Forty years have passed since The Carpenters’ vocalist Karen died.
Karen’s brother Richard focused on the family after tragedy: now he is a father.
Although the band stopped its work, Karen’s brother always keeps her legacy very much alive.
The Carpenters were one of the biggest bands in the 1970s and 1980s with hits like “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” “Rainy Days and Mondays,” and “Yesterday Once More.” They remained together until the vocalist, Karen passed away 40 years ago.
Both members of the band suffered in their personal lives, but when Karen died, her brother, Richard Carpenter, placed his focus on his family. He has now built his own family and is a father.
Richard and Karen were the two members that made up the band, for which they used their surnames. Karen was a drummer and vocalist and well known for her incredible singing voice, which enchanted millions.
Richard is three years Karen’s senior and was a piano prodigy from a young age. Both siblings decided to pursue a career in music early on in their lives. Karen admitted she was nervous about performing in public but got lost in the music so she wouldn’t think about her nerves.
Karen was in an all-girl band comprising Karen and two other girls in her school. They called the band Two Plus Two, but it didn’t last long because Karen suggested her brother join it. Two Plus Two then disbanded.
Karen and Richard then formed The Carpenter Trio, which comprised the siblings and Richard’s friend, Wes Jacobs. A&M Records signed the band as The Carpenters in 1969, and their music career soared.
While their professional lives were doing better than ever, their personal lives had fallen by the wayside, leaving them both single. Karen said:
“As long as we’re on the road most of the time, I will never marry.”
However, Karen pursued many relationships with men like Tony Danza, Mike Curb, Mark Harmon, Terry Ellis, Alan Osmond, and Steve Martin. She broke her vow never to marry on August 31, 1980.
She had a brief romance with Thomas James Burris, a real-estate developer; the pair tied the knot at the Beverley Hills Hotel. The couple had a nine-year age gap, and Burris entered the marriage with an 18-year-old son from a previous marriage.
While Karen became a stepmother, she also wanted to welcome her own children. Yet Burris did not want children and refused to reverse his vasectomy. The marriage ended in divorce after fourteen months.
During this time, Karen was also battling an eating disorder. When the band began to soar to fame, Karen became anorexic. The band was doing incredibly, and during their time together, they released ten albums and three number-one singles, but Karen was unhealthy.
It was in 1973 when Karen saw a photo of herself taken at a concert that she thought was unflattering and felt that she should lose some weight. She hired a personal trainer but found that building muscle caused her to gain weight, so she began trying to lose weight independently.
Karen lost 20 pounds by tracking her food intake, counting her calories, and exercising with a hip cycle. Those close to her were impressed with her weight loss, but Karen was not and took a more drastic approach.
She believed she needed to lose even more weight, and sources close to her said she began avoiding food. She would conceal her eating disorder by making it look as though she was eating by moving food around on her plate as she talked.
She would also offer tastes of her food to others until there was nothing left for her to eat. Soon, her eating disorder began affecting her career, and in 1975, the band had to cancel their European tour due to Karen’s physical exhaustion.
After Karen left her husband, who friends said was abusive, she began attending therapy sessions in New York City. Still, in 1982 she was hospitalized because of a dizzy spell, which doctors believed should be monitored.
In December 1982, Karen returned to Los Angeles and appeared to be in a much better place mentally. Speaking to a friend, she said:
“I have a lot of living left to do.”
Unfortunately, the living that Karen thought she had left to do was cut short a year later, in 1983. She was 32 when she passed away from heart failure, which was attributed to her symptoms of anorexia nervosa.
Richard Survived the Tragedy with A Focus on Family: Now He Is a Father of Five
Richard was in his mid-30s when his sister passed away, and the band could no longer function. A year after his sister’s death, Richard finally settled down and married Mary Rudolph, whose brother was The Carpenters’ stage manager.
Unfortunately, the living that Karen thought she had left to do was cut short a year later, in 1983. She was 32 when she passed away from heart failure, which was attributed to her symptoms of anorexia nervosa.
Richard Survived the Tragedy with A Focus on Family: Now He Is a Father of Five
Richard was in his mid-30s when his sister passed away, and the band could no longer function. A year after his sister’s death, Richard finally settled down and married Mary Rudolph, whose brother was The Carpenters’ stage manager.
Together, Mary and Richard welcomed five children. Their first was a daughter named Kristy Lynne, which is the name Karen would have given her daughter if she had ever had children. Their next child was another daughter named Traci Tatum.
Their third child was also a girl, who they named Mindi Karen. Finally, they welcomed a son named Collin Paul and another daughter named Taylor Mary. The children were born from 1987 to 2000.
Even after Karen’s death, Richard continued performing and brought out new compilations of their music. The last time he did so was in 2018, when he released a collection of classical updates with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Now, his daughter, Traci, is married, and he posted about the special occasion on Instagram. On December 15, 2022, he posted a photo of him and his daughter dancing at her wedding and said he wished her and her husband a lifetime of happiness.
Richard is still very much active in the music industry and now works in an orchestra. He mentioned how grateful he was that he could still be involved in the industry and receive love from the band’s fans.
Richard Paid Emotional Tribute to His Sister: He Keeps Her Legacy Alive
While many people still mourn Karen’s death forty years later, Richard prefers to focus on the light she was in his world. He once gushed:
“She just had a timeless voice… Karen was a natural. She didn’t have to practice; she just sang instantly, impeccably, whether it was live or on record. She was my sister, she was my professional partner, and she was my best friend.”
After her death, the Karen Carpenter Memorial Foundation was founded to build a scholarship fund for talented young musicians at California State University in Long Beach and aid in anorexia research.
Richard founded the foundation and said he would be doing many things to memorialize his sister, like continuing to release music they had written and were planning on producing together.
Now, a documentary about Karen’s life called “Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection” by AMS pictures is being released. The trailer was released in early February, and the production followed soon after on February 10.
The documentary focuses on her life and her career as well as the struggle she faced with anorexia nervosa, which led to her tragic death. There will also be many celebrity interviews included in the production, like Carol Burnett, Kristin Chenoweth, and Olivia Newton-John.
