush. Liberty is best known for playing drums on most of Billy Joel's 70's and 80's albums from his heyday. "She was easy to be around and we found out she had a great sense of humor. I've got some really funny pictures of us. She got mad at me for drawing mustaches and beards on her and Richard on the cover of their Christmas album that had just been released", Liberty chuckled.

Russell Javors wrote two songs which ended up on Karen's solo album, "All Because Of You" and "Still In Love With You". She also recorded "Truly You", which is one of the nine unreleased solo tracks which were leaked to the internet sometime around 1999. Javors is a truly fantastic musician, producer, singer, songwriter. Like Liberty, Russell worked with Billy Joel on his 70's and 80's albums. Russell remembers his experiences with Karen in the studio as she was recording the song "Still In Love With You", "At one point I was actually in the vocal booth with Karen and I lip synched the lyrics while she was recording her vocal because she wanted to copy my phrasing. I was impressed at how hard she worked to put her stamp on it. Also, I was surprised at how softly she sang. Karen's voice was so rich and textured. Her voice was powerful without having to belt it out," Russell Javors commented.

Louis Johnson is also a member of a popular A&M sibling duo. His duo, though, is musically very different from the Carpenters. Louis is part of the funk band Brothers Johnson who had hits in the mid-late 70's and early 80's such as "I'll Be Good To You", "Strawberry Letter 23" and "Stomp!". Louis Johnson played bass on several tracks from Karen's solo album. Louis Johnson compared Karen to Bjork in that they both have the same sort of tender innocence about themselves. "Her voice was incredible...there will never be another Karen Carpenter ever again. It’s impossible, she was beautiful her voice was lovely. One of the finest human beings I have ever met in my life," Louis Johnson said about Karen.