Richard Carpenter

Richard Lynn Carpenter born October 15 1946 is an American musician singer songwriter and record producer who formed half of the sibling duo the Carpenters alongside his younger sister Karen He had numerous roles in the Carpenters including record producer arranger pianist keyboardist and songwriter as well as joining with Karen on harmony vocals Richard Lynn Carpenter was born at GraceNew Haven Hospital now called Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven Connecticut the same hospital where his sister Karen was later born His parents were Agnes Reuwer Tatum a housewife March 5 1915 November 10 1996 and Harold Bertram Carpenter November 8 1908 October 15 1988 Harold was born in China where his own parents were missionaries and was educated at boarding schools in England before working in the printing business Carpenter was named after his fathers younger brother Richard Lynn Carpenter Carpenter and his uncle both married women named Mary Richard and his sister were baptized into the United Methodist Church and as children were part of the Methodist Youth Ministry Carpenter frequently played the piano while his younger sister Karen played baseball outside He and Karen also liked to listen to the childrens records their father bought for them when they were young Richard was introduced to Perry Como and Ella Fitzgerald among many others through his fathers record collection and by age 12 he knew he wanted to be in the music business His first public appearance as a musician was at age 16 in New Haven Along with two older friends a group was formed and they played at a local pizza parlor Richard joined the venture to earn money to buy a car The Carpenter family moved from New Haven to Downey California in June 1963 They wanted Richard to further his music career and the family was tired of the cold New England winters After graduating from Downey High School in 1964 Carpenter studied music at California State College at Long Beach now known as California State University Long Beach There he met Frank Pooler a conductor and composer who wrote the lyrics to the Christmas classic Merry Christmas Darling in 1968 Richard also met his good friend John Bettis who cowrote songs with Richard At Long Beach Richard also met Gary Sims Dan Woodhams and Doug Strawn who later became members of the Carpenters live band Carpenter created the Richard Carpenter Trio in 1965 with sister Karen and friend Wes Jacobs Richard played the piano Karen played the drums and Wes played the tuba and bass In 1966 the Richard Carpenter Trio played Iced Tea and The Girl from Ipanema at the Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands They won the competition and shortly afterward recorded three songs at RCA Studios Every Little Thing Strangers in the Night and the Carpenter original Iced Tea Iced Tea is the only recording that was officially released to the public Around 1967 Richard and Karen joined four other student musicians from Long Beach State to form a sextet Spectrum consisting of Richard Carpenter Karen Carpenter John Bettis Leslie Johnston Gary Sims Danny Woodhams Source Article Richard Carpenter musician from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30