RICHARD CARPENTER INTERVIEW ON THE LARRY KING RADIO SHOW

[@jaycordova5599]

Thank you so much for this. I love the Carpenters incredibly, and Larry King was the best radio interviewer ever. Many a night Larry kept me up until 3:30, when he started on sports. Incredibly for me, I did Larry's signature microphone open when I was at CNN doing show opens. Your recording brings back good radio memories of Larry's non-screeded radio show, and this interview I somehow missed of my favorite music group to this day. Thanks a ton!

[@nancyericson4263]

I listened to him on the radio, too. I wish there was a place where you could see a list of guests and maybe a recording archive.

[@nancyericson4263]

I would listen on the radio. Must have been mostly in the summer. I don't think I ever stayed awake for the entire show, though.

[@bleacherz7503]

Thanks for the post. Lots of love to Larry King. RIP

[@juliejensen7370]

Old Larry King Radio episodes can be found on C SPAN.

[@juliejensen7370]

This is my favorite all time band. They used great studio musicians also. Herb Alpert has great taste!

[@nancyericson4263]

I remember when Peggy Fleming had a tv special after she had won the Gold Medal in the Olympics. She skated to "Close to You". I'm sure it's on KZbin.

[@ionthetarget]

Karen's solo album would have changed everything. What a bad move.

[@rts1527]

LOL at the Mary Rudolph (Richard's wife) question. They are cousins.

[@ravenel2]

Adopted. They are not blood related.

[@fool4singing]

I can't believe how little Larry knew about The Carpenters. He should have done more research...

[@jonchaney]

Larry thought they built cabinets and chairs.

[@JaneDoe-zr4px]

Larry is and always has been a complete dolt.

[@barb6868]

Richard was such a loving brother and a real class act. Such a shame that Karen C. left us so tragically. She was a great talent.

[@j.c.b6473]

Look closer...

[@marionscheuerlein4387]

I think Larry knows the Carpenters, their music and their career. But he has to ask this way because there are always people who get to know the Carpenters only through such an interview.

[@Trampus002]

I loved her voice. So unique and real. Pure. I also remember hearing stories of jerk DJ’s barking like a dog while playing her music. Making fun of the way she looked. In my opinion, she was a beautiful girl, but I’m sure she knew about this, maybe even heard it. Could this have helped pushed her into trying to be the perfect sex goddess that would be acceptable? IDK. These guys know who they are. We all make mistakes and are regretful...some stay jerks.

[@voiceguy3635]

Listen to the guests for the week--Steve Landesburg,Raquel Welch.Who would a radio host get to take up 2 hours a night nowadays?

[@kouros8792]

this was on 1986 richard carpenter talking about karens solo album that was not released that he said was incomplete and karen didnt liked the out come of it thats why it was shelved and never be be released..low and behold when karens life was made into a movie it was "him and other boss" of the their recording company that did'nt want to released it Becaused as they say its not good material... 😆😆 RICHARD CARPENTER WAS JUST AFRAID OF KAREN DOING SOLO BECAUSED HE WILL BE LEFT BEHIND!wheather he admit it or not...but thanks anyway for the music CARPENTERS that still lingers on the airwave even in this era. KAREN's voiced will forever lived on...

[@adriandowningiii8395]

Thanks @ChrisMc it really was Karen that shelved her solo album in 1980. I talked with Karen on June 12, 1981 and she told me the details about all that and that Karen was the one to shelve "the Can of Worms" which was what Karen called her solo album. Karen was wanting to take time off in 1979 and manager Jerry Weintraub was the one who came up with the idea. The original producer thought of for the album was Eddie Kramer but Eddie was used to artists that did their own material so Eddie was the one who recommended Phil Ramone to Karen. The solo album was a huge mess and in all honesty Karen enjoyed meeting new people (Rod Temperton and the band) but the album was a big bust since the beginning. Karen started having all this great material lined up ("Rock with You", "Off the Wall", "He's Out of My Life") and it just got sidetracked by Phil. The album ended up being a bunch of leftovers and outtakes. Richard and her mom were actually the ones that talked Karen into doing that album. Originally Karen told Richard, A&M and Jerry Weintraub no but after Karen got a phone call in either late March or early April 1979 from her mom with Karen's mom while Richard was out getting groceries telling Karen that Richard had started seeing Mary Rudolph and then Karen decided to do her solo album so that Richard could take some time off to be with Mary. I was around Karen when Karen's mom called and also I was around Karen when she started her solo album and it was Karen, Phil, Itchie, Itchie's toy poodle, Rod Temperton (was there at the start of the meeting but left during), and me during the meeting for the extra hundred grand for Karen's solo album. Karen was actually staying with her step cousin Wendy B in New York State during the time . Yeah, long stories... An incident happened around mid May 1979 and the project was nearly cancelled just after it started after Rod mentioned something and Alpert and Moss were concerned about possible bad publicity. Richard was actually the one that stepped in and talked to A&M to keep Karen's solo project going after the mid May incident (Rod mentioned something in the studio and I think it was either Alpert or Moss that heard it and after what Rod had said, Alpert and Moss were worried about possible bad publicity and almost cancelled the solo album). Richard assured Alpert and Moss that there wasn't going to be bad publicity and so A&M backed away from cancelling the project. Double yeah, and many more long stories... (#6 & #7 on this page, www.theeaceman.com/karentime.html ).

[@msatolentino]

Why would you not want to eat as an anorexic? Having gone through the same condition, it was really the control you gain over some aspect of your life that compels you to lose a few more and a few more and a few more... until you don't know when to stop and how to start eating again. To recover, you really need people who would affirm their love for you...not judge you...acknowledge that you are worth something. I yo-yoed for 12 years and it is very hard not to feel the guilt and the anger for lack of control.

[@obscurelyvague]

"Maricel Tolentino" not to dispute your experience but it was your own personal experience. Of course a lot of anorexics go through the exact same emotions but there is still not a "one-size-fits-all" scenario to it. Not everyone becomes anorexic because they are trying to control their own lives. It can be a stress reaction. It can be obsession with being fashionable and it can be because a person really wants acceptance from society. I think that the last one mentioned is is the biggest reason.

[@tracypaxton1054]

@@obscurelyvague, true, but in Karen's case it probably was because she wanted more control in her life. She had fans and record execs, an older brother and a very controlling mother to please.

[@adriandowningiii8395]

@@obscurelyvague Thanks here. Yes, they honestly keep trying to twist Karen's actual story around to match the profile they have for an anorexic. Karen never fit that profile. So all this stuff has been sidetracked. I was around Karen and I know what was going on and her and I had kind of figured it out. But, definitely yes, Karen's situation as well as Cherry (Boone) O'Neill and Chloe Lattanzi (Olivia's daughter)'s situations are all different. I know what Karen's situation was but a post on that would be too large for KZbin. I am glad that @Maricel Tolentino shared his experience, but there really isn't a true profile for anorexia as it affects different people in different ways and is a much broader term than most people realize.

[@adriandowningiii8395]

@@tracypaxton1054 I appreciate the feedback here. Nope. Wasn't. Karen's problem had nothing to do with control actually. In 1974 to 1975 the Carpenters had a very heavy tour schedule and Karen had a rule of she didn't eat 4 hours before performing or 4 hours before sleeping as Karen would have butterflies in her stomach (performing) or would be restless if she slept at all. Karen also had a separate issue known as arrhythmia (which Karen was 5 pounds and premature when born and chances are the arrhythmia [irregular heartbeat] was some kind of birth defect no one ever found). Karen would sometimes eat too close to performing or sleeping which was where the bulimia started with her. The laxatives (chocolate bars, not pills) started later. But it was kind of two stages with Karen, first would be the schedule problem (eating, sleeping, performing) and as Karen started losing too much weight Karen told me she would start getting an odd thought in her head as she started losing weight. The odd thought was that since all kids are cute that all kids are attractive. With that thought, Karen would start thinking that in order for Karen to be considered to be attractive, Karen's body would need to be straight as a board like a child. This last after affect was the big problem for Karen. I found out as in September 1978 instead of just saying "eat" I asked Karen, "Why don't you eat?" and so Karen and I talked about it. But if you notice, all of that psychobabble gobbledygook from the therapists was not working for Karen. And a bigger unfortunately is there isn't enough room for a big enough post to discuss this more in depth here. Karen only took Midols or Pamperin or aspirins and not that other stuff. All I can figure is a publicity stunt or such, but Karen never knew what that thyroid stuff was and didn't take that stuff. Karen's lymph node was swollen on her left side, not her thyroid. And that autopsy report is a disaster honestly. The Toxicology report is good, but you see all this junk that isn't supported as Karen's heart was slightly small but normal and not damaged and hyperglycemia was glaringly obvious but missed completely except for the 1100 number in the Toxicology report. The emetine was only in her liver and not in her blood stream and had been digested and was not recent and no one to this day even knows how long it takes for emetine to be digested (if it even is fully digested for that matter). But in the end, it really wasn't anyone's fault or the anorexia even but there was just something in Karen's body that decided to boost Karen's blood sugar (glycol) level over 1100 which is fatal as glycol is the substance which relaxes muscles and since the heart is a muscle. But all this speculation stuff from a bunch of quacks (doctors try to help others and quacks are in it for the money) is nonsense and never helped Karen (Cherry Boone O'Neill maybe and others like her but not Karen) or those like Karen that don't fit this warped anorexia profile. And not so surprisingly but truthfully Karen weighed 78 pounds in January 1982 when she entered the Levenkron Clinic and 77 pounds when she left the Levenkron Clinic in September 1982. Karen weighed 104 pounds when leaving Lennox Hill Hospital in November 1982 to go home and weighed 108 pounds when she passed away at her parents's house. So it is all her mom's and brother's faults according to... Oi vay. Narcissistic shrinks and therapists...and narcissistic fiction writers too (Hoerburger, Henry, Schmidt, Coleman admitted he made mistakes which means Coleman wasn't a narcissist at least).

[@adriandowningiii8395]

@Maricel Tolentino, I really appreciate you sharing your story here. If your story matches that of Cherry (Boone) O'Neill's story then that was what probably helped you in your struggle. Karen's was a very different story however and not even close to others's experiences for the most part. For starters, Karen's problems started around late 1974 and it was the touring schedule and Karen's rules about eating. Karen wouldn't eat 4 hours before sleeping or 4 hours before performing because she didn't eat or perform well on a full stomach. With the messy touring schedule from 1974 to 1975, Karen had slowly dropped down to about 91 pounds in September 1975 when she collapsed. Karen also had arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) which was probably because Karen weighed 5 pounds at birth and she was born premature. Chances are Karen had always had arrhythmia but it hadn't been officially diagnosed until September 1975. Karen did not want to be kept alive by a machine so a pacemaker was out but even so, Karen's glycol (blood sugar) level was over 1100 and was what caused Karen's heart to stop in 1983 as glycol is a substance that relaxes muscles and since the heart is a muscle... Karen actually had control as Karen was actually the one who shelved her solo album (not Richard or A & M or Phil Ramone even, but Karen and Karen told me this on June 12, 1981). Like with the Passage album, if Karen wanted to try something different, Richard was very supportive as was Karen's mom and such too. In all honesty, if it hadn't been for Richard and Karen's mom, Karen never would have done a solo album as Karen was wishing to take time off from the music biz at the time. There's a lot of fiction out there about Karen, Maricel. I wrote this page to try and help people understand the real Karen better as Karen and I were very close to each other (I was the 'new manager' Karen was planning on eloping with on February 4, 1983 and my first name is Adrian for a reference [not my last name] as biographers and such messed that stuff up). www.theeaceman.com/karentime.html which is an overview page that links to another page ( www.theeaceman.com/karencarp.html ) with more detailed information and stories.

[@kid5266]

He seems like a nice guy but he lied like a rug about how people reacted to her solo album;he and A&M told her to shelve it.

[@fool4singing]

Yeah, Richard and the A&M heads were very unsupportive of the recordings, so of course she shelved it.

[@obscurelyvague]

You mean that the record company did not want Karen's record to sell?

[@tracypaxton1054]

It wasn't her best work. If the album had had anyone else's name on it I would have though it was good, but it didn't show case her her one of a kind voice to it's best advantage. Her strength was in her lower range. She and Richard knew that. He really knew better than anyone how to arrange music to play to her strengths.

[@juvisage8427]

@@tracypaxton1054 that's a matter of opinion tho. many of karen's friends, including Olivia Newton-John, agreed that it was a great album, and definitely NOT what we were used to listen to coming from Karen, and that's exactly what she wanted, to change. she knew her strong suit was lower notes and still she decided she wanted to change. they shouldn't have treated her the way they did when she already had made a photoshoot for the album's cover. also, it led to her meeting that cockshit Tom Burris or whatever. it's all really infuriating!

[@adriandowningiii8395]

@Kid Actually, Richard was telling the truth. Karen and I talked about it together on June 12, 1981 and Karen was the one who made the decision to shelve it after she thought about an interview she did on March 17, 1980 with Rolling Stone magazine (which the article was never published to my knowledge). There is a lot of hype out there, but honestly, Richard had that album all put in Karen's name so that Karen was the one to decide if it was released or not. Karen was the one who didn't want it released and honestly, not releasing this album was the big reason why Karen was still around Itchie and Phil to make sure they didn't sneak off and try to release it behind her back. As Richard told Karen in May 1979, "In business it is good to keep your friends close but your enemies closer so that you can see what your enemies are up to." If you actually listen to Itchie, Itchie really didn't know anything personal about Karen. Karen and Itchie hung out here and there but they really weren't that close. Rod Temperton was closer to Karen than Snitchy, I mean Itchie was. Karen always had secrets with people she was close to. Itchie never really had any secrets to share from Karen.

[@j.c.b6473]

You'll never get the truth about Karen from Richard.

[@janyceboschman3122]

I know where your coming from.For him to say he had no idea what triggered Karen’s anorexia. I don’t know??

[@philipmarlowe8763]

I don't understand why people seem scared to discuss this things... It's not like RC can come in and remove you from youtube. That being said, is there a forum to go where you can discuss this stuff??

[@j.c.b6473]

@@philipmarlowe8763 There are some good documentary style youtube vids about how dysfunctional that family was. Some come very close to the serious accusations that I have always suspected. But I think they stop short because there's no proof and it could be seen as slander. However, ehat is obvious & verified is how RC sabotaged her solo album, overlooked her anorexia to keep making money, and was the favorite child.

[@gerlieannmanuel7283]

I had so many to say about this interview but they had some rules to follow...but you'll never got a truth answer in this man(Richard)..We as Karen's fans,we knew the truth thru by their close friends interviews...To Karen,wherever you are now,we only believed in you..sad you're not here to defend yourself for what really happened.We love you so much.

[@babygirlramos9766]

I don"t to want to say anything bad words to Richard to this interview because i know the rule,eventhough i really want too,just to depend Karen side because is so unfair to Karen to hear her side because she's not here anymore.Especially her solo album...All i can say is...Karen can be a BIG STAR in her own without her brother...Millions of people love her very much...we are here to support her.Love you Angel Karen...

[@skullduggery3377]

i wish larry didn't cut him off before he finished his thought.

[@obscurelyvague]

Radio and TV show hosts, especially if it is a "News type" of show always cut off their guests because there is only a given time for the guest to talk before the show goes on to a commercial or other segment.

[@juliejensen7370]

I understood Richard married a cousin (by marriage).

[@JaneDoe-zr4px]

Larry is the worst. LOL when they mention, "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft", and Larry goes, "I love that song". Guarantee he's never heard of it.

[@chrisb8655]

Lol! I bet you're right. No way he's heard an album cut, especially an obscure one like that.

[@joyrcoleman]

he wasn't married when Karen died he married in 1984 Karen was upset that he was dating their cousin

[@obscurelyvague]

Who said that Karen was upset about Richard dating their cousin?

[@ravenel2]

Adopted cousin. They are not related by blood.

[@ToriHolub]

@@ravenel2 i hate that even Randy Schmidt failed to note that in his book.

[@connynielson8686]

I wonder why he waited so long to get married.. I mean, he always knew the cousin.

[@philipmarlowe8763]

I had never really heard anything suspicious from RC directly, until he was asked the question about where he met his wife - he lied about it, at least I presume he lied as he said he met his wife in an "office" or something similar if I recall correctly since he married a cousin, adopted or step I've heard (but still legal in CA nonetheless)... Once I heard that, I started listening a bit more closely to RC, and other weird inconsistencies started to float to the surface.

[@juliejensen7370]

It's cool that women musicians aren't as into groupies as men. Guess they have more class.

[@joyrcoleman]

brooke adams would have been perfect for karen

[@matrox]

This is Your Life...kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2TWqYiJo5ehnaM

[@creates100]

Charlie rose is a terrible interviewer. Larry much better by comparison.

[@jonchaney]

Karen through up when she heard this interview. She couldn’t stomach it.

[@sarahwentforalemonwedgeand8991]

I threw up when I saw your face

[@brittgray1324]

Larry is rude

[@erichansen3641]

Karen used to visit the Nazi concentration camps. Her Jewish bosses wanted Karen to see them. I just hope Karen did not become too empathetic to the starving/wasting away, Jewish plight, and internalize that within herself

[@connynielson8686]

they did Belsen didn't they.. do you know what year ? it's like it put a curse on her ??🤔