Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

Randy L. Schmidt · Dionne Warwick

May 2010 · Chicago Review Press

About this ebook

Little Girl Blue is an intimate profile of Karen Carpenter, a girl from a modest Connecticut upbringing who became a Southern California superstar.

            Karen was the instantly recognizable lead singer of the Carpenters. The top-selling American musical act of the 1970s, they delivered the love songs that defined a generation. Karen's velvety voice on a string of 16 consecutive Top 20 hits from 1970 to 1976—including “Close to You,” “We've Only Just Begun,” “Rainy Days and Mondays,” “Superstar,” and “Hurting Each Other”—propelled the duo to worldwide stardom and record sales of more than 100 million. During their short musical career, the Carpenters released ten studio albums, toured more than 200 days a year, taped five television specials, and won three Grammys and an American Music Award.

            But that's only a part of Karen's story. Little Girl Blue reveals Karen's heartbreaking struggles with her mother, brother, and husband; the intimate disclosures she made to her closest friends; her love for playing drums and her frustrated quest for solo stardom; and the ups and downs of her treatment for anorexia nervosa. After her shocking death at 32 years of age in 1983, she became the proverbial poster child for that disorder; but the other causes of her decline are laid bare for the first time in this moving account.

            Little Girl Blue is Karen Carpenter's definitive biography, based on exclusive interviews with her innermost circle of girlfriends and nearly 100 others, including professional associates, childhood friends, and lovers. It tells a story as touching, warm, and involving as any of Karen's greatest songs.

Ratings and reviews

This is beyond amazing,and you can't read it without BAWLING!!! There will only ever be 1 Karen Carpenter,&it's important that her legacy continues to be told to the next generation, and the ones to come after,I'm 23years old,&ever since I was 3years old Karen Carpenter has been my favorite singer. She's in my honest opinion the greatest singer there ever has been or will be,just listen to the way she sings a song,her rich/velvet/mysterious alto perfect pitch/tone just speaks to your soul,&you fall in love♥

I loved this book. I'm a baby boomer and remember her music from back then. I knew she struggled with anorexia but had no idea of her other problems. So sad to lose such an extraordinary voice. I still listen to her CDs and enjoy them very much.

well done, read it in 3 days, understand you had to stay away from the mother as the villain, but you didn't leave her off the hook entirely. tragic death ..... unbelievable talent. rare in brother and sister. she was a stunning vocalist....

About the author

STRONGRandy L. Schmidt is the editor of Yesterday Once More: Memories of the Carpenters and Their Music. He served as creative consultant for several television documentaries on the Carpenters, including those for E! True Hollywood Story, A&E's Biography, and VH1's Behind the Music. He lives in Denton, Texas. STRONGDionne Warwick is a popular American singer, an actress, and an activist; a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization; and the former United States Ambassador of Health. She lives in Palm Desert, California.