Karen and Phil Ramone and Itchy

[kc1950]

Man, you can real feel the heartbreak with Phil Ramone, a decent guy, and his lovely wife as they tell about their relationship with KC. KC was troubled at the time and Ramone and his wife took them into their home and tried to help her. they were up against a losing battle - she won the battle but lost the war

Itchy , his wife, was also somebody who deeply loved Karen. and her heartbreak in describing the futlility of screaming at her - finding all those laxatives -

Like most anorexia suffers - Karen always tried to make her friends feel good and not focus on herself. she was a nurturer and not a whiner -

Its sad that they couldn't help her and you can feel the guilt and remorse. especially Richard and the New Haven family that loved her like their own -

I think and this is all speculation - and psychobabble - that Karen's Mom, Agnes, always favored Richard and never gave KC the affection and show of love that she needed - I think this along with her brother's refusual to support the solo career in a small sense contributed to the downfall - of course - factor in the broken marriage, the falling off the charts, and all sorts of scheduling and work related stresses and this wacked disease overwhelmed her -

we lost a great lady and the best singer of this generation

[enigma]

Its difficult to say exactly what factor or factors caused Karens downfall there was alot at play here and only Karen herself truely knew what was going on. Those around her saw the behaviors and tried to help but it was Karen who had to help herself and by the time she began taking steps to help herself it was too late. It appeared that Karen was getting a little better around 1980 she apparently had gained some weight and was heading in a posative direct but the solo record thing as well as the breakdown of her marriage seemed to cause her to relapse and by the time she finally saught treatment it was too late. Its hard to blame Richard and Agnes for contributing to Karens condition but their treatment of Karen certainly did not help her with her issues but there was alot more to it than that more than we will ever know. Yes we lost a great singer and a gifted unique person when Karen passed away.