Search - Artist/Band: Carole King

• Name: Carole King
• Birthday: 02/09/1942
• Birth Place: Brooklyn, NY
• Decades Active: 1950,1960,1970,1980,1990,2000
• Genre: Rock
• Styles: Adult Contemporary, Brill Building Pop, Contemporary Pop/Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Soft Rock, AM Pop
• Moods: Earnest, Literate, Poignant, Melancholy, Plaintive, Soothing, Wistful, Calm/Peaceful, Reflective, Sentimental, Passionate, Intimate, Gentle, Laid-Back/Mellow

Title	Release
Collector's Edition	08/19/2008
Brighter	12/15/2007
The Best of Carole King WA	09/19/2007
The Music of Carole King	03/09/2005
Writer/Rhymes & Reasons WA	11/26/2002
Music/Fantasy WA	10/29/2002
Songs of Long Ago	05/23/2002
Collection [Mra]	05/22/2002
Crying in the Rain [Delta] WA	2002
Love Makes the World	09/25/2001
Brill Building Sessions and More	02/13/2001
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do WA	01/15/2001
Super Hits	05/09/2000
The Early Years	04/04/2000
Goin' Back [Sony Special Products]	06/02/1998
Pearls/Time Gone By WA	08/11/1995
Brill Building Legends WA	1995
Hits and Rarities from the Sixties	1995
A Natural Woman: The Ode Collection (1968-1976)	09/13/1994
Time Gone By	06/14/1994
In Concert	03/01/1994
Colour of Your Dreams	03/16/1993
Plus...	1991
City Streets	04/1989
Speeding Time WA	1983
One to One WA	1982
Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King WA	1980
Her Greatest Hits: Songs of Long Ago WA	03/1978
Thoroughbred WA	01/1976
Really Rosie WA	1975
Wrap Around Joy	09/1974
Fantasy WA	06/1973
Rhymes & Reasons WA	11/1972
Music WA	12/1971
Tapestry WA	03/1971
Writer WA	1970

While the landmark album Tapestry earned her superstar status, singer/songwriter Carole King had already firmly established herself as one of pop music's most gifted and successful composers, with work recorded by everyone from the Beatles to Aretha Franklin. Born Carole Klein on February 9, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York, she began playing piano at the age of four, and formed her first band, the vocal quartet the Co-Sines, while in high school. A devotee of the composing team of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller (the duo behind numerous hits for Elvis Presley, the Coasters, and Ben E. King), she became a fixture at influential DJ Alan Freed's local Rock 'n' Roll shows; while attending Queens College, she fell in with budding songwriters Paul Simon and Neil Sedaka as well as Gerry Goffin, with whom she forged a writing partnership.

In 1959, Sedaka scored a hit with "Oh! Carol," written in her honor; King cut an answer record, "Oh! Neil," but it stiffed. She and Goffin, who eventually married, began writing under publishers Don Kirshner and Al Nevins in the famed pop songwriting house the Brill Building, where they worked alongside the likes of Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and countless others. In 1961, Goffin and King scored their first hit with the Shirelles' chart-topping "Will You Love Me Tomorrow"; their next effort, Bobby Vee's "Take Good Care of My Baby," also hit number one, as did "The Locomotion," recorded by their baby-sitter, Little Eva. Together, the couple wrote over 100 chart hits in a vast range of styles, including the Chiffons' "One Fine Day," the Monkees' "Pleasant Valley Sunday," the Drifters' "Up on the Roof," the Cookies' "Chains" (later covered by the Beatles), Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman," and the Crystals' controversial "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)."

King also continued her attempts to mount a solo career, but scored only one hit, 1962's "It Might as Well Rain Until September." In the mid-'60s she, Goffin, and columnist Al Aronowitz founded their own short-lived label, Tomorrow Records; Charles Larkey, the bassist for the Tomorrow group The Myddle Class, eventually became King's second husband after her marriage to Goffin dissolved. She and Larkey later moved to the West Coast, where in 1968 they founded the City, a trio rounded out by New York musician Danny Kortchmar. The City recorded one LP, Now That Everything's Been Said, but did not tour due to King's stage fright; as a result, the album was a commercial failure, although it did feature songs later popularized by the Byrds ("Wasn't Born to Follow"), Blood, Sweat & Tears ("Hi-De-Ho"), and James Taylor ("You've Got a Friend").

Taylor and King ultimately became close friends, and he encouraged her to pursue a solo career. 1970's Writer proved a false start, but in 1971, she released Tapestry, which stayed on the charts for over six years and was the best-selling album of the era. A quiet, reflective work which proved seminal in the development of the singer/songwriter genre, Tapestry also scored a pair of hit singles, "So Far Away" and the chart-topping "It's Too Late," whose flip side, "I Feel the Earth Move," garnered major airplay as well. 1971's Music also hit number one, and generated the hit "Sweet Seasons"; 1972's Rhymes & Reasons reached number two on the charts, and 1974's Wrap Around Joy, which featured the hit "Jazzman," hit the number one spot.

In 1975, King and Goffin reunited to write Thoroughbred, which also featured contributions from James Taylor, David Crosby, and Graham Nash. After 1977's Simple Things, she mounted a tour with the backing group Navarro and married her frequent songwriting partner Rick Evers, who died a year later after a heroin overdose. 1980's Pearls, a collection of performances of songs written during her partnership with Goffin, was her last significant hit, and King soon moved to a tiny mountain village in Idaho, where she became active in the environmental movement. After 1983's Speeding Time, she took a six-year hiatus from recording before releasing City Streets, which featured guest Eric Clapton. In 2001, she returned with Love Makes the World, a self-released disc on her own Rockingale label. Four years passed before her next record, The Living Room Tour, a double disc set documenting her intimate 2004-05 tour that found her revisting songs from throughout her career with only her piano and acoustic guitars as accompaniment. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide