Karen Carpenter

Agreed!

That footage was great. She had impeccable timing. And to be able to sing like that while behind the kit...

She gets my vote.

LG
 
Better than Ringo on "Help!"

(just kidding Bernhard, but definitely a better singer than Ringo!)
 
Saw a clip of her long ago performing straight ahead bop at the Newport Jazz Festival (no singing) and just burnin'. Never thought of the Carpenters the same way again.
 
Not a dry eye in the house as velvet-voiced anorexic Karen carpenter cordons off her heart to the song goodbye to love great song and as said great drummer while singing
 
Some good hi-hat work too, and Bossanova, and good timing.

I liked the black sticks too, and the concert toms.

Always a very fine singer, never off tone.
 
Tex12 said:
They say Karen was serious about her drumming

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...
 
Goodness me, yes it looks like she was very serious about her drumming. Lovely time, great wrist/finger one-hand 16th note business going on. RIP indeed.

I've never seen her mentioned in threads/any discussion about good female drummers, yet surely she was one of the first, no? I am completely ingorant about this subject, but just going by the footage...
 
She's probably the first one that any of us are aware of.

The problem with Karen Carpenter is that her singing ability, eating disorders and the fact that she was a woman in a male-dominated role, overshadowed her considerable talent on the drums.

I knew a lot of girls that took up drums because of her.

Womble said:
I've never seen her mentioned in threads/any discussion about good female drummers, yet surely she was one of the first, no? I am completely ingorant about this subject, but just going by the footage...
 
Wow! I never thought I'd hear the Carpenters go into a crazy jam on a Beatles tune. That was pretty cool! She had outstanding control over her voice while drumming...those vibratos at the end of some of those notes she hit were outstanding, especially for someone PLAYING the drums.
 
She was voted drummer of the year in some magazine's reader poll (Rolling Stone maybe?) beating out none other than John Bonham.
 
She's always been overlooked but I have always loved the simple way she played, the management tried their hardest to get her out from behind the kit, but that was where she was happiest.

Great drummer, great lady!
 
Nice find, I actually forgot that she used to play drums because I only saw her do it once. This one of her doing ticket to ride is awesome. Beautiful woman with a great voice, and a great drummer to boot..
 
when i saw the video of "only just begun" i thought another meg white type. but then i saw a video snippet of her soloing and man she had chops for sure.underrated drummer.
 
A great drummer, and a FANTASTIC singer who left us far to soon. RIP Karen, if only you could have hung out longer......Thanks so much for the thread, and the clips, awesome stuff.
 
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