Born: February 9, 1942; Brooklyn, NY
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She was most active as a singer during the first half of the 1970s, though she was a successful songwriter for considerably longer both before and after this period.
King has won four Grammy Awards and has been inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting, along with long-time partner Gerry Goffin.
Born Carol Klein in 1942 in Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish household, King started out playing the piano then moved on to singing, forming a vocal quartet called the Co-Sines at James Madison High School.
She attended Queens College, where she was a classmate of Neil Sedaka and inspired Sedaka's first big hit, "Oh! Carol." She wrote "Oh! Neil" in return. While attending Queens College, King befriended Paul Simon and Gerry Goffin.
Goffin and King soon formed a songwriting partnership, eventually marrying and having two daughters, Louise Goffin and Sherry Goffin Kondor, who also became singers. Working for Aldon Music in the Brill Building, where chart-topping hits were churned out during the 1960s, the Goffin-King partnership first hit it big with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow,"(#1 in the US in 1961) recorded by The Shirelles .
Other hits followed such as, "Take Good Care of My Baby," recorded by Booby Vee(#1, also in 1961), "The Locomotion," recorded by Little Eva (#1 in 1962), "Go Away Little Girl," recorded by Steve Lawrence (#1, also in 1962) and again by Donnie Osmond (#1 in 1971), "Hey Girl," recorded by Freddie Scott (#10 in 1963) and Donnie Osmond (#9 in 1972), "One Fine Day" recorded by The Chiffons (#5, also in 1963), "Up on the Roof," recorded by The Drifters (#5, also in 1963), and "I'm into Something Good," recorded by Herman's Hermits (#13 in 1964).
King and Goffin's 1967 song, "Pleasant Valley Sunday", a #3 hit for The Monkees, was inspired by their move to suburban West Orange, New Jersey. 1967 also produced another big hit for King and Goffin, "(You Make me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," recorded by Aretha Franklin. It hit #8 on the charts that year. In 1970, their song "Hi-De-Ho (That Old Sweet Roll)" reached #14 for Blood, Sweat, and Tears.
At the urging from others, King began her own singing career. She had a modest hit singing one of her own songs in 1962 with "It Might As Well Rain Until September" (#22 in the US and a top 10 success in the UK, later a hit in Canada for Gary and Dave), but after "He's a Bad Boy" made #94 in 1963, it would take King eight years to reach the Hot 100 singles chart again as a performer.
Her best-received album, Tapestry (1971), was instantly recognized as one of the landmark albums of the singer-songwriter genre of the early 1970s. With numerous hit singles, Tapestry would remain on the charts for nearly six years and sell over 10 million copies in the United States alone, an estimated 22 million world-wide, remaining her most popular album among fans and critics alike. The album garnered four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year; Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; Record of the Year ("It's Too Late"); and Song of the Year ("You've Got a Friend").
Music (1971), Rhymes and Reasons (1972), and Fantasy (1973) followed, each earning either a gold or platinum RIAA Certification. Tapestry was placed at #36 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of all time. In addition, "It's Too Late" was placed at #469 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Until Michael Jackson's Thriller, King's Tapestry was the top-selling pop solo album of all time, selling 13 million copies in 1971.
King also enjoyed major success with her 1974 album Wrap Around Joy. The album reached number #1 on the Billboard charts and for the second time in her career she had a song reach as high as #2 on the singles chart with the big hit "Jazzman," as well as another top 10 single from the album "Nightingale."
In 1975, King scored a number of songs for the animated TV production of Maurice Sendak's work, Really Rosie.
An all-star roster of artists paid tribute to King on the 1995 album Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King. From the album, Rod Stewart's version of "So Far Away" and Celine Dion's cover of "A Natural Woman" were both Adult Contemporary chart hits. Other artists who appeared on the album included Amy Grant ("It's Too Late"), Richard Marx ("Beautiful"), Aretha Franklin("You've Got a Friend"), Faith Hill ("Where You Lead"), and the Bee Gees ("Will You Love Me Tomorrow?").
In addition to the numerous hit versions of her songs with Gerry Goffin and Tapestry Revisited, many other cover versions of King's work have appeared over the years. Most notably, "You've Got a Friend" was a smash hit for James Taylor in 1971 (in fact, just two weeks earlier King's "It's Too Late" was at number one for its fifth week on the Billboard Hot 100) and a top 40 hit for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway that same year. Barbara Streisand had a top 40 hit with "Where You Lead" twice — by itself and as part of a live medley with "Sweet Inspiration." The Carpenters recorded King's "It's Going to Take Some Time" in 1972 and reached number 12 on the Billboard charts. Martika had a number 25 hit in 1989 with her version of "I Feel the Earth Move", and "It's Too Late" reappeared on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1995 by Gloria Estefan. Celine Dion also recorded King's song "The Reason" on her 1997 album Let's Talk about Love.
In 1996 a film loosely based on her life, Grace of My Heart, was released. In the film an aspiring singer, Denise Waverly/Edna Buxton, sacrifices her own singing career to write hit songs that launch the careers of other singers. Mirroring King's life, the film follows her from her first break, through the pain of rejection from the recording industry and a bad marriage, to her final triumph in realizing her dream to record her own hit album.
King's "Where You Lead (I Will Follow)" was the theme song to the TV series Gilmore Girls. In the theme-song version, King sings with her daughter Louise. King — who has appeared sporadically in acting roles — has guest starred three times on the show (in its second, fifth, and sixth seasons) as Sophie, the owner of the Stars Hollow music store.