Karen Carpenter
| Net Worth | $6 Million |
|---|---|
| Height | 5 ft 4 in (1.626 m) |
| Profession | Singer, Drummer, Actor, Musician |
| Gender | Female |
| Date of Birth | Mar 2, 1950 – Feb 4, 1983 (32 years old) |
| Nationality | United States of America |
Karen Carpenter Net Worth:
$6 Million
What was Karen Carpenter’s Net Worth?
American singer and drummer Karen Carpenter had a net worth of $6 million when she died in 1983. Taking inflation into account, that’s the same as about $14 million today. At the time of her death, she only had about $2,000 in cash in her bank account. The rest of her money was put into assets that couldn’t be easily sold, which led to huge tax bills for her estate. More than 60% of her net worth went toward funeral costs and taxes.
Karen Carpenter was best known as one half of the music duo the Carpenters with her brother Richard Carpenter. During the 1970s, she had a lot of success with songs like “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” “We’ve Only Just Begun,” and “Top of the World.”
“(They Long to Be) Close to You,” “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “For All We Know,” “Rainy Days and Mondays,” “Superstar,” “Hurting Each Other,” “Sing,” “Yesterday Once More,” “Top of the World,” “I Won’t Last a Day Without You,” “Please Mr. Postman,” “Only Yesterday,” “Solitaire,” “There’s a Kind of Hush,” “I Need to Be in Love,”
Carpenter had a disorder called anorexia nervosa. In 1983, he died of heart failure because of this disorder.
Karen Carpenter was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on March 2, 1950. Her parents were Harold and Agnes. Richard, her older brother, was a child prodigy at the piano. He was the only sibling she had. Carpenter, on the other hand, loved to dance from a very young age. When she was four, she started taking ballet and tap classes. She also liked to play softball and baseball. In 1963, Carpenter’s family moved to Downey, California, where she attended Downey High School and joined the band. She soon fell in love with the drums and taught herself how to play after convincing her parents to buy her a set. Carpenter went to California State University, Long Beach to study music after he graduated from high school in 1967. She and her brother sang together in the school choir.
Career Beginnings
The Dick Carpenter Trio was made up of Carpenter, her brother Richard, and Richard’s friend Wes Jacobs when they were all in high school in 1965. The band played in nightclubs and on “Your All-American College Show,” a talent show on television. In 1966, bassist Joe Osborn asked the group to try out at a session. Carpenter’s amazing voice wowed everyone at the audition, so Osborn signed her to his label, Magic Lamp Records. Carpenter left the group the following year to go to the Juilliard School. When she went back to the band, she and her brother added new members to make the band Spectrum.
They are called “The Carpenters.”
Carpenter and her brother Richard became the Carpenters, a music duo that signed with A&M Records in 1969. At first, she played the drums and sang with the lead singer. The Carpenters’ first studio album was originally called “Offering.” It was later renamed “Ticket to Ride” after the duo’s cover of the Beatles song of the same name, which was the only minor hit from the album. The Carpenters’ second album, “Close to You,” which came out in 1970 and made it to number two on the Billboard 200, was much more successful. It also gave rise to the number one and number two singles, “(They Long to Be) Close to You” and “We’ve Only Just Begun,” respectively. After that, “Close to You” was nominated for eight Grammy Awards and won two of them. The Carpenters’ third album, which was just called “Carpenters,” had hit singles like “For All We Know,” “Rainy Days and Mondays,” and “Superstar.” The next album was “A Song for You,” which came out in 1972 and gave us the number-one hit “Top of the World.”
Carpenter sang more and played the drums less when the band’s fifth studio album, “Now & Then,” came out in 1973. In 1975, the Carpenters put out “Horizon.” It was their first album that didn’t make it into the top five in the US. But in the UK and Japan, it was the number one song. The next song was “A Kind of Hush.” It was recorded when Richard was having trouble with his Quaaludes addiction. Because of this, the Carpenters had to cancel a lot of tour dates. By 1978, they had stopped going on tours altogether. Even so, the group made three more albums: “Passage,” “Christmas Portrait,” and “Made in America.” After Carpenter died, four albums came out: “Voice of the Heart,” “An Old-Fashioned Christmas,” “Loveliness,” and “As Time Goes By.”
Solo Career
Carpenter’s first record as a solo artist was “Looking for Love / I’ll Be Yours,” which came out in 1967. Later, in 1979, when her brother took some time off to deal with his drug use, Carpenter made a solo album called “Carpenter.” The album was not well received by A&M Records, so it was put away. In 1996, it was finally out in its final form.
Relationships
Early in her career, Carpenter said in interviews that she didn’t care about romantic relationships and that she would never get married while on the road. Even so, she went on to date a number of men, including celebrities like Tony Danza, Mark Harmon, Alan Osmond, and Steve Martin. Carpenter married real estate developer Thomas James Burris in 1980, and they lived together in Newport Beach, California. When Carpenter said she wanted to have children and Burris, who had a vasectomy, said no, they started to fight. In the end, they got a divorce after 14 months of being together.
Health Problems and Dying
Carpenter struggled for a long time with an eating disorder called anorexia nervosa, which was not well known at the time. She didn’t like how she looked, so she tried different diets and weight-loss programs that always helped her lose weight. By the year 1975, she only weighed 91 pounds. Later, at the start of the 1980s, Carpenter started taking medicine to replace her thyroid to speed up her metabolism. She also kept taking laxatives to keep her weight down. Her health kept getting worse, and she was finally taken to Lenox Hill Hospital. Carpenter put on some weight after a surgery, but his heart was still weak. Still, she was able to get back to her job. Her last public appearance came in early 1983 at a gathering of Grammy Award-winning artists. After a month, Carpenter passed out at her parents’ house and was pronounced dead.