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Carole King
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Carole King was born in Manhattan in 1942 as Carol Joan Klein. In 1959 she married the lyricist Gerry Goffin. Together they wrote hit after hit for other artists in the early 1960s: King the music, Goffin the lyrics. Later King herself became one of the best-known singer-songwriters of the 1970s. In this way she bridges two ways of working: the hit factory, in which writers and singers were separate, and the artist who sings her own songs.
Music and breakthrough
Will You Love Me Tomorrow (1960) became a number 1 for The Shirelles, The Loco-Motion a hit for Little Eva, and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman they wrote for Aretha Franklin. After her divorce from Goffin in 1968 King moved to Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles. She played in the trio The City and made the solo album Writer (1970). Then came Tapestry (1971), with her own piano as its foundation. The album spent fifteen weeks at number 1 in America, remained on the album chart for almost six years and won four Grammys. It's Too Late, with lyrics by Toni Stern, won the Grammy for Record of the Year.
Influence
On Tapestry King also sings her own versions of songs she had previously written for others, such as Will You Love Me Tomorrow and A Natural Woman. You've Got a Friend from the same album became a number 1 for James Taylor in 1971. In 1990 King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a songwriter together with Goffin, and in 2021 once more as a performer. Since 2014 the Broadway musical Beautiful has told her life story.
Listening
It's Too Late · Carole King, 1971Apple Music ↗
Discography
Studio albums
- 1970Writer
- 1971Music
- 1971Tapestry
- 1972Rhymes & Reasons
- 1973Fantasy
- 1974Wrap Around Joy
- 1975Really Rosie (soundtrack)
- 1975Thoroughbred
- 1977Simple Things
- 1978Welcome Home
- 1979Touch the Sky
- 1980Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King
- 1982One to One
- 1983Speeding Time
- 1989City Streets
- 1993Colour of Your Dreams
- 1995Carol Anne King, Vol. 1
- 2001Love Makes The World
- 2011A Holiday Carole
- 2014Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (soundtrack)
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 10: Women in Pop MusicNL Reader
- Mixtape 12: The Hit FactoryNL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Brill Building and girl groups Genre
In the late 1950s young songwriting duos worked in small rooms with a piano in and around the Brill Building on Broadway, such as Carole King and Gerry Goffin, and wrote about what concerned teenagers.
- Singer-songwriters Genre
Carole King moved from the Brill Building to Los Angeles; her Tapestry (1971) became one of the best-selling albums of the 1970s.
- The Loco-Motion Song
Eva Boyd was the babysitter of Carole King and Gerry Goffin.