carpenters workload

[karl]

HI
Wea all know the carpenters were one of the most hard working pop acts of the 1970s particularly on the concert circuit.I think that if i had been their manager between 1970 1975,I would not have had them slogging around the U.S.A for a 150 days a year,just do selected dates and prehaps have them making more TV appearances especially abroad and made promotional films for all their singles ,yesterday once more,sing,top of the world,etc.would also made sure they took some holidays so they could chill out from the pressures of showbuisness.

karl.
uk

[wisejester7]

Welcome, karl!

I think you hit the nail on the head. The Carpenters were one of the hardest working bands of their time. I wish they HAD taken more time for themselves. Their TV shows proved that they didn't have to push so hard to keep their name in the public eye. By the time they were into doing television though they were so entrenched in their routine and in their individual declines. Still, one can only wonder what it would be like to have the Carpenters/ solo Karen/ solo Richard making music today.

Good topic.

[smoothie2]

Truly....IF ONLY....I hardly can imagine what it would be like to be on tour, on the road, on planes, rented cars...how very tiring it was for them and anyone...and to put all their time and
energy into their music. Exhausting, always the isolation and some fear factors.
They lived by making music and loved it, but such a melt down would be inevitable.
Such a surreal way of life.

[enigma]

Very true no other act in the position the Carpenters were in toured near as many days as Karen, Richard and company, Their manager was clearly looking out for his own financial gain rather than the well being of his artists. I really do not know how Richard survived it Karen eventually succombed to the after effects of such a brutal pressure filled schedule. Richard has said many times how he regrets allowing their management to work them with iin an inch of their lives. If they kept up that schedule much past 1975 I think they both would have succombed to it. I can only imagine what that type of life was like I am glad I never had to endure something like that I am not sure I would have survived it.

[ps11932]

I can't help but recall the recent thread that included comments made by Toni Tenille- who would know some of that life, blaming Karen's untimely passing at least partly on pressure put on by management. While most who responded to that post felt that there was a lot more to it than that, it is a factor that can't be overlooked.