From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sat Feb 9, 2002  2:15 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Carole King
 
CAROLE KING

Born Carole Klein, 9 February 1942, Brooklyn, New York City

Carole King is the most succesful female songwriter of all time, with a
total of eight US number one records to her credit.
In 1960 she married her songwriting partner Gerry Goffin (born 11 February
1939, Queens, NYC). That same year the duo was contracted by Aldon
Music, the publishing company of Al Nevins and Don Kirshner, whose office
was located in the Brill Building on 1619 Broadway, in the heart of Manhattan.
Carole composed music for Gerry's lyrics as they worked alongside other
famous songwriting teams like Barry Mann-Cynthia Weil and Neil Sedaka-
Howard Greenfield. Goffin and King's first success was the Shirelles' "Will You
Love Me Tomorrow", which went to # 1 in early 1961. "Take Good Care Of My
Baby" (Bobby Vee) was another number one in 1961. Two of their compositions
topped the charts in two different versions: "The Loco-motion" (Little Eva 1962,
Grand Funk 1974) and "Go Away Little Girl" (Steve Lawrence 1963, Donny
Osmond 1971). Other classic Goffin-King songs include "When My Little Girl
Is Smiling" and "Up On The Roof" for the Drifters, "Chains" for the Cookies,
"I'm Into Something Good" (Earl-Jean and, more succesfully, a British cover
by a group whose name I prefer to leave unmentioned), "One Fine Day" (The
Chiffons), "Just Once In My Life" (Righteous Brothers) and "A Natural Woman"
(Aretha Franklin). Carole's biggest pre-"Tapestry" success as a vocalist came
in 1962, when she recorded a demo for Bobby Vee. Kirshner liked it so much,
he issued Carole's version on his Dimension label. The song, "It Might As
Well Rain Until September" peaked at # 22 in the US and # 3 in the UK.
In 1968, Carole and Gerry were divorced, and both moved to California
separately. Her golden year was 1971. Her second solo album, "Tapestry",
was number one for 15 weeks and went on to sell 15 million copies worldwide.
She won four Grammys that year : Best Album, Song of the Year, Record of
the Year and Best Female Vocalist. A single taken from the album, "It's Too
Late", was number one for five weeks. Fourteen other entries into the Billboard
Top 100 followed until 1982. She is still active and released a new CD in 2001.

Official homepage: http://www.caroleking.com
Further reading: James E. Perone, Carole King : A Bio-bibliography. Westport,
CT : Greenwood Press, 1999.
If I have to recommend a CD, it would be "Tapestry". All 12 songs are strong.