Why Karen Carpenter Matters

In the '60s and '70s, America's music scene was marked by raucous excess, reflected in the tragic overdoses of young superstars such as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. At the same time, the uplifting harmonies and sunny lyrics that propelled Karen Carpenter and her brother, Richard, to international fame belied a different sort of tragedy--the underconsumption that led to Karen's death at age thirty-two from the effects of an eating disorder.

In Why Karen Carpenter Matters, Karen Tongson (whose Filipino musician parents named her after the pop icon) interweaves the story of the singer's rise to fame with her own trans-Pacific journey between the Philippines--where imitations of American pop styles flourished--and Karen Carpenter's home ground of Southern California. Tongson reveals why the Carpenters' chart-topping, seemingly whitewashed musical fantasies of "normal love" can now have profound significance for her--as well as for other people of color, LGBT+ communities, and anyone outside the mainstream culture usually associated with Karen Carpenter's legacy. This hybrid of memoir and biography excavates the destructive perfectionism at the root of the Carpenters' sound, while finding the beauty in the singer's all too brief life.

In anii '60 si '70, scena muzicala a Americii a fost marcata de un exces rau, reflectat in supradozele tragice ale unor tineri superstari precum Jimi Hendrix si Janis Joplin. In acelasi timp, armoniile inaltatoare si versurile insorite care au propulsat Karen Carpenter si fratele ei, Richard, la faima internationala au negat un alt fel de tragedie - subconsumul care a dus la moartea lui Karen la varsta de treizeci si doi de ani de la efectele unui aliment In De ce Karen Carpenter Matters, Karen Tongson (ai carei parinti muzicieni filipinezi au numit-o dupa pictograma pop) impleteste povestea ascensiunii cantaretei la faima cu propria ei calatorie trans-Pacifica intre Filipine - unde au inflorit imitatiile stilurilor pop americane - si terenul natal al lui Karen Carpenter din sudul Californiei.