The Carpenters.
Richard and Karen Carpenter, brother and sister, came to prominence in the early 1970's, with songs such as !"Ticket To Ride", "Rainy Days And Mondays" and "Top of The World".
Their first album, "Offering" released in 1969, did not make much of an impact, but a track on the album, a re working of The Beatles song "Ticket To Ride" became a minor success, peaking in at number 54 in the US Billboard Hot 100. To better promote the album, it was re released but under the name of the hit single.
"(They Long To Be) Close To You" became the record that gave them their first number 1 hit in the US and number 6 in the UK charts. "We've Only Just Begun" was initially the tune on a commercial for an American Bank, but after Richard Carpenter added his musical talents to the piece, it soon became another hit and got them a place in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Over the next couple of years The Carpenters continued to produce classic records such as "For All We Know", "Goodbye To Love", and "Top of The World". After releasing the albums "Horizon", "A Kind of Hush" and "Passage", Richard took a year off to sort out his addiction to sedatives whilst Karen went on to record a solo album, "Karen Carpenter",in an attempt to re-invent herself with a more disco / dance orientated material. Unfortunately her record producers and brother were less enthusiastic with the results and the album was not released until October 1996, although 4 tracks were released on the 1989 album "Lovelines".
The album, "Made In America" became their final one released as a duo, with the single, "Touch Me When We're Dancing" reaching number 16 on the Hot 100, and becoming their 15th number 1 on the Adult Contemporary charts in the US.
Karen spent her final Christmas at home with her parents, after receiving treatment for the newly diagnosed illness Anorexia Nervosa. By this time she had managed to gain some weight and was looking forward to getting back to the studio.
On the morning of Friday, February 4th 1983 Karen suffered a heart attack at her parents home and was pronounced dead at The Downey Community Hospital.
Richard continued to release records of previously unreleased material, "Voice of The Heart" and re worked their Christmas album, "A Christmas Portrait" adding new material and a new title, "An Old - Fashioned Christmas".
In 1989 the film "The Karen Carpenter Story" was released causing some record stores to sell out of Carpenters records.
As a tribute to The Carpenters, "If I Were A Carpenter" was released in 1994 featuring alternative rock bands covering their songs.