An Evening with Richard Carpenter

For the first time, Richard Carpenter will tour the UK performing the hits of The Carpenters, as well as telling some amazing stories about how the songs were made and how he and his sister, Karen, became one of the most successful duos of all time.

They were the biggest-selling group of the 70s, yet The Carpenters were much more than creators of beautifully crafted and hugely successful hit records. Within the space of just a few years, their unique and inimitable sound had brought a new dimension to the world of popular music. During their 14-year career, they won three Grammy Awards and were nominated 15 times.

They first performed together as a duo in 1966 and formed the jazz-oriented Richard Carpenter Trio. Then Richard and Karen signed as The Carpenters to A&M Records in 1969, they achieved major success the following year with the hit singles (They Long To Be) Close To You and We’ve Only Just Begun.

In December 1969, they met Burt Bacharach, who was impressed by their work and invited the duo to open for him at a charity concert. Herb Alpert asked Richard to re-work a Bacharach/David song, (They Long To Be) Close To You, that had first been recorded in 1963 by Richard Chamberlain, and Dionne Warwick the following year. The Carpenters‘ version was released as a single in May 1970. It entered the charts at Number 56, the highest debut of the week ending June 20. It reached Number 1 on 25 July and stayed there for the next four weeks.

The Carpenters had a string of hit singles and albums through the early 1970s. Richard heard For All We Know and saw the song’s potential for The Carpenters and recorded it in the autumn of 1970. The track became the duo’s third gold single, and later won an Oscar for Best Original Song. On 16 March 1971, the duo received two Grammy Awards, winning Best New Artist and Best Contemporary Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus.

Rolling Stone ranked The Carpenters Number 10 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.

Some of their hits include: (They Long To Be) Close To You, Yesterday Once More, Superstar, Top Of the World, Rainy Days And Mondays, Only Yesterday, Please Mister Postman, There’s A Kind Of Hush, Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft, Goodbye To Love, We’ve Only Just Begun, Solitaire.