Hollywood Memorial

Best remembered for her singing partnership with her brother, Richard, as ‘The Carpenters.’ In 1966, their group won first place in the Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands, and landed a recording contract with RCA Records. After two albums, which were never released, Karen and Richard formed another band and in 1970, they made several demo tapes, which landed them a contract with A&M Records. Their first real hit was a reworked version of Burt Bacharach’s ‘Close to You,’ which soon sold a million copies. They became one of the most successful groups in the early 1970s, won three Grammy Awards, and starred in their own TV variety series. Karen suffered from a relatively unknown illness, Anorexia. Her illness surfaced in 1975, when they were forced to cancel a European tour, when she was too weak to perform. In the 1980s, she and her brother were back making records, but in 1982 she collapsed after a recording, and spent most of the year undergoing treatment. Although her marriage fell apart, she appeared as if she was beginning to take control of her life again, and on February 4, 1983, she went to her parent’s house to sort through some of her old clothes. She collapsed there from cardiac arrest, and was pronounced dead by responding doctors. Doctors later revealed that her long battle with Anorexia has stressed her heart to the failure point. Originally interred in Forest-Lawn Cypress Cemetery in Cypress, California, her remains were moved to a new location in the Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park by her brother in late 2003.