Carol Joan Kline is the real name of the famous American singer, whom everyone in the world today knows as Carol King. In the 1960s of the last century, she and her husband composed a number of well-known hits sung by other performers. But this was not enough for her. In the next decade, the girl became popular not only as an author, but also as a talented performer.
The early years, the beginning of the career of Carol King
The future star of the American scene was born on February 9, 1942. The birthplace was the famous prestigious district of Manhattan. Her creative abilities were manifested in her from early childhood. When the little girl was only 4 years old, she already learned to play the piano and did it well. At school age, she wrote the first poems and songs, so she decided to create a full-fledged musical group.
The team was called The Co-Sines and specialized mainly in vocal work. The team wrote several songs, even began to perform in local institutions. The singer got acquainted with how the stage is arranged. Rock and roll came into fashion, in thematic concerts of which Carol also managed to participate.
During her student years, the singer met important personalities for her future career, for example, Jerry Goffin. He teamed up with Carol to form a vocal duo. With him in the 1960s, she wrote many well-known compositions and married him.
Neil Sedaka dedicated his song to the performer in the late 1950s. The song was called Oh! Carol and became very popular, hitting a number of hit parades at the turn of 1950-1960. This was the first mention of the artist in the charts. She decided to answer the performer in the same way and recorded a response composition. The song, unfortunately, was not very popular. Around the same time, a duet was created with a future spouse.
Interestingly, the first place they worked together was one of the publishing companies. Here they wrote poems and songs for a long time for famous performers who recorded compositions and were frequent guests in the same building where Goffin and Kline worked.
Success Carol King
The first popular song in which the authorship of this tandem is indicated was the composition of The Shirelles Will You Love Me Tomorrow. The success of the song was phenomenal. Within days of its release, the song topped numerous US charts, including the famous Billboard Hot 100.
Several of the following compositions, written by famous authors, also became hits. The couple quickly gained wide popularity and authority as songwriters. Now they would be called real hitmakers.
In total, during the work of this tandem as authors, they wrote over 100 hits (that is, those songs that occupied leading positions in the charts and were very popular). If we take all the compositions written, then we can count more than 200.
In parallel, Carol dreamed of becoming a famous singer herself. Ironically, those songs that she wrote for herself were not popular with listeners. The only exception was one song, recorded in the 1960s, which managed to get into the top 30 of the best according to the Billboard Hot 100.
This inspired the singer after long, unhurried attempts. In 1965, she entered into a strong partnership with Al Aronowitz. This is how their record company, Tomorrow Records, began to operate. One of the musicians who recorded compositions at this studio, after some time became King's husband (after ending his relationship with Griff).
Members of The City
With him, in the late 1960s, the group The City was created. In total, the team included three people, including Carol. The musicians recorded the album Now That Everything's Been Said, which could have allowed them to tour. Due to Carol's morbid fear of the public, the band was never able to perform concerts in support of the album. Naturally, this greatly affected sales.
The album became a real "failure" and practically did not sell. However, after a while it was adequately distributed. And a number of songs even began to be listened to by a wide audience (but this happened after the increase in King's popularity).
After experimenting with the group The City, the singer began to pursue a solo career. The first solo record was Writer. The songs from the albums were popular in certain circles. However, there was no need to talk about an increase in popularity. Then the performer wrote the second disc.
In 1971, the album Tapestry was released, which became a triumph for King. Several million copies were sold, the songs entered the top 100 of the best (according to Billboard), the singer began to listen abroad. For more than 60 weeks in a row, the album was in all sorts of tops. This album was a great start in his solo career and influenced the success of the following records.
Rhymes & Reasons and Wrap Around Joy (1974) both sold well and were warmly received by the public. King's career as a solo singer has finally taken off. She gave concerts, recorded new songs. In the mid-1970s, Carol and her ex-husband teamed up again for creativity and recorded an album, which was also popular. This cemented the success of the artist.
The Late Years of Carol King
In 1980, King made her last rush (commercially) release. Pearls is not an album, but a collection of live recordings featuring Carol performing songs co-written by her and Goffin. After that, the singer did not leave the music.
But new releases began to come out much less frequently. She began to pay considerable attention to environmental issues, participated in various protective movements. The latest release is The Living Room Tour compilation, a recording of a tour that took place in the mid-2000s.
