Is Karen Carpenter pop music’s saddest story?

Karen Carpenter died 40 years ago at the age of 32, a life mapped out in a new biography by Lucy O’Brien called Lead Sister. It’s a chilling, cautionary tale of how she and her brother became international stars and the devastating personal repercussions that were the consequence. Our conversation with Lucy covers the waterfront and includes …

… the perils of “helicopter parents”.

… why Richard was “The Chosen One”.

… a disastrous association with Nixon.

… destabilising press comments about weight issues and her “milksop presence”.

… what Hal Blaine said about her mother.

... the night she met Elvis.

… what singers need to survive.

… the private bebop language she invented.

… “Drummers are like hockey goalies. No-one knows how to talk to them apart from another drummer.”

… the howling disaster of her solo album.

… and what she discovered about her husband three days before she was due to marry him.

Lead Sister by Lucy O’Brien …