The sweet tones of Karen Carpenter are some of the most well-known from the 1970s. She and her brother Richard’s band, The Carpenters, gave fans songs like “Close to You” and “We’ve Only Just Begun,” which became some of the most popular of the time. But how did Karen die, and what caused her death?
Who Was Karen Carpenter?
Karen Carpenter was an American singer and drummer. She was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on March 2, 1950. Her and her brother Richard were members of the well-known duo The Carpenters.
She was especially known for her contralto voice, and other musicians and critics also praised her drumming skills. Richard, her only brother and three years older than her, became interested in music at a young age and was a natural at the piano.
Her first band was called “Two Plus Two,” and it was made up of three high school friends who were all girls. After she told her brother Richard to join, they broke up. After he and his college friend Wes Jacobs formed the Richard Carpenter Trio, A&M Records signed them as The Carpenters in 1969.
How Did Karen Carpenter Die?
Randy Schmidt’s book Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter says that Karen started dieting when she was in high school. She had tried different diets, and by the time the Carpenters were famous, she weighed about eight and a half stone.
By 1975, her weight was just 6 st. 7 lb. Some fans had noticed and wrote to the pair to ask what might be wrong. She wouldn’t say out loud that she was sick, and in 1981 she said she was just “poopy.” Richard said later that neither he nor his parents knew how to help her.
She told Richard that she had anorexia and needed help. She chose to see Steven Levenkron, a therapist in New York City. In the 1980s, Karen also started taking medicine to replace her thyroid, which sped up her metabolism, and laxatives, which helped her get rid of food quickly.
Her illness kept getting worse, and she lost even more weight. She was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York in September 1982, where she was given an intravenous drip. Karen’s last public appearance was at a gathering of past Grammy Award winners on January 11, 1983.
She looked weak, but her friend Dionne Warwick said that she seemed outgoing. She told everyone, “Look at me!” “I Have A Bottom!” Karen last saw her brother on February 1, 1983. They talked about plans for a new Carpenters album. She passed out on February 4 in her bedroom at her parents’ house.
She Died From heart failure was caused by his repeated use of Ipecac syrup, which is an over-the-counter drug used to make people throw up.
What Was Karen Carpenter’s Cause Of Death?
Heart failure caused by Karen Carpenter’s illness, who was 32 years old, caused her death. Karen was at her parents’ house in Downey, California, on February 4, 1983, where she was going to sign divorce papers for real estate developer Thomas James Burris.
Shortly after waking up, she fell down in her bedroom, where paramedics found her heart beating once every 10 seconds. At 9:51 a.m., she was said to be dead at Downey Community Hospital.
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