9 thoughts on “The Carpenters, Superstar (Live, 1971)”

  1. Awesome voice indeed, life not entirely wasted, since she left her music behind, but sad and far too short.

    A good way to gauge the greatness of her voice is to compare this version of Superstar to, to pick one of many, Rita Coolidge’s version. Rita Coolidge has a nice enough voice, but she is merely human and of this Earth, where Karen is able to take this song to some kind of Beautiful, supernatural place all her own. Note also how physically frail she looks in this video, but she hits the song out of the ballpark. What would she have been able to do if she wasn’t physically destroying herself at the time.

  2. Such a unique voice, instantly recognizable. She could have been still singing now if she had kept healthy; the voice is the last thing to age.

  3. Whenever I hear Karen Carpenter’s beautiful voice, I get sad and angry at the same time. I’ve never quite believed the anorexia story, but I guess it may be true. Thanks for posting this. She was one of the greats, along with Brenda Lee.

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