Piano Men-Part 2

Rather than continue with a discussion of Elton John, as promised, I decided that we should first look at the other artists whose music will be featured in our upcoming Piano Men concert. After that, we will look at some of their individual songs.

Today's featured artist is Carole King. I first discoverd her music, courtesy of my sister, who wore out King's Tapestry album. Here is a short bio and information on the album Tapestry, taken from www.wikipedia.com:

Carole King (born February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King's album Tapestry topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks, in 1971, and remained on the charts for more than six years.

She was most successful as a performer in the first half of the 1970s, although she was a successful songwriter long before and long after. She had her first No. 1 hit as a songwriter in 1961, at age 18, with Will You Love Me Tomorrow, which she wrote with Gerry Goffin. In 1997, she co-wrote The Reason for Celine Dion.

In 2000, Joel Whitburn, a Billboard Magazine pop music researcher, named her the most successful female songwriter of 1955–99, because she wrote or co-wrote 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry. Her most recent non-compilation album is Live at the Troubadour, a collaboration with James Taylor, which reached No.4 on the charts in its first week, and has sold over 400,000 copies.

She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting. In 2009, Carole King was inducted into the "Hit Parade" Hall of Fame. She holds the record for the longest time for an album by a female to remain on the charts--306 weeks--and the longest time--15 consecutive weeks--for an album by a female to hold the No.1 position, both for Tapestry.
Tapestry features minimal production by Lou Adler. Tapestry has sold over 25 million copies worldwide and on July 17, 1995 was certified diamond in the United States by the RIAA for 10 million copies sold in the US. Additionally, out of all the albums by female artists to earn that distinction, it was the first released. In 1972 the album also garnered four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Record of the Year (It's Too Late), and Song of the Year (You've Got a Friend). Three songs from the album, I Feel The Earth Move, It's Too Late, and You've Got A Friend, all reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after Tapestry's release. Altogether, four songs on the album were at one point #1 hits, all of which were written or co-written by King. In 2003, the album was ranked number 36 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Production

King wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album, several of which had already been hits for other artists such as Aretha Franklin's (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (in 1967) and The Shirelles' Will You Love Me Tomorrow (in 1960). Three songs were co-written with King's ex-husband Gerry Goffin. James Taylor, who encouraged King to sing her own songs, and who also played on Tapestry, would have a #1 hit with You've Got a Friend. Two songs were co-written with Toni Stern: It's Too Late and Where You Lead.

Reception

The album was well received by critics; Robert Christgau felt that her voice, raw and imperfect, free of "technical decorum", would liberate female singers; while Jon Landau in Rolling Stone felt that King was one of the most creative pop music figures and had created an album of "surpassing personal-intimacy and musical accomplishment".

In 2003, the album was ranked number 36 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2001, the VH1 TV network named Tapestry the 39th greatest album ever. In 2003, it was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.

Various artists combined to re-record all the original tracks for more than one tribute album; the first, released in 1995, entitled Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King, which was certified gold, and the second, released in 2003, entitled A New Tapestry — Carole King Tribute.

Cover art

The picture used for the cover of Tapestry was taken in the living room of Carole King's house in Laurel Canyon, California. It shows her sitting near old Indian print curtains and holding a tapestry she hand stitched herself. Also in the picture is her cat Telemachus.


Listen to a live performance of King's Jazzman, one of the songs to be performed at Orchestra Kentucky's Piano Men concert on Friday and Saturday, August 12 & 13. Call (270) 846-2426 or visit www.OrchestraKentucky.com for tickets.