‘Voice of the Heart’ and Karen Carpenter’s courageous swan song
Karen Carpenter is widely regarded as one of the best and one of the most tragic. When talking about true virtuosos, true musical geniuses, her name has to, and should always, come up. First, it was her drumming abilities, which were quickly spotted as a truly prodigious level of talent. Then, when she opened her mouth, it was clear her talent went far beyond that. She was a singular, one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-lifetime talent, and she was gone all too soon.
Carpenter’s name rightfully comes up in those conversations about music genius, but it also comes up in another. Her story has become a cautionary tale but also a stark reminder, again and again, that artists keep being failed. Her name finds its way into discourse often when it becomes clear that a musician is struggling, yet nothing appears to be done, often being brought up when people reflect on Amy Winehouse’s story, too.
Really, Carpenter tragically died in plain sight. As the fame her talent deservedly earned her became piling on top of her, leaving her feeling stuck and scared under the pressure, the stress led her to relapse into a life-long struggle with anorexia that she never recovered from. For years, though her career kept going on and she kept sharing her skills with the world, everyone was watching her grow weaker and weaker.
She never acknowledged it, and beyond fans reacting with shock and fear, neither did anyone around her. It was only after her death that the Carpenter family addressed the situation, admitting with distress that they simply did not know how to help Karen.
Perhaps the most tragic thing of all was that before her death, Carpenter had seemingly begun to actually make some what of a recovery. She’d completed treatment at a hospital, gained a healthy weight, and according to her friend, Dionne Warwick, she was in good spirits, telling her that she had “a lot of living left to do” and was working on music again.
Voice Of The Heart would capture some of that. ‘Now’ and ‘You’re Enough’ were both recorded during this period, where Carpenter was finding her feet again, making both the tracks incredibly moving. The lyrics the band wrote for her to sing seem to beautifully, yet tragically, reflect the moment as ‘Now’ sees her singing “You gave me the courage I need to win,” and ‘You’re Enough’ is essentially an entire song of positive affirmations, as if the band wanted Karen to sing them and hear them.
Sadly though, the album was doomed to be a posthumous release as Carpenter passed in February 1983, before the band made the decision to release the album, built from studio takes and demos from the last few years, in October.
Carpenter’s death, after so many years of rumours and whisperings about her condition, was naturally a media storm. Suddenly, it felt as though her entire legacy was destined to be purely a tragic one overshadowed by her anorexia. Her brother and bandmate, Richard Carpenter, was determined not to let that happen, so mostly Voice Of The Heart is a reclaimation of who Karen was, which was first and foremost an exceptionally talented woman and one that was far, far more than just her struggles.
