Singer Karen Carpenter, who joined brother Richard for a string of musical hits in the ’70s, died suddenly of a heart attack Friday morning while visiting her parents at the Downey home she and her brother built for them.
The sudden death of the popular musician, at 32 years of age, was a shock to her fans and friends, many of whom grew up with her in Downey.
Downey Police Department Detective Gary Morrow, who was present during the autopsy Friday, said the preliminary determination of cause of death was pulmonary edema, the medical term for the sudden stoppage of breathing and heartbeat.
He said Carpenter had recently been treated for anorexia nervosa, an extreme weight loss condition where the person does not eat properly to force the loss of weight.
The autopsy found her to be five-feet, four-inches tall and 108 pounds.
Although Carpenter had eaten regularly the week before her death, Morrow said an investigation is continuing as to the cause of her death, focusing both on the anorexia and the presence of prescription medicine found in her bloodstream.
Her Downey physician, Dr. G. A. Monnet, had no comment on Carpenter’s death. […]
Carpenter had arrived in Downey at the Newville Avenue house of her parents, Agnes and Harold Carpenter on Thursday for a short overnight visit, according to her agent Paul Bloch. […]
Ms. Carpenter awoke in the second floor bedroom of the large Downey house at approximately 8:10 a.m. Friday but collapsed approximately 30 minutes later on the floor in a closet of the bedroom where her parents found her minutes later, according to Downey police and fire department officials.
The Downey fire department received the call from her parents at 8:51 a.m. and sent Engine Company No. 64 and a paramedics unit to the house near the San Gabriel River.
Paramedics and an Adams Ambulance crew found Carpenter unconscious but with a slight pulse and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation [CPR] before transporting her and her concerned mother, with full lights and siren, to the Downey Community Hospital emergency room.
A hospital spokesman said that when Carpenter arrived at the hospital at 9:23 a.m. she was in full cardiac arrest, not breathing and without a heartbeat. A medical team worked on her for 28 minutes but at 9:51 a.m. she was pronounced dead.
Her body was turned over to the county coroner’s office for an autopsy Friday [and later released to Utter-McKinley Funeral Home in Downey. The family had not released the details of funeral arrangements as of Friday night.]
Carpenter’s sudden death was a complete shock to friends and business associates.
“She was so young and healthy and had everything to look forward to,” said Joan Jaffe, a spokeswoman for Carpenter’s agent.
Her agent said that Carpenter had been treated for anorexia last year and that in 1975, the Carpenters had to cancel a concert tour […] because Ms. Carpenter suffered from physical and emotional exhaustion, for which she was hospitalized for several weeks.
Jaffe said Karen and Richard Carpenter were planning to go into the studio at A&M Records next month to begin recording a new album which was to be followed by a tour of the United States this summer.
“I was totally taken by surprise,” said Carpenter’s agent of 12 years, Bloch. “She was young and healthy. She was squeaky clean as anybody who would do milk commercials.”
Although her agent said she had not had a history of heart ailments, acquaintances said she had recently returned from New York where she had undergone treatment for anorexia.
“She wanted to keep it quiet,” said one acquaintance. […]
Carpenter had also [recently separated from] Los Angeles businessman Thomas Burris, Jaffe said.
Those who saw her in Downey in recent months said she was in good spirits.
In fact, last year Ms. Carpenter recorded a solo album at A&M Records which mysteriously was never released. Her agent would not say what the plans were for that album.
Like several other young musicians of the late ’60s and early ’70s, Karen and Richard Carpenter rose meteorically to success from their teenage years with the Downey High School Band to their big break in 1969 after Ms. Carpenter had gone on to Long Beach State to study music.
Since 1969, the Carpenters put their sweet “clean-cut” sound on [ten] albums, eight of which were gold albums selling over 500,000 copies each.
In [1970] the Carpenters had their biggest success, “Close to You.”
Karen Carpenter played drums and sang for the duo while her brother sang and played the piano.
Their albums continued to sell well into the mid ’70s.
Jaffe said Karen and Richard Carpenter were confident that their new album would do well.
“She was always positive and cheerful. She was looking forward to her new start,” her agent said.
The sudden death of Karen Carpenter [from heart failure] at age 32 stunned not only the musical industry and her many fans, but also the many friends and acquaintances she made during her Downey childhood.
Whether it was her enthusiasm [in] the Downey High School Band, or her close relationship with her family, recollections of Carpenter’s youth in Downey by friends painted the picture of a bright, happy woman with a gift for music.
When Harold and Agnes Carpenter moved to Downey from Connecticut with their children Richard and Karen in [1963], they settled in a cozy house near Rockwell International, according to friends.
Karen was enrolled as a ninth grader at South Junior High School while her brother went to Downey High School, recalled Bruce Gifford, a longtime music teacher at Downey High School who coached both Carpenters while they played in the school’s band.
They were both influenced by their father’s record collection.
“[Richard] originally wanted to play the trumpet but he was such a fine pianist that he stayed with that instrument. When she came to Downey (high school), she wanted to be in the band like her brother,” Gifford recalled.
Karen Carpenter played the bells her first year in the band and then went on to play the drums, Gifford said.
“She was the typical student but she didn’t smoke or drink,” he recalled. “She didn’t strike me as musically talented at first but then I’ve learned to give people time before judging their talent. And you know what happened to them.”
Gifford said the striking thing about Karen Carpenter was the close family relationship she enjoyed.
In the many times he had dinner with the Carpenters, he saw an unusual closeness in the family which he says few kids enjoy.
During their teen years, Karen and Richard Carpenter formed several jazz bands on their own, one of which won a battle of the bands contest at the Hollywood Bowl seen by record executives who later signed them.
Karen Carpenter graduated from Downey High School in 1967 and went on to Long Beach State where she and her brother put together the band with which they received their lucky break.
Because the Carpenters were popular during [the] late ’60s and early ’70s, many of today’s Downey High School students hadn’t heard of her before her death. Those that had were stunned by her death at such a young age.
The Carpenters’ success and the resulting wealth didn’t keep Karen and Richard from their friends and family in Downey.
On December 7, 1971, Karen and Richard Carpenter presented the city of Downey with the gold record “Close to You” which is still on display in the trophy case at City Hall.
The two musicians were grand marshals in the Downey Christmas Parade that year.
With the money they made from that million-seller, the Carpenters bought two apartment buildings on Fifth Street between Downey and Brookshire Avenues which they named “Close to You” and [“Only Just Begun.”]
They also used a portion of their newfound wealth to build a magnificent house for their parents on Newville Avenue next to the San Gabriel River in Downey.
The large house was equipped with state of the art musical recording and listening equipment and a garage to contain Richard’s antique automobile collection. […]
“I couldn’t believe it. She was in here a week and a half ago looking as healthy as ever,” said Jim Ayres, the owner of Foxy’s Restaurant on Paramount Boulevard in Downey.
“I talked to her then and she said she was fine,” Ayres said. “She was in with her mother. They always came here for breakfast.”
Ayres described her as “bouncy, very energetic.”
“She would talk to anybody. She was real friendly,” he said. “Her death at such a young age really upsets me.”
Downey optometrist Art Fry was also shocked by Carpenter’s death. He has known the Carpenter kids for 18 years and had just fitted Karen Carpenter with glasses last month.
“She was a real nice kid,” Fry said. “They kept to themselves and never drank or smoked. They would always be home here for the holidays and every other important family occasion.”
The family has not yet announced the arrangements for the funeral.