Karen was one of a kind. There will never be another like her. She had such a pure calming voice. And she was a terrific drummer. That was her passion even more than singing. You can see the joy in her face in this video. Sadly we lost her so young. Thankfully we have her legacy left in her music.
First love for Karen was banging on those drums. You can see her pure joy. Her voice was discovered only in her latter teens when she joined her brothers band. When she sang no one could believe her voice but it was always when she got to play drums on recordings and in live performances that she was at home and comfortable in her skin. Karen was a tremendous musician.
She always referred to Herself as 'A Drummer Who Sings'. Lucky enough to see The Carpenters Live in Concert Twice back in the early and mid 70's. (Billy Preston was the Opening Act in One) She did Drum Solos each time with multiple Drum Kits. ... and her Voice Live was hypnotizing. RIP Little Songbird.
She was initially playing drums *and* singing when the Carpenters were first discovered but the labels pressured her to stop drumming because they wanted her "out front".
That drummer in the beginning was John Denver. ❤️ Drums we’re Karen’s love. She never wanted to front the band as lead singer. It was uncomfortable for her.
Karen is considered one of the best if not the best female drummers. Also one of the best singing/drummers. And the voice. With that trifeckta who can beat that. IMHO the BEST and what a sweet and kind woman.
Love to see this...she was so talented...great drummer and perfect voice!!!!!! RIP Karen...ps the Rainy Days and Mondays video shows her singing and playing drums. Check it out!!
I'm so pleased with your reaction. Karen loved the drums. She was most happy when she played. She was such a wonderful talented soul with the voice of an angel. R I P Karen Anne ❤️
Karen loved her drums. See how she is smiling the whole way through. It was her happy place. She once said she was a drummer that happened to sing. She is one of the top female drummers ever. Her brother forced her to go up front to sing because of her gorgeous voice but she hated it. Felt insecure in front of everyone. Some say it's what triggered her anorexia that eventually took her way to soon.
You took the words right outta my mouth. I read that after she was made to go up front, the powers that be called her chubby and said she needed to lose weight. I mean, look at her; She was tiny!
Read some of her personal early history. Her mother drove a lot of her insecurities. She pushed and praised Richard as the talented one and wanted him to be out front. She always relegated Karen to the background and support. Hence drums for Karen, while Keyboards and Guitar and lead singer for Richard. He knew however how talented Karen was and wanted her to sing lead while he arranged and composed. Her insecurities came from always being told she wasn't good enough and second best and hence always doubted herself.
Great reaction! I love your channel. When people see the Rainy Days and Mondays video, I look forward to them realizing Karen is playing drums while singing. Blows my mind. 🤯
What love best is the early live performances where she is playing the drums while being the lead singer, before she was pulled from the drums to just be out in front only singing. You should react to some of those performances 😊.
Hi there/ on one of your videos - “Rainy days and Mondays” - you said that Karen‘s voice could bring two people together who once loved each other- her voice could bring them back together again. I feel like she’s doing that after she’s gone from us because I noticed all across the spectrum of culture, ethnicity, and different music genres, people put her in a special category. It’s more than just her voice, there’s something about her that feels “other worldly “and we’re all responding to that. With all the division that’s been incited by the “powers that be”these days, Karen is someone that brings us all together because we recognise that she has something that touches all of our hearts and brings forward the love we have for one another!
I mentioned this in video's and people are quick to dismiss her as a casual drummer. She is extremely accomplished and could hold her own with anyone back in the day.
My God how happy she looks playing those drums. Could she not take as much pleasure from her angelic voice? I will never know but may God bless Karen Carpenter forever.
I remember an interview with Karen and her brother; they were talking about being a band and her brother said you don’t play an instrument, she replied I’ll learn to play drums. She said in the interview they didn’t have a drummer and she thought it would be easy to learn. She then laughed about thinking it would be easy. (I have almost a photograph memory)
Hey Dogg, So Yeah That's John Denver In The Clip R.I.P./ Rocky Mountain High, Sunshine On My Shoulder, Take Me Home Country Road And Yessss Dogg Drumming Was Karen's First Love, She Was So Good. And Of Course R.I.P To That Angel. 🙂🙂🙂
I know when I saw The Carpenters back in 1972 she played the drums during quite a few numbers. She was such an amazing performer. At one time I am not sure which survey it was had her ranked as the #1 drummer which really upset Led Zepplin's drummer Jon Bonham.
I love Karen...she was an amazing talent. But sometimes I have trouble Listening/watching her because it brings such sadness remembering how she died. RIP: Karen 🔥💔 Here's another artist that you may want to give a listen to "Kenny Loggins - Danger Zone/Footloose (Live 1986)" Kenny Loggins was on fire during the 1980's he produced a ton of movie soundtracks, this song was in the movie "Top Gun" and if you haven't seen the movie, you should it's a classic. Loved the reaction, thanks for sharing🔥🤗🎶
She started out as a drummer for a band. The band came to need a lead singer and that’s how she began her singing career. They called her the drummer who sang.
Wen I was in chorus in highschool, my teacher loved.. we would be screwed if she didn't put out a ner song. Did you all notice that that was John Denver as the drummer that she kissed...she was pure
As a life long percussionist myself,I can state with some authority,that Miss Carpenter was an exceptional percussionist/drummer and my Personal favorite female vocalist of all time..
Karen had such a love for the Drums. She was one of the best. I honestly believe that if she could have stayed playing the drums and singing while playing the drums she would have lived longer. But they forced her to just sing and she had the most beautiful voice. But i believe that that made her so sad it's a shame nobody realized that.
I think if Karen had been allowed to stay behind the drums and sing she'd still be alive, she wasn't comfortable out front and then the problem started with her weight by others, she was actually in a good place when she passed away and getting better, but the abuse her body took due to others over the years of having her lose weight and development of eating disorders her heart couldn't cope, I remember when she passed away I think she was 32
Karen actually felt far more comfortable behind the drums than in front singing. Richard just kept pressuring her to sing, and that pressure played a huge part in her ultimate demise. To be in front of the drums-singing, the pressure to look a certain way took its toll on her and pushed her down that rabbit hole of anorexia/bulimia.
It was always the drums 1st. But then they brought her out front. I found video from when they were in college when they won a battle of the bands with the Dick Carpenter trio. Karen Carpenter Drummer/Singer on TH-cam. I was looking for something that was just her on drums. And back then her drumming was great and her singing was still in development.
When ever drums are mentioned I think of the very old clip of Fred Astaire playing drums while TAP DANCING… Please check that one out, I have NO DOUBT you you dig it as well as be impressed , love your videos man
Thanks, Da! This is a goofy video, but Karen really WAS a decent drummer... lol You can see how happy she was drumming.. that's what she wanted to do... but once her voice was "discovered" that became the focus... and she DID have a beautiful and unique voice...
You're too young to catch this, probably, but KC's bandmate in the glockenspiel sequence is the late great John Denver. This segment is from one of the TV specials Carpenters did between 1976 and 1980. For a more authentic look at KC on drums (and simultaneously singing), find the circa 1971 outdoor live Bacharach medley. It's stunning.
I also knew about her singing talent but did not know about her drumming talent. She isn’t Keith Moon or John Bohnam but wow. More impressive though is how she cloned herself. Lol all kidding aside, she left this world too early. Who knows what the music landscape would be if hadn’t passed.
When Karen & her brother Richard, started making their hit tunes, the audience had a hard time seeing her, as she as only 5'4' so they made her sing in front, instead of from behind the drums. She looks so happy here. Her story is such an unhappy one. It makes me so sad.
Hi, my favorite vocal groups of the 70;s. Yes she wanted to be a drum player and not a singer.. Well some more of their other songs are>> TOP OF THE WORLD,, MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING and if you want to hear sort of a strange song made for the Japanese audiance, while on tour there MR GUDER.
I see on the clip you chose another good singer and composer. John Denver, he is the guy on the marching band who gave up the big drum to Karen. She was loved for her voice even in South America. Audiences didn't care if they couldn't understand English. They just love her voice. You should check John Denver's Annies Song in the future. I love your videos, man.
Wonder how things would’ve changed if she stuck with playing drums as her main gig. It’s obviously her passion. But her voice was so damn angelic and good that the demand overtook her own desire. Good for the world but maybe not so much for her personally.
That lady was ahead of her time!
The guy talking to her in a band uniform was John Denver.
Karen wasn’t a singer who could play the drums...she was a drummer that could sing
Excuse me, she wasn't just another drummer, she was a percussionist, miles above a "thumper."
Karen was truly happy not when being out in front, but when playing her drums. Although I am truly happy she gave us her unbelievably beautiful voice.
YES She could play drums AND SING at the SAME TIME!
She was first a drummer and then a singer. And she excelled at both!
We lost one of the greatest artists way too soon. Drumming was her passion. Her voice was “our gift”
Karen was one of a kind. There will never be another like her. She had such a pure calming voice. And she was a terrific drummer. That was her passion even more than singing. You can see the joy in her face in this video. Sadly we lost her so young. Thankfully we have her legacy left in her music.
0⁰pi t⁰
notice the huge smile on her face when she plays the drums. She always had that smile when she was playing the drums.
First love for Karen was banging on those drums. You can see her pure joy. Her voice was discovered only in her latter teens when she joined her brothers band. When she sang no one could believe her voice but it was always when she got to play drums on recordings and in live performances that she was at home and comfortable in her skin. Karen was a tremendous musician.
Behind the drums was where she was truly the happiest.
She always referred to Herself as 'A Drummer Who Sings'.
Lucky enough to see The Carpenters Live in Concert Twice back in the early and mid 70's. (Billy Preston was the Opening Act in One) She did Drum Solos each time with multiple Drum Kits.
... and her Voice Live was hypnotizing.
RIP Little Songbird.
She was initially playing drums *and* singing when the Carpenters were first discovered but the labels pressured her to stop drumming because they wanted her "out front".
That drummer in the beginning was John Denver. ❤️ Drums we’re Karen’s love. She never wanted to front the band as lead singer. It was uncomfortable for her.
An award-winning jazz drummer before she was a singer... at age 16 won Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands in her brother's jazz trio!!!!
I’ll always love and miss that great lady. Her voice was unequaled. R.I.P. lovely Karen😢 ❤️❤️💐
Goosebumps every time! I just adore Karen Carpenter!
This Is GREAT! Karen Was AMAZING! Such A Tragic Loss!💗
She was happiest while playing 🥁
She would make a good rock drummer. She can show a whole lot of drummers how it's done.
She thought of herself as a jazz drummer. She could handle Dave Brubeck's weird time. Like the 5/4 time of "Take Five".
Apparently many agreed with you. She won a competition as best drummer in 1975 against John Bonham from Led Zeppelin.
Karen is considered one of the best if not the best female drummers. Also one of the best singing/drummers. And the voice. With that trifeckta who can beat that. IMHO the BEST and what a sweet and kind woman.
Love to see this...she was so talented...great drummer and perfect voice!!!!!! RIP Karen...ps the Rainy Days and Mondays video shows her singing and playing drums. Check it out!!
Pure Talent......
A voice of an Angel
I'm so pleased with your reaction. Karen loved the drums. She was most happy when she played. She was such a wonderful talented soul with the voice of an angel. R I P Karen Anne ❤️
Such joy on her face priceless.
Oh, I wish you would try HELP! Live BBC 1971. - she really sings and plays the drums - and she is happy 😃
Karen loved her drums. See how she is smiling the whole way through. It was her happy place. She once said she was a drummer that happened to sing. She is one of the top female drummers ever. Her brother forced her to go up front to sing because of her gorgeous voice but she hated it. Felt insecure in front of everyone. Some say it's what triggered her anorexia that eventually took her way to soon.
You took the words right outta my mouth. I read that after she was made to go up front, the powers that be called her chubby and said she needed to lose weight. I mean, look at her; She was tiny!
Read some of her personal early history. Her mother drove a lot of her insecurities. She pushed and praised Richard as the talented one and wanted him to be out front. She always relegated Karen to the background and support. Hence drums for Karen, while Keyboards and Guitar and lead singer for Richard. He knew however how talented Karen was and wanted her to sing lead while he arranged and composed. Her insecurities came from always being told she wasn't good enough and second best and hence always doubted herself.
Yes true her mother very much favored Richard. He was the golden boy.
This made me happy. Beautiful soul gone too soon.
She wanted to be known as a drummer who could sing rather than a singer who could drum. The guy drummer is no other than John Denver.
Great reaction! I love your channel.
When people see the Rainy Days and Mondays video, I look forward to them realizing Karen is playing drums while singing. Blows my mind. 🤯
I assume that you noticed that it was John Denver that she got the drums from in the intro marching band sequence. Too funny.
Of course she can!! 🎧
What love best is the early live performances where she is playing the drums while being the lead singer, before she was pulled from the drums to just be out in front only singing. You should react to some of those performances 😊.
Hi there/ on one of your videos - “Rainy days and Mondays” - you said that Karen‘s voice could bring two people together who once loved each other- her voice could bring them back together again. I feel like she’s doing that after she’s gone from us because I noticed all across the spectrum of culture, ethnicity, and different music genres, people put her in a special category. It’s more than just her voice, there’s something about her that feels “other worldly “and we’re all responding to that. With all the division that’s been incited by the “powers that be”these days, Karen is someone that brings us all together because we recognise that she has something that touches all of our hearts and brings forward the love we have for one another!
I mentioned this in video's and people are quick to dismiss her as a casual drummer. She is extremely accomplished and could hold her own with anyone back in the day.
Karen was absolutely amazing.
My God how happy she looks playing those drums. Could she not take as much pleasure from her angelic voice? I will never know but may God bless Karen Carpenter forever.
I remember an interview with Karen and her brother; they were talking about being a band and her brother said you don’t play an instrument, she replied I’ll learn to play drums. She said in the interview they didn’t have a drummer and she thought it would be easy to learn. She then laughed about thinking it would be easy. (I have almost a photograph memory)
Karen was playing LIVE to a soundtrack of HER playing the drums in the background!
Hey Dogg, So Yeah That's John Denver In The Clip R.I.P./ Rocky Mountain High, Sunshine On My Shoulder, Take Me Home Country Road And Yessss Dogg Drumming Was Karen's First Love, She Was So Good. And Of Course R.I.P To That Angel. 🙂🙂🙂
I know when I saw The Carpenters back in 1972 she played the drums during quite a few numbers. She was such an amazing performer. At one time I am not sure which survey it was had her ranked as the #1 drummer which really upset Led Zepplin's drummer Jon Bonham.
Playboy 1975
John Denver. Love it.
Oh, please watch her play the drums on the Beatles song, "HELP!" Live at BBC in 1971. And she was HAPPY!
Yes! Those early live concerts where she could drum & sing were great. Australia is amazing. I think her singing was more lively when drumming too.
Such a special person. Wow!
She was a drummer who sang like an angel. It took a lot of urging to get her from behind the drums. We are all blessed that she did.
I love Karen...she was an amazing talent. But sometimes I have trouble Listening/watching her because it brings such sadness remembering how she died. RIP: Karen 🔥💔 Here's another artist that you may want to give a listen to "Kenny Loggins - Danger Zone/Footloose (Live 1986)" Kenny Loggins was on fire during the 1980's he produced a ton of movie soundtracks, this song was in the movie "Top Gun" and if you haven't seen the movie, you should it's a classic. Loved the reaction, thanks for sharing🔥🤗🎶
Talented singer and drum ❣️💪
She started out as a drummer for a band. The band came to need a lead singer and that’s how she began her singing career. They called her the drummer who sang.
Wen I was in chorus in highschool, my teacher loved.. we would be screwed if she didn't put out a ner song. Did you all notice that that was John Denver as the drummer that she kissed...she was pure
Yes she can 🙂
She was AMAZING! Soooo sad she is gone.
her happiness was siting on her stool with sticks in her hands behind a kit. the singing was for us .she just wanted to play them you can see
As a life long percussionist myself,I can state with some authority,that Miss Carpenter was an exceptional percussionist/drummer and my Personal favorite female vocalist of all time..
You could tell by the smile on her face that the drums were her first love. Miss her but I will hopefully see her in heaven.
The guy she tried to get to hand over his band drum was John Denver. I had never seen this clip before. Excellent! Ty for sharing this!
Karen had such a love for the Drums. She was one of the best. I honestly believe that if she could have stayed playing the drums and singing while playing the drums she would have lived longer. But they forced her to just sing and she had the most beautiful voice. But i believe that that made her so sad it's a shame nobody realized that.
Even John Bonham set up straight in his chair when he watched her drum!
There is none like this woman. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤.
The marching band member who had the drums, she was talking to was John Denver Rocky Mountain High
You can see on her face how much happier she was playing drums.
Most talented singer and drummers ever!!! Ever!
I think if Karen had been allowed to stay behind the drums and sing she'd still be alive, she wasn't comfortable out front and then the problem started with her weight by others, she was actually in a good place when she passed away and getting better, but the abuse her body took due to others over the years of having her lose weight and development of eating disorders her heart couldn't cope, I remember when she passed away I think she was 32
That's John Denver in the marching band, From a Carpenters-John Denver TV special. Lots of fantastic music in this show
The guy she traded instruments with was John Denver! He was a singer as well. You should check him out as well. *my mom played the drums also.
I still miss her voice today. She died at her upswing of singing
She's good.. this was very entertaining and different too.. I liked it.. but Slipknots drummer.. yesssss ❤
Looping before Looping Yes Karen was Great
Karen actually felt far more comfortable behind the drums than in front singing. Richard just kept pressuring her to sing, and that pressure played a huge part in her ultimate demise. To be in front of the drums-singing, the pressure to look a certain way took its toll on her and pushed her down that rabbit hole of anorexia/bulimia.
One year she was named as the number 1 drummer by the Rolling Stones magazine.
She started on the drum🤴
It was always the drums 1st. But then they brought her out front. I found video from when they were in college when they won a battle of the bands with the Dick Carpenter trio. Karen Carpenter Drummer/Singer on TH-cam. I was looking for something that was just her on drums. And back then her drumming was great and her singing was still in development.
That was the late, great John Denver she was talking to in that marching band.
When ever drums are mentioned I think of the very old clip of Fred Astaire playing drums while TAP DANCING… Please check that one out, I have NO DOUBT you you dig it as well as be impressed , love your videos man
This is AND WAS a talent for the AGES.
That one arguing with her over the drum is John Denver I just noticed that
Very cool...
Thanks, Da! This is a goofy video, but Karen really WAS a decent drummer... lol You can see how happy she was drumming.. that's what she wanted to do... but once her voice was "discovered" that became the focus... and she DID have a beautiful and unique voice...
You're too young to catch this, probably, but KC's bandmate in the glockenspiel sequence is the late great John Denver. This segment is from one of the TV specials Carpenters did between 1976 and 1980. For a more authentic look at KC on drums (and simultaneously singing), find the circa 1971 outdoor live Bacharach medley. It's stunning.
KAREN CARPENTER was PLAYING the drums before she started singing with her brother Richard
The guy with the drum is John Denver
♥️♥️♥️
You need to look up Barbra Mandrell and the Mandrell sisters.
Is that John Denver doing the bit.
Yep 😁
Y E S !
I also knew about her singing talent but did not know about her drumming talent. She isn’t Keith Moon or John Bohnam but wow. More impressive though is how she cloned herself. Lol all kidding aside, she left this world too early. Who knows what the music landscape would be if hadn’t passed.
who else recognized John Denver on the band drum?
She is a very fine drummer!
Did you notice that the marching band drummer in the skit was John Denver?
❤❤❤❤❤
When Karen & her brother Richard, started making their hit tunes, the audience had a hard time seeing her, as she as only 5'4' so they made her sing in front, instead of from behind the drums. She looks so happy here. Her story is such an unhappy one. It makes me so sad.
That "drummer" was JOHN DENVER!!!!!!!!!!!
Thought the same thing you did.
GOD-DAM
Drums were her main instrument.
Hi, my favorite vocal groups of the 70;s. Yes she wanted to be a drum player and not a singer.. Well some more of their other songs are>> TOP OF THE WORLD,, MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING and if you want to hear sort of a strange song made for the Japanese audiance, while on tour there MR GUDER.
I see on the clip you chose another good singer and composer. John Denver, he is the guy on the marching band who gave up the big drum to Karen. She was loved for her voice even in South America. Audiences didn't care if they couldn't understand English. They just love her voice. You should check John Denver's Annies Song in the future. I love your videos, man.
Wonder how things would’ve changed if she stuck with playing drums as her main gig. It’s obviously her passion. But her voice was so damn angelic and good that the demand overtook her own desire. Good for the world but maybe not so much for her personally.
Just discovered your channel...binging. Have you ever heard Petula Clark? Listen to "Down Town",
She passed 38 years ago
Check out KarenCarpenter kick-ass drummer --on youtube
I honestly believe that someone the caliber of Jordan Peterson could've saved her from herself.
Lord knows, I miss her.