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Joel Carver Whitburn (born November 29, 1939; Wauwatosa, Wisconsin) is an American author and music historian.

Whitburn founded Record Research Inc. in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, in 1970, and put together a team of researchers to examine in detail all of Billboard's music and video charts. Record Research publishes reference books based on data from the various popular music charts and to date has published over 200 books, 50 of which are currently in the Record Research catalog. His flagship publication is Top Pop Singles which covers the history of Billboard's popular music charts. Featuring each recording's peak position, date charted, weeks charted, label and information, and trivia on recordings and artists, Whitburn's books are used extensively by the entertainment industry (especially radio DJs) and music fans worldwide. His research extends from 1890 to the present and covers many genres. Whitburn is also the author of the Top 40 Hits series of books published by Billboard Books.^[1]

Whitburn is an avid collector of phonograph records with one of the world's largest collections in his underground vault. His collection includes a copy of nearly every 78 rpm record, 45 rpm single, LP, and compact disc to appear on the Billboard charts.

In collaboration with Rhino Records, Whitburn has produced over 150 CD compilations of various songs, which are typically compiled based on Billboard chart performance.

Whitburn's Record Research is Billboard's longest-running licensee, with a relationship extending over 40 years.

References[link]

External links[link]

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Faron Young
Capitol Records promotional photo
Background information
Birth name	Faron Young
Also known as	The Hillbilly Heartthrob The Singing Sheriff The Young Sheriff
Born	(1932-02-25)February 25, 1932
Origin	Shreveport, Louisiana, United States
Died	December 10, 1996(1996-12-10) (aged 64)
Genres	Country music
Occupations	singer, songwriter, movie actor
Instruments	guitar
Years active	1951–1994
Labels	Gotham, Capitol, Mercury, MCA, Step One

Faron Young (February 25, 1932 – December 10, 1996) was an American country music singer and songwriter from the early 1950s into the mid-1980s and one of its most successful and colorful stars. Hits including "If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin')" and "Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young" marked him as a honky-tonk singer in sound and personal style; and his chart-topping singles "Hello Walls" and "It's Four in the Morning" showed his versatility as a vocalist. Known as the Hillbilly Heartthrob, and following a movie role, the Young Sheriff, Young's singles reliably charted for more than 30 years. He committed suicide in 1996. Young is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Biography[link]

Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, Young was the youngest of six children. He grew up on a dairy farm that his family operated outside the city. He began singing at an early age. He performed at the local Optimist Club and was discovered by Webb Pierce, who brought him to star on Louisiana Hayride on KWKH-AM in 1951. He graduated from Fair Park High School that year and attended Centenary College of Louisiana.

Recording career[link]

Young recorded in Shreveport, but his first releases were on Philadelphia’s Gotham Records.^[1] By February 1952, he was signed to Capitol Records, where he recorded for the next ten years. His first Capitol single appeared that spring.

Young moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and recorded his first chart hit, "Goin’ Steady", in October 1952, but his career was sidetracked when he was drafted into the US Army the following month. The song hit the Billboard country charts while Young was in basic training. It peaked at No. 2, and the US Army Band took the young singer to replace Eddie Fisher on tours—its first country music singer—just as "If You Ain’t Lovin’" was hitting the charts.^[1] He was discharged in November 1954.

From 1954 to 1962, Young recorded many honky-tonk classics for Capitol, including the first hit version of Don Gibson’s "Sweet Dreams". Most famous was "Hello Walls," a 1961 crossover hit for Young written by Willie Nelson.^[1] It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.^[2]

During the mid-1950s, Young starred in four low-budget movies: Hidden Guns, Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer, Raiders of Old California and Country Music Holiday. He appeared as himself in cameo roles and performances in later country music movies and was a frequent guest on television shows throughout his career, including ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee. His band, the Country Deputies, was one of country music's top bands and they toured for many years. He invested in real estate along Nashville's Music Row in the 1960s and, in 1963, co-founded, with Preston Temple, the trade magazine, Music City News.

The same year, Young switched to Mercury Records and drifted musically, but by the end of the decade he had recaptured much of his fire with hits including "Wine Me Up". Released in 1971, waltz-time ballad "It's Four In The Morning" written by Jerry Chesnut^[3] was one of Young’s finest records and his last number one hit, also becoming his only major success in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No. 3 on the pop charts. By the mid-1970s his records were becoming overshadowed by his behavior, making headlines in 1972 when he was charged with assault for spanking a girl in the audience at a concert in Clarksburg, West Virginia, who he claimed spat on him,^[4] and for other later incidents. In the mid-70s, Young was the spokesman for BC Powder.^[5]

Later years[link]

Young signed with MCA Records in 1979 but the association lasted only two years. Nashville independent label Step One signed him in 1988 where he recorded into the early 1990s (including a duet album with Ray Price), then withdrew from public view. Though new country acts including BR549 were putting his music before new audiences in the mid-1990s, Young apparently felt the industry had turned its back on him.^[1] That and despondency over his deteriorating health were cited as possible reasons why Young shot himself on December 9, 1996. He died in Nashville the following day and was cremated. His ashes were spread by his family over Old Hickory Lake outside Nashville at Johnny and June Carter Cash's home while the Cash's were away.^[6]

Legacy and influence[link]

• A live performance video clip of Young's "It's Four in The Morning" was the first music video to air on CMT when it was launched on March 6, 1983.
• In 1985, British rock group Prefab Sprout's album, Steve McQueen, included the song "Faron Young" with the refrain, "You give me Faron Young four in the morning/Forgive me Faron Young four in the morning..."
• A Country Music Song written by Tex Garrison mentions Faron Young in his opening lyrics and contains the lines "Got a stack of records when I was one, listened to Hank Williams and Faron Young.
• In 2000, Young was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
• The cat owned by Peanuts comic strip character Frieda was named "Faron" after Young, whom Charles Schulz "admired very much",^[7] but made few appearances in the strip.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

B-sides[link]

Movie roles[link]

• 1956 Hidden Guns
• 1956 Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer
• 1957 Raiders of Old California
• 1958 Country Music Holiday
• 1966 Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar
• 1966 Nashville Rebel
• 1967 What Am I Bid?
• 1967 The Road to Nashville
• 1977 That's Country

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Cooper, Daniel (2004), In The Encyclopedia of Country Music, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-517608-7 ., p. 606-7
• Diekman, Diane. "Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story." Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007, p. 27

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Faron Young at the Country Music Hall of Fame
• Faron Young biography and links
• Faron Young biography at CMT.com
• Faron Young obituary at CountryStandardTime.com
• The short film Country Style USA Recruitment: Episode 19 is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• The short film Country Style USA Recruitment: Episode 35 is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• Faron Young at the Internet Movie Database

Franklyn Baur (1903—1950) was a popular tenor vocal recording artist.^[1][2]

Recording career[link]

Baur made hundreds of recordings for about a dozen different recording companies, including the three major labels, Victor, Columbia and Brunswick.^[1] His first recording, If the Rest of the World Don't Want You, was for Victor in 1923. Baur recorded for Victor as a featured soloist, as a member of the Shannon Quartet (known as The Revelers after 1925), as one the vocalists for Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra, and, on occasion, as the vocalist for Paul Whiteman's orchestra, with many of his recordings being listed by Joel Whitburn as "charted."^[3] The Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EDVR) lists detailed information for Baur's Victor recordings.^[4]

Baur first recorded for Columbia in 1924, with many more Columbia recordings to follow, and for other labels, including Brunswick, Banner, Domino, Emerson, Gennett, Grey Gull, Puritan, Oriole, and Regal, often using pseudonyms.^[1]

Radio and other performances[link]

Baur appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927.

Baur's most notable radio broadcasts were for the well-known Voice of Firestone (initially titled The Firestone Hour). He was one of the soloists on Firestone's first broadcast in December 1928 and remained with Firestone through May 1930, after which his contract was not renewed because he had asked for compensation, in addition to his generous weekly broadcast fee, to perform at a company function.^[1][2]

Baur was among the vocalists on The Ipana Troubadours in the mid-1920s, and the Palmolive Hour and the Seiberling Singers in the late 1920s.^[2][5][6]

Following his dismissal by Firestone, Baur's career was in decline. In 1931 he went to France to take voice lessons, and he gave a recital in 1933.^[1][2]

References[link]

Ellen Muriel Deason (born August 30, 1919), known professionally as Kitty Wells, is an American country music singer. Her 1952 hit recording, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", made her the first female country singer to top the U.S. country charts, and turned her into the first female country star. Her Top 10 hits continued until the mid-1960s, inspiring a long list of female country singers who came to prominence in the 1960s.

Wells ranks as the sixth most successful female vocalist in the history of Billboard's country charts, according to historian Joel Whitburn's book The Top 40 Country Hits, behind Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Reba McEntire, Tammy Wynette, and Tanya Tucker. In 1976, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and is currently its oldest living member. In 1991, she became the third country music artist, after Roy Acuff and Hank Williams, and the eighth woman to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Wells' accomplishments earned her the nickname The Queen of Country Music.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Wells was born Ellen Muriel Deason in 1919 in Nashville, Tennessee, one of the few country singers born in Nashville. She began singing as a child, learning guitar from her father. As a teenager, she sang with her sisters, who performed under the name the Deason Sisters on a local radio station beginning in 1936.^[1]

At the age of 18 she married Johnnie Wright, a cabinet-maker who aspired to country-music stardom (which he'd eventually achieve as half of the duo Johnnie & Jack).^[2]

Music career[link]

Wells sang with Wright and his sister Louise Wright; the three toured as Johnnie Right and the Harmony Girls. Soon Wright met Jack Anglin, who married Louise and became part of the band, which became known first as the Tennessee Hillbillies and then the Tennessee Mountain Boys.

Wright and Wells performed as a duo; it was at this time she adopted "Kitty Wells" as her stage name. When Anglin returned from the Army, he and Wright formed the Johnnie & Jack duo. Wells would tour with the pair, occasionally performing backup vocals.^[1]

On Louisiana Hayride, she performed with her husband's duo. Wells, however, did not sing on their records until signing with RCA Records in 1949 releasing some of her first singles, including "Death At The Bar" and "Don't Wait For The Last Minute To Pray", neither of which charted. While these early records gained some notice, promoters still weren't keen on promoting female singers, and therefore Wells was dropped from the label in 1950.

1952: "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels"[link]

In 1952, Paul Cohen, an executive at Decca Records, approached Wells to record "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels".^[1] Wells was disenchanted with her career prospects and was considering retirement, but agreed to the session (at Owen Bradley’s studio on May 3, 1952) because of the $125 union scale recording payment. "I wasn't expecting to make a hit," said Wells later. "I just thought it was another song."

"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" was an answer song to Hank Thompson's No. 1 smash, "The Wild Side of Life", and its lyrical treatment of seductive, wayward women. Wells' single retorted, "It's a shame that all the blame is on us women."

The record's message was controversial at the time, and was banned by many radio stations.^[3] It was also temporarily banned from the Grand Ole Opry. Nevertheless, audiences couldn’t get enough of it.^[4] The single took off during the summer of 1952, and sold more than 800,000 copies in its initial release. It became the first single by a female singer to peak at No. 1 in the eight-year history of the country music chart, where it remained for six weeks. (Certain female country songs, notably Patsy Montana's million-selling "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" predate the creation of Billboard's country chart in 1944.) "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" also crossed over to Billboard’s pop charts, hitting No. 27.^[4] Because of her major breakthrough, Wells received a membership to the Grand Ole Opry, which had originally banned the single.

Writer Bill Friskics-Warren has argued that part of the song's appeal came from its combination of a modern message with

a familiar, antediluvian tune, a melody drawn from the Carter Family's "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes" (as were "The Wild Side of Life" and Roy Acuff's "The Great Speckled Bird"). Practically anyone could hum along with "Angels" the first time they heard it.^[5]

Wells is also credited as the one who discovered and encouraged a young 15-year-old musician who would be known as Zane Ashton (real name Bill Aken), to pursue his musical ambitions as a singer and guitarist. Elvis would later nickname the young guitar player "The Fixer," due to his ability to 'fix' mediocre sound tracks with his guitar work, and this further served to validate her ability to recognize young talent in its early stages.

1953–1969: Career peak[link]

"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" was followed by "Paying For That Back Street Affair", a response to Webb Pierce's "Back Street Affair". The single reached number six in the spring of 1953, helping to establish a lasting place at the top of the charts for Wells.^[1] Between 1953 and 1955, she was popular on the country charts, and was the only female solo artist at the time to be able to maintain her success. In 1953, Wells had two Top 10 hits with "Hey Joe" and "Cheatin's A Sin". The next year, Wells partnered with country star Red Foley for the duet "One By One", which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart, and became her second chart-topper. The song led to a string of hit singles from the duo within the next two decades, including 1954's "As Long as I Live", which peaked at No. 3. As a solo artist in 1954, Wells had two major hits with the No. 8 "Release Me" and the Top 15 hit, "Thou Shalt Not Steal" (written by Don Everly of the Everly Brothers).

Record companies were reluctant to issue albums by country's female artists until Wells proved that women could sell.^[6] She became the first female country singer to issue an LP, starting with 1956's Kitty Wells' Country Hit Parade, which consisted of her biggest hits. She released her first studio album in 1957 with Winner of Your Heart. Soon other female country singers released LPs in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

"Making Believe" and "Lonely Side of Town" became chart-toppers^[7] for Wells, however not on Billboard magazine. "Making Believe" is widely regarded as one of the greatest songs in country music history and Wells' as the definitive version of the song despite scores of covers over the years. Wells' later 1950s releases included "Searching (For Someone Like You)", "I Can't Stop Loving You", and "Amigo's Guitar", which she wrote with John D. Loudermilk.^[7] In 1957, Wells issued Winner of Your Heart. This was followed by a string of LPs released from Decca Records between 1957 and 1973. She also partnered with Webb Pierce the same year for two duet singles, including the Top 10 hit, "Oh So Many Years". The duo didn't record together again until 1964 with the Top 10 hit, "Finally". In 1959, Wells had two Top 5 hits with "Amigo's Guitar" and "Mommy For A Day". Wells was later awarded a BMI award for writing "Amigo's Guitar." Although not known much for her songwriting, Wells has won two BMI awards, including one for "Amigo's Guitar". She has published more than 60 songs.

She continued to put much of herself into her songs throughout her career, inspiring other female country singers to record risky material as well. Loretta Lynn was one of her followers in this sense, when she recorded "Don't Come A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)" in 1967. Dolly Parton's 1968 recording "Just Because I'm a Woman", like "Honky Tonk Angels", questioned the male-female double-standard.

Wells entered the 1960s on top with songs like "Heartbreak U.S.A." and "Day into Night".^[7] "Heartbreak USA" peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and became her third and final No. 1 hit. The follow-up, "Day Into Night" was a Top 10 hit the same year. Owen Bradley took over as Wells' producer in the 1960s. While Bradley did produce some of the biggest-selling country crossover singers of the time period, including Patsy Cline, he did have to record some of what Nashville then called "The Old-Timers," or the "Honky-Tonkers" from the 1950s, including Webb Pierce, Ernest Tubb, and Wells. With these singers, including Wells, he steered them all into the new contemporary sound without pushing them out of their limits. Wells' sound changed slightly due to Bradley's influence, incorporating some of the new Nashville sound into her material.^[6] The well-known Nashville Sound vocal group, The Jordanaires, can be heard backing Wells on her big country hit from 1961, "Heartbreak USA".

In the early '60s, her career dipped slightly, but she continued to have Top Ten hits frequently.^[8]

In 1962, Wells had three Top 10 hits with "Will Your Lawyer Talk to God", "Unloved Wanted," and "We Missed You". Beginning in 1964, Wells' albums began to chart the Top Country Albums chart, starting with the LP, Especially for You. Some of Wells' albums peaked within the Top 10 on that chart. That same year, her singles began to return to the Top 10 with "This White Circle on My Finger" and "Password", both of which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Country Chart. In 1965, Wells had her last Top 10 hit with "Meanwhile, Down At Joe's" and in 1966, Wells then had her final Top 20 hit with "It's All Over But the Crying", which peaked at No. 14 on the country charts.

During the late '60s and '70s, Wells' streak of hits evaporated, but she managed to have a string of minor hits and remained a popular concert attraction.^[9] She continued with a string of Top 40 hits nearly until the end of the decade with her last Top 40 single, "My Big Truck Drivin' Man" in 1968. In 1968, Wells recorded a duet album with husband Johnnie Wright called, We'll Stick Together. Wells also reunited with Red Foley at the end of the decade for a studio album. Her albums continued to chart the Top Country Albums chart until 1969 with Guilty Street.

Wells was popular enough to start her own syndicated television program with her husband in 1969. The Kitty Wells/Johnnie Wright Family Show also featured appearances by their children, including actor Bobby Wright, and stayed on the air for several years.^[7] She became the first female country star to have her own syndicated television show, but the program could not compete against shows starring more contemporary male artists like Porter Wagoner and Bill Anderson and only ran for one year.

1970–present: Later career and retirement[link]

Wells stayed under the Decca label until 1973. She released three studio albums in 1970 and two in 1971. The singles from these albums did not become major hits, some which didn't even make the Top 70 on the Billboard Country Chart. In 1973, when Decca became MCA Records, Wells stayed with them for a short period time, before leaving the label. In 1974 she signed with Capricorn Records, a southern rock label of the era, and recorded a blues-flavored album entitled Forever Young on which she was backed by members of the Allman Brothers Band. The album was not a huge commercial success (though the Dylan-penned title tune did receive some airplay), but it received considerable acclaim and, through its association with the Allmans, brought Wells to the attention of a younger audience.

In 1976 she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.^[10] Wells became the second female country singer to be elected (Patsy Cline was the first to be honored as a solo act in 1973). In the late 1970s, Wells and husband formed their own record label, Rubocca (the name was a composite of their three children's names: Ruby, Bobby, and Carol) and released several albums. In 1979 at age 60 she was back on the Billboard charts with a modest hit, "I Thank You for the Roses".

Despite her waning popularity, Wells remained a successful concert attraction at smaller venues throughout the country and was still performing on the summer resort circuit as late as the mid-1980s.^[7] In 1987 she joined fellow Opry legends Brenda Lee and Loretta Lynn on k.d. lang's "Honky Tonk Angels Medley", which failed to crack the U.S. country charts despite high critical acclaim and crossover success in Canada. Wells' 1955 recording "Making Believe" was included in the soundtrack of the film Mississippi Burning.

In 1991, Wells was awarded from the Grammy Awards a Lifetime Achievement award. She, along with Johnnie and Bobby, joined producers Randall Franks and Alan Autry for the In the Heat of the Night CD “Christmas Time’s A Comin’” performing "Jingle Bells" with the cast on the CD released on Sonlite and MGM/UA for one of the most popular Christmas releases of 1991 and 1992 with Southern retailers.

Wells and her husband opened the Family Country Junction Museum and Studio in 1983 in their hometown of Madison, but stopped running it on their own in 2000. Their grandson, John Sturdivant, Jr. has kept the Junction Recording Studio at its present location which also houses Junction Records and Music Entertainment.^[11] Wells and her husband-singing partner of 53 years performed their final show together on December 31, 2000 at the Nashville Nightlife Theater; they had announced their retirement earlier that year.^[3]

Wells was ranked No. 15 on CMT's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music in 2002.

An exhibit honoring Wells at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville ran from August 2008 through June 2009.^[12] On May 14, 2008, Wells' "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" was added to the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress, along with Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman".

Personal life[link]

Wells married Johnnie Wright (1914–2011) in 1937. They had three children: two daughters, Ruby (1939–2009)^[13] and Carol Sue and a son, Bobby. In addition, Wells has five siblings: Jewel, William, Orville, Raymond, and Mae. Her parents were Charles Cary and Myrtle Deason. She and Johnnie also have 8 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren and 3 great-great grandchildren. ^[14]

Carol Sue released a single with Wells in the mid-'50s titled "How Far Is Heaven", which peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Country Chart. Wells' other children have both had tries as country music singers, but neither had any bigger success. Ruby recorded an album for the Kapp label, while Bobby recorded albums for both Decca and ABC Dot.^[15] Wells and her husband – lifelong members of the Church of Christ celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in 2007, a rare achievement for any couple and one of the longest celebrity marriages in history. Ruby died in 2009 at the age of 69 and Johnnie died in 2011 at the age of 97.

Honors[link]

• NARAS Governor's Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Recording Industry (1981)
• Academy of Country Music's Pioneer Award (1985)
• NARAS Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1991)
• The Music City News Living Legend Award (1993)

Discography[link]

References[link]

1910, 1920 U.S. Federal Census

External links[link]

• Kitty Wells' official website
• CMT.com: Kitty Wells
• Kitty Wells at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Carole King
Background information
Birth name	Carol Klein
Born	(1942-02-09) February 9, 1942 (age 70)
Origin	New York City, United States
Genres	Folk rock, pop, soft rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Piano Vocals Guitar
Years active	1958–present
Labels	Rockingale Ode/Epic/CBS Records Priority/EMI Records
Associated acts	James Taylor The City Danny Kortchmar Neil Sedaka
Website	CaroleKing.com

Carole King (born February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist.^[1] 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, her Tapestry album 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 number 1 hit as a songwriter in 1961 at age 18, with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", which she wrote with Goffin. In 1997, she co-wrote "The Reason" for Aerosmith, but instead it was sung by 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.^[2]

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 number 4 on the charts in its first week, and has sold over 600,000 copies.^[3][4]

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. Her album Tapestry once held the record for the longest time an album by a solo female artist remained at number one until it was first broken by Whitney Houston for the album The Bodyguard, and later by Adele for the album 21.^[5]

Early life[link]

Born Carol Joan Klein^[6] (she added the "e" to her first name) in 1942 to a Jewish family in Manhattan, New York City, King grew up in Brooklyn. She learned the piano, then began singing with a vocal quartet called the Co-Sines at James Madison High School. As a teenager dreaming of having a successful entertainment career, she decided to give herself a new last name (but only for her stage name), stumbling upon "King" in a telephone directory. She attended Queens College, where she was a classmate (and girlfriend) of Neil Sedaka and inspired Sedaka's second hit, "Oh! Carol". She responded with "Oh! Neil". At Queens College, she befriended Paul Simon and Gerry Goffin.^[7] She later married Goffin and they had two daughters.

Partnership with Gerry Goffin[link]

Goffin and King formed a songwriting partnership for Aldon Music at 1650 Broadway in New York. Their first success was "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", recorded by The Shirelles. It topped the American charts in 1961, becoming the first No.1 hit by a girl group. It was later recorded by Linda Ronstadt, Ben E. King, Dusty Springfield, Laura Branigan, Little Eva, Roberta Flack, The Four Seasons, Bryan Ferry, Dave Mason, Dionne Warwick, and Melanie Safka as well as by King herself, and Amy Winehouse.

While dating Goffin in high school, King became pregnant at the age of 17. Upon coming to her parents with the news of her pregnancy, they decided it was best for King and Goffin to get married as soon as possible. On August 30, 1959, Goffin and then 17-year-old King married in a Jewish ceremony on Long Island. King gave birth to Louise Goffin shortly afterwards and would eventually go on to have another child, Sherry Goffin. Both Louise and Sherry are musicians.^[8]

In 1965, Goffin and King wrote a theme song for Sidney Sheldon's television series, I Dream of Jeannie, but an instrumental by Hugo Montenegro was used instead. Goffin and King's 1967 song, "Pleasant Valley Sunday", a No. 3 for The Monkees, was inspired by their move to suburban West Orange, New Jersey.^[9] Goffin and King also wrote "Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)" for Head, the Monkees' film. (King also co-wrote "As We Go Along" with Toni Stern for the same film soundtrack.)

Goffin and King divorced in 1968 but Carole consulted Goffin on music she was writing. King lost touch with Goffin because of his declining mental health and the effect it had on their children.^[8]

Solo career[link]

King sang backup vocals on the demo of Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion" which she also co-wrote.^[10] She had had a modest hit in 1962 singing one of her own songs, "It Might As Well Rain Until September" (22 in the US and 3 in the UK, later a hit in Canada for Gary and Dave), but after "He's a Bad Boy" made 94 in 1963, it took King nearly nine years years to reach the Hot 100 singles chart again as a performer, remaining a one-hit wonder until 1971.^[7]

As the 1960s waned, King helped start Tomorrow Records. Moving to the West Coast, Larkey, King, and Danny Kortchmar formed The City, which made one album, Now That Everything's Been Said, a commercial failure. In 1968, King was hired, with Toni Stern, to write for Strawberry Alarm Clock. The duo wrote "Lady of the Lake" and "Blues for a Young Girl Gone"—which appeared on the album The World in a Seashell.^[11]

King made her first solo album, Writer, in 1970 for Lou Adler's Ode label. It was a commercial disappointment, peaking at number 84 in the Billboard Top 200.

King followed Writer in 1971 with Tapestry, featuring new folk-flavored compositions, as well as reinterpretations of two of her songs, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman". Tapestry was an instant success. With numerous hit singles – including a Billboard No.1 with "It's Too Late" – Tapestry held the No.1 spot for 15 consecutive weeks, remained on the charts for nearly six years, sold 10 million copies in the United States, and 25 million worldwide. The album garnered four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year; Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; Record of the Year ("It's Too Late," lyrics by Toni Stern); and Song of the Year, become the first woman to win the award ("You've Got a Friend"). The album signalled the era of platinum albums, though it was issued prior to the invention of the platinum certification by the RIAA. It would eventually be certified Diamond.^[7] Tapestry was the top-selling solo album until Michael Jackson's Thriller in 1982.^{[citation needed]} The album was later placed at 36 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.^[1] In addition, "It's Too Late" was placed at No.469 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Carole King: Music was released in December 1971, certified gold on December 9, 1971. It entered the top ten at 8, becoming the first of many weeks Tapestry and Carole King: Music simultaneously occupied the top 10. The following week, it rose to 3, and finally No.1 on January 1, 1972, staying there for three weeks. The album also spawned a top 10 hit, "Sweet Seasons" (US No.9 and AC #2). Carole King: Music stayed on the Billboard pop album charts for 44 weeks, and was eventually certified platinum.

Rhymes and Reasons (1972), and Fantasy (1973) followed, each earning gold certifications. Rhymes and Reasons produced another hit, "Been to Canaan" (US No.24 and AC No.1), and Fantasy produced two hits, "Believe in Humanity" (US #28) and "Corazon" (US No.37 and AC #5), as well as another song that charted on the Hot 100, "You Light Up My Life" (US No.68 and AC #6).

In 1973, King performed a free concert in New York City's Central Park with 100,000 attending.^[12]

In September 1974, King released her album Wrap Around Joy, which was certified gold on October 16, 1974 and entered the top ten at 7 on October 19, 1974. Two weeks later it reached 1 and stayed there one week. She toured to promote the album.^[13] Wrap Around Joy spawned two hits. "Jazzman" was a single and reached 2 on November 9 but fell out of the top ten the next week. "Nightingale", a single on December 17, went to No.9 on March 1, 1975.

In 1975, King scored songs for the animated TV production of Maurice Sendak's Really Rosie, released as an album by the same name, with lyrics by Sendak.

Thoroughbred (1976) was the last studio album she made under the Ode label.^[13] In addition to enlisting her long-time friends such as David Crosby, Graham Nash, James Taylor and Waddy Wachtel, King reunited with Gerry Goffin to write four songs for the album. Their partnership continued intermittently. King also did a promotional tour for the album in 1976.

In 1977, King collaborated with another songwriter Rick Evers on Simple Things, the first release with a new label distributed by Capitol Records. Shortly after that King and Evers were married; he died of a heroin overdose one year later. Simple Things was her first album that failed to reach the top 10 on the Billboard since Tapestry, and it was her last Gold-certified record by the RIAA, except for a compilation entitled Her Greatest Hits the following year. Neither Welcome Home (1978), her debut as a co-producer on an album, nor Touch the Sky (1979), reached the top 100.

Pearls – The Songs of Goffin and King (1980) yielded a hit single, an updated version of "One Fine Day". Pearls marked the end of King's career as a hitmaker and a performer, no subsequent single reaching the top 40.^{[citation needed]}

Later life and work[link]

Carole King performing aboard USS Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean in 2000

King moved to Atlantic Records for One to One (1982), and Speeding Time in 1983, which was a reunion with Tapestry-era producer Lou Adler. In 1983, she played piano in "Chains and Things" on the B.B. King album Why I Sing The Blues. After a well-received concert tour in 1984, journalist Catherine Foster of the Christian Science Monitor dubbed King as "a Queen of Rock." She also called King's performing as "all spunk and exuberance."^[14]

In 1985, she wrote and performed "Care-A-Lot", theme to The Care Bears Movie. Also in 1985, she scored and performed (with David Sanborn) the soundtrack to the Martin Ritt-directed movie Murphy's Romance. The soundtrack, again produced by Adler, included the songs "Running Lonely" and "Love For The Last Time (Theme from 'Murphy's Romance')", although a soundtrack album was apparently never officially released.^[15] King made a cameo appearance in the film as Tillie, a town hall employee.^[15]

In 1989, she returned to Capitol Records and recorded City Streets, with Eric Clapton on two tracks and Branford Marsalis on one, followed by Color of Your Dreams (1993), with an appearance by Slash of Guns N' Roses. Her song, "Now and Forever", was in the opening credits to the 1992 movie A League of Their Own, and was nominated for a Grammy Award.^[7]

In 1988, she starred in the off-Broadway production A Minor Incident, and in 1994, she played Mrs Johnstone on Broadway in Blood Brothers. In 1996, she appeared in Brighton Beach Memoirs in Ireland, directed by Peter Sheridan. In 1991, she wrote with Mariah Carey the song "If It's Over", for Carey's second album Emotions. In 1996, she wrote "Wall Of Smiles / Torre De Marfil" with Soraya for her 1997 album of the same title.

In 1997, King wrote and recorded backing vocals on "The Reason" for Celine Dion on her album Let's Talk About Love. The song sold worldwide, including one million in France. It went to number 1 in France, 11 in the UK, and 13 in Ireland. The pair performed a duet on the first VH1 Divas Live benefit concert. King also performed her "You've Got A Friend" with Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain as well as "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" with Aretha Franklin and others, including Mariah Carey. In 1998, King wrote "Anyone at All", and performed it in You've Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

In 2001, King appeared in a television ad for the Gap, with her daughter, Louise Goffin.^{[citation needed]} She performed a new song, "Love Makes the World", which became a title track for her studio album in autumn 2001 on her own label, Rockingale, distributed by Koch Records. The album includes songs she wrote for other artists during the mid-1990s and features Celine Dion, Steven Tyler, Babyface and k.d. lang. Love Makes the World went to 158 in the US and No.86 in the UK. It also debuted on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart and Top Internet Albums chart at #20.^[4][16][17] An expanded edition of the album was issued six years later called Love Makes the World Deluxe Edition. It contains a bonus disc with five additional tracks, including a remake of "Where You Lead (I Will Follow)" co-written with Toni Stern.^[18] The same year, King and Stern wrote "Sayonara Dance", recorded by Yuki, former lead vocalist of the Japanese band Judy and Mary, on her first solo album Prismic the following year. Also in 2001, King composed a song for All About Chemistry album by Semisonic, with the band's frontman Dan Wilson.

King launched her Living Room Tour in July 2004 at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. That show, along with shows at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles and the Cape Cod Melody Tent (Hyannis, Massachusetts) were recorded as The Living Room Tour in July 2005. The album sold 44,000 copies in its first week in the US, landing at 17 on the Billboard 200, her highest-charting album since 1977. The album also charted at 51 in Australia. It has sold 330,000 copies in the United States.^[19][20][21] In August 2006 the album reentered the Billboard 200 at 151.^[22] The tour stopped in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A DVD of the tour, called Welcome to My Living Room, was released in October 2007.^{[citation needed]}

King and James Taylor performing "Up on the Roof" together during their 2010 Troubadour Reunion Tour.

In November 2007, King toured Japan with Mary J. Blige and Fergie from The Black Eyed Peas. Japanese record labels Sony and Victor reissued most of King's albums, including the works from the late 1970s previously unavailable on compact disc. King recorded a duet of the Goffin/King composition "Time Don't Run Out on Me" with Anne Murray on Murray's 2007 album Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends. The song had previously been recorded by Murray for her 1984 album Heart Over Mind.

In 2010, King and James Taylor staged their Troubadour Reunion Tour together, recalling the first time they played at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1970. The pair had reunited two and a half years earlier with the band they used in 1970 to mark the club's 50th anniversary. They enjoyed it so much that they decided to take the band on the road. The touring band featured players from that original band: Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar, and Danny Kortchmar. Also present was King's son-in-law, Robbie Kondor. King played piano and Taylor guitar on each others' songs, and they sang together some of the numbers they were both associated with. The tour began in Australia in March, returning to the United States in May. It was a major commercial success, with King playing to some of the largest audiences of her career. Total ticket sales exceeded 700,000 and the tour grossed over 59 million dollars, making it one of the most successful tours of the year.^[23]

During their Troubadour Reunion Tour, Carole King released two albums, one with James Taylor. The first, released on April 27, 2010, The Essential Carole King, is a two-disc compilation album. The first disc features many songs Carole King has recorded, mostly her hit singles. The second disc features recordings by other artists of songs that King wrote, most of which made the top 40, and many of which reached No.1.^[24] The second album was released on May 4, 2010 and is a collaboration of King and James Taylor called Live at the Troubadour, which debuted at No.4 in the United States with sales of 78,000 copies.^[25] Live at the Troubadour has since received a gold record from the RIAA for shipments of over 500,000 copies in the US and has remained on the charts for 34 weeks, currently charting at No.170 on the Billboard 200.^[26]

On December 22, 2010, Carole King's mother, Eugenia Gingold, died in the Hospice Care unit at Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach, Florida at the age of 94. King stated that the cause of death was congestive heart failure. Gingold's passing was reported by the Miami Herald on January 1, 2011.^[27]

In the fall of 2011 she released A Holiday Carole,^[28] which includes holiday standards and new songs written by her daughter Louise Goffin who also is producer for the album.

Her autobiography "A Natural Woman: A Memoir" was published by Grand Central in the United States on April 10, 2012.^[29][30]

On Thursday, May 10, 2012, it was announced that Carole King was retiring from music and that her days in music have most likely ended. King herself also doubted she would ever write another song and said that her 2010 Troubadour Reunion Tour with James Taylor was most likely the last tour of her life, saying that it "was a good way to go out." King also stated that she will most likely not be writing or recording any new music.^[31][32] However, on May 22, King wrote on her Facebook page that she never said she was actually retiring, and insisted that she was just "taking a break."

The City[link]

In 1968 King formed The City, a music trio consisting of Charles Larkey, bass, Danny Kortchmar, guitar and vocals, and King on piano and vocals. The trio was assisted by Jim Gordon on drums.^[33] The City produced one album, Now That Everything's Been Said in 1968, but King's reluctance to perform live meant sales were slow,^[34] and after a change of distributors it got deleted early, and the group disbanded in 1969.^[35] The album was re-released in 1999 as a CD,^[35] though despite a reappraisal by Kortchmar that the album sowed the seeds for Tapestry the CD was also deleted.^[36][37]

Acting career[link]

King has appeared sporadically in acting roles, notably three appearances as guest star on the TV series Gilmore Girls as Sophie, the owner of the Stars Hollow music store. King's song "Where You Lead (I Will Follow)" was also the theme song to the series, in a version sung with her daughter Louise.^[38]

She also appeared on Broadway in the play Blood Brothers.

Political and environmental activism[link]

After relocating to Idaho in 1977, King became involved in environmental issues. Since 1990, she has been working with the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and other groups towards passage of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA). King has testified on Capitol Hill three times on behalf of NREPA: in 1994, 2007 and again in 2009.^[39][40]

King is also politically active in the United States Democratic Party. In 2003, she began campaigning for John Kerry, performing in private homes for caucus delegates during the Democratic primaries. On July 29, 2004, she made a short speech and sang at the Democratic National Convention, about two hours before Kerry made his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for President.^{[citation needed]} King continued her support of Kerry throughout the general election.

In 2008, King appeared on the March 18 episode of The Colbert Report, touching on her politics again. She said she was supporting Hillary Clinton, and said the choice had nothing to do with gender. She also said she would have no issues if Barack Obama won the election. Before the show's conclusion, she returned to the stage to perform "I Feel the Earth Move".^{[citation needed]}

Tributes and covers[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2011)

King during an interview at the JFK Presidential Library, Boston, Mass., April 12, 2012

An all-star roster of artists paid tribute to King on the 1995 album Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King. From the album, Rod Stewart's version of "So Far Away" and Celine Dion's cover of "A Natural Woman" were both Adult Contemporary chart hits. Other artists who appeared on the album included Amy Grant ("It's Too Late"), Richard Marx ("Beautiful"), Aretha Franklin ("You've Got a Friend"), Faith Hill ("Where You Lead"), and the Bee Gees ("Will You Love Me Tomorrow?").

Former Monkee Micky Dolenz released King for a Day, a tribute album consisting of songs written or co-written by King, in 2010.^[41] The album includes "Sometime in the Morning", a King-penned song originally recorded by the Monkees in 1967. Dolenz had previously recorded another of King's Monkees compositions, "Porpoise Song", on his lullaby-themed CD Micky Dolenz Puts You to Sleep.^[42]

Many other cover versions of King's work have appeared over the years. Most notably, "You've Got a Friend" was a smash No.1 hit for James Taylor in 1971 and a top 40 hit for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway that same year. Isaac Hayes recorded "It's Too Late" for his No.1 R&B live album Live at the Sahara Tahoe. Barbra Streisand had a top 40 hit in 1972 with "Where You Lead" twice – by itself and as part of a live medley with "Sweet Inspiration". Streisand also covered "No Easy Way Down" in 1971, "Beautiful" and "You've Got A Friend" in 1972, and "Being At War With Each Other" in 1974. Helen Reddy covered two Carole King penned tunes: the first was "No Sad Song" in 1971; the second was "I Can't Hear You No More" in 1976. The Carpenters recorded King's "It's Going to Take Some Time" in 1972, and reached number 12 on the Billboard charts. Richard Carpenter produced a version of "You've Got A Friend" with then teen singer/actor Scott Grimes in 1989. Martika had a number 25 hit in 1989 with her version of "I Feel the Earth Move", and "It's Too Late" reappeared on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1995 by Gloria Estefan. Linda Ronstadt recorded a new version of "Oh No Not My Baby" in 1993. Celine Dion also recorded King's song "The Reason" on her 1997 album Let's Talk About Love with Carole King singing backup and it became a million-seller and was certified Diamond in France. "Where You Lead" (lyrics by Toni Stern) became the title song of TV show Gilmore Girls. Mandy Moore covered "I Feel the Earth Move" on her 2003 album, Coverage.

In 1996, a film very loosely based on her life, Grace of My Heart, was released. In the film an aspiring singer sacrifices her own singing career to write hit songs that launch the careers of other singers. Mirroring King's life, the film follows her from her first break, through the pain of rejection from the recording industry and a bad marriage, to her final triumph in realizing her dream to record her own hit album.^{[citation needed]}

Awards and recognition[link]

• In 1987, Goffin and King were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
• In 1988, Goffin and King received the National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award.^[8]
• In 1990, King was inducted, along with Goffin, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the non-performer category for her songwriting achievements.
• In 2002, King was given the "Johnny Mercer Award" by the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
• In 2004, Goffin and King were awarded the Grammy Trustees Award.
• King was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.^[43]

Discography and certifications[link]

The years given are the years the albums and singles were released, and not necessarily the years in which they achieved their peak.

U.S. Billboard Top 10 Albums^[4]

• 1971 – Tapestry (#1)
• 1971 – Carole King: Music (#1)
• 1972 – Rhymes and Reasons (#2)
• 1973 – Fantasy (#6)
• 1974 – Wrap Around Joy (#1)
• 1976 – Thoroughbred (#3)
• 2010 – Live at the Troubadour (with James Taylor) (#4)

U.S. Billboard Top 10 'Pop' Singles^[4]

• 1971 – "I Feel the Earth Move" (#1)
• 1971 – "It's Too Late" (#1)
• 1971 – "Sweet Seasons" (#9)
• 1974 – "Jazzman" (#2)
• 1974 – "Nightingale" (#9)

Albums and singles certifications

See also[link]

• List of songwriter tandems

References[link]