Karen Carpenter was born on this day in 1950 (March 2nd). I have always loved her voice. I don’t care what “they” say, though sometimes “they” can actually use their ears and not their self-serving sense of hipness when making musical judgements. On point, in 2010, Rolling Stone Magazine did a feature on “The Greatest Voices of All Time” decided by 179 “experts.” Karen Carpenter came in at number 94 with the following rationale.
Karen Carpenter’s white-bread image and sad fate — she died of anorexia in 1983 — have overshadowed her chocolate-and-cream alto voice. But other performers know the score: Elton John called her “one of the greatest voices of our lifetime,” and Madonna has said she is “completely influenced by her harmonic sensibility.” Impossibly lush and almost shockingly intimate, Carpenter’s performances were a new kind of torch singing, built on understatement and tiny details of inflection that made even the sappiest songs sound like she was staring directly into your eyes. Still, she’s a guilty pleasure for many. “Karen Carpenter had a great sound,” John Fogerty once told Rolling Stone, “but if you’ve got three guys out on the ballfield and one of them started humming [a Carpenters song], the other two guys would pants him.”
Rolling Stone
And there it is; can’t help but call her voice a “guilty pleasure” because some of the other kids on the playground might tease you.
Could have chosen any number of songs but “I Won’t Last a Day Without You” stands out for me. It was written by Paul Williams (lyrics) and Roger Nichols (music). The pair had already written “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days and Mondays” for the Carpenters. “I Won’t Last a Day Without You” was first released in the U.K. in 1973, paired with “Goodbye to Love” as a double-A side. In 1974, it was released in the U.S. where it became a hit, rising up to No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Karen Carpenter’s voice on this tune is just exquisite.