Karen Carpenter

Stu_Strib said:
Better than Ringo on "Help!"

(just kidding Bernhard, but definitely a better singer than Ringo!)

Hey dude...Ringo OWNED the four notes he could sing.
 
Karen Carpenter set a precendent for female drummers. My favorite female drummer though is Caroline Corr. She did a solo during "Toss the Feathers" that was outstanding. She rules!
 
Dear Maintainers of Drummerworld.com,

Can someone please tell me that they see something horribly wrong with this picture?

Listed under the female drummers is MEG WHITE???!!! And KAREN CARPENTER is NOT????!!!! We're talking about someone who had REAL talent being left out of this list while MEG WHITE is considered to even be a musician?

I want an explaination for this. As someone who thought I could respect this site as a place to find a repository of TALENT, I find this to be utter blasphemy to the world of MUSICIANS as a whole. There are many of us that work hard at sharpenning our skills and honing our talents and yet maybe never even get noteriety past our garages. But the omission of Karen Carpenter over Meg White is almost like considering a work consisting of a crucifix inside a urinal and calling it "Christ Piss" a real work of art. And unfortunately both occurances have already transpired in the real world. What's next, let's give Milli Vanilli a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? (I'm not surprised if they already did...) What a sick and sad world we live in.

Sincerely,

Carlo Virtucio
 
I think KC was a good drummer, but surely not great (...as a drummer I mean...).

Meg White is a very limited drummer - i know - and she knows too.

For KC i had 450 votes to include
For Meg i had 58900 votes to include...

Bernhard
 
Karen Carpenter set a precendent for female drummers. My favorite female drummer though is Caroline Corr. She did a solo during "Toss the Feathers" that was outstanding. She rules!

If you are talking about the album version, it's Simon Phillips playing "Toss The Feathers", but if you are talking live, i'm sure she did a good job. She's not bad at all. Cheers,
 
I think KC was a good drummer, but surely not great.(...as a drummer I mean...)

Meg White is a very limited drummer - i know - and she knows too.

For KC i had 450 votes to include
For Meg i had 58900 votes to include...

Bernhard

I understand that most people only think of KC as wonderful singer, and she certainly was. But I hope people would do themselves a favor and do a search for "Karen Carpenter drums" on youtube or google video and check out the "Dancin' in the Streets" clip. Sure, she's not exactly legendary, but she was certainly more than just a "good" drummer. She was excellent. And she was be-bop jazz drummer before her "Carpenters" fame. I don't care how good or not as good she was compared to Buddy Rich, but it still takes some amount of skill to hang with the be-bop.

I can understand the general pop culture will easily recognize Meg White over Karen Carpenter as a drummer. Most people would probably think "Karen Carpenter...her drumming on 'Close to You' was hardly drumming at all....yawn. Now, that Meg White, she's a rock drummer...yeah!) But, try putting the "Dancin in the Streets" clip against The White Stripes "Doorbell" video up for vote.

Think of it this way. There's a large general public who only recognizes Phil Collins as a singer. "Yeah...his drumming on 'One More Night'...that wasn't even a real person..." Yet, I'm sure there are many of us here that would not hesitate to educate our poor, uninformed friends of Phil Collins drumming skills.

I'm not stating that anyone be removed. What I am stating that it seems such a dishonor to not have someone who's number heart and soul passion was the drums (according to the many testimonies of her friends and families in the documentaries about her) listed in this site. She should be listed under the "ladies" section. Vote or no vote. And if there is someone out there that doesn't know why, then it should be the honor of drummerworld to educate our uninformed friends, shouldn't it?
 
Hey look, Karen Carpenter was a really nice drummer! All the videos and audios of her certaintly back this up. I'd even put her up as one of the best female drummers ever. And I'll go to bed soon and sleep VERY well knowing this fact. She was just a wonderfully gifted talent that doesn't come around very often. She will always be remembered for her flawless, unique, one-of-a-kind singing voice. But her drumming ability should never be over-shadowed by that fact. To lose such a talent, at such a young age, really makes it sting alot more. Even to this day, we miss her so...Play On!
 
I think she wanted to play drums more but was forced to solely be a singer for commercial reasons. People say this was just one of the many factors that led to her condition...

Yeah, I saw a documentary TV program about Karen a couple of years ago and someone said in that program that she was very serious about drumming and insisted to play drums and sing, but forced to sing in front, wearing a feminie dress, without playing drums, by a record company or something.
 
Yeah, I saw a documentary TV program about Karen a couple of years ago and someone said in that program that she was very serious about drumming and insisted to play drums and sing, but forced to sing in front, wearing a feminie dress, without playing drums, by a record company or something.

I think I saw that documentary. If I remember correctly, Richard Carpenter said that Karen considered herself a drummer first and a singer second.
 
In the book "Stairway to Heaven", I read about John Bonham placing 2nd in voting to Karen in either 74, 75 or 76 in a music pole.

He went berserk in his hotel room, ranting and raving about how she was nothing to him and he was the best drummer alive.

It was funny to read about.

She was a good drummer though.
 
i'd like to see or hear more of her drumming...i know she seemed kind of buddy rich inspired in some solos i've seen. perhaps those people weren't all wrong in that poll.
 
I agree Karen Carpenter does deserve recognition as a drummer especially considering that in the late 1960's and early 1970's she led the way for other female drummers to enter the spotlight breaking new ground for all women in percussion! It is a shame that the music companys back then did not realize that Karen sounded just as good singing on drums as in front of them and the we the public accepted her either way! A female singer and drummer! She played an eight piece set of drums and singing! Richard Karens brother wrote most of the songs for the group and played the piano. So the sound of the Carpenters was a joint effort and I think the drum tracks that Karen did fit perfectly with the songs!
 
Very impressive.

I had no idea she was that good.

I can see why she got some votes over Bonzo in a readers pole!
 
karen is one of my favourite female drummers and drummers full stop. just listen to the recording of 'on top of the world' she plays great groove and tasty licks throughout.

plus she sings like an angel and her singing rhythms often go crazily against what she's doing on the drums and yet she never misses a beat. she is very under rated as a talent. a true legend of a performer.

j
 
Re: You Don't See This Too Often

Who was she playing with that looked just like her?

You serious?? I know 70's camera tricks are clever.

I must say I am very, very impressed. I had no idea she could play like that!! That segment was well put together and fun to watch too.
 
Re: You Don't See This Too Often

So I don't doubt that she's playing all that, it's obvious but some of the sounds don't match up. There's some crashes you don't hear then crashing when she didn't hit anything...
 
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