Synopses & Reviews
Little Girl Blue is an intimate profile of Karen Carpenter, a girl from a modest Connecticut upbringing who became a Southern California superstar.
Karen was the instantly recognizable lead singer of the Carpenters. The top-selling American musical act of the 1970s, they delivered the love songs that defined a generation. Little Girl Blue reveals Karens heartbreaking struggles with her mother, brother, and husband; the intimate disclosures she made to her closest friends; her love for playing drums and her frustrated quest for solo stardom; and the ups and downs of her treatment for anorexia nervosa. After her shocking death at 32 years of age in 1983, she became the proverbial poster child for that disorder; but the other causes of her decline are laid bare for the first time in this moving account.
Little Girl Blue is Karen Carpenters definitive biography, based on exclusive interviews with her innermost circle of girlfriends and nearly 100 others, including childhood friends, professional associates, and lovers.
Review
"Karen Carpenter was a great, natural singer who made things sound beautifully simple, and her story deserves to be told." Burt Bacharach
Review
"[A] heart-rending biography . . . The author relates Karens story in writing as fluid and affectless as her singing . . . As Schmidt details Karens unstoppable fall, Little Girl Blue becomes one of the saddest tales in pop . . . This compassionate book gives a tortured waif the third dimension she deserved." —New York Times Book Review
Review
“Who was the ‘real Judy Garland—the diminutive woman who lived a life away from the camera? Judy Garland on Judy Garland is an intriguing and seductive look at the icon through the eyes of the fragile woman who lived in the shadow of her own stardom. At last, we can read what Judy Garland thought of her talents, her struggles, her achievements, and her life. This is the true story of an international superstar whom the public never really knew. Flirtatious, defiant, sympathetic, contradictory, funny, sad, and charming—Judy Garland.” —Michael Gregg Michaud, author of Sal Mineo: A Biography
Review
“The Holy Grail for fans of Judy Garland! Randy L. Schmidt is the Indiana Jones of Garland archeology. Never before has Judy been given such a laser-focused spotlight to speak for herself—and like her greatest musical performances, she takes center stage and wows us with every phrase. Careening from the hilarious to the gut-wrenching, Judy will charm your socks off! This book is not just over the rainbow, its out of the world!” —Sam Irvin, author of Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise
Review
“Heartbreaking. . . . Schmidt succeeds in bringing a gifted, troubled musician to vivid life.” —People
Review
Told with compassion and understanding, this poignant and richly fascinating story of Karen Carpenter reads more like a novel you cant put down than the extensively and impeccably researched biography it actually is.” David Kaufman, author of Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door
Synopsis
Little Girl Blue is an intimate profile of Karen Carpenter, a girl from a modest Connecticut upbringing who became a Southern California superstar.
Karen was the instantly recognizable lead singer of the Carpenters. The top-selling American musical act of the 1970s, they delivered the love songs that defined a generation. Little Girl Blue reveals Karen s heartbreaking struggles with her mother, brother, and husband; the intimate disclosures she made to her closest friends; her love for playing drums and her frustrated quest for solo stardom; and the ups and downs of her treatment for anorexia nervosa. After her shocking death at 32 years of age in 1983, she became the proverbial poster child for that disorder; but the other causes of her decline are laid bare for the first time in this moving account.
Little Girl Blue is Karen Carpenter s definitive biography, based on exclusive interviews with her innermost circle of girlfriends and nearly 100 others, including childhood friends, professional associates, and lovers."
Synopsis
An intimate profile of one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century, this first full-length biography of Karen Carpenter details every aspect of her life, from her modest Connecticut upbringing and her rise to stardom in southern California to the real story of her tragic, untimely death. This illuminating depiction of a 1970s icon covers her time as lead singer of the Carpentersthe top-selling American musical act of the decadeand provides insight into their string of 16 consecutive top-20 hits, including "Close to You," "We've Only Just Begun," "Top of the World," and "Superstar," as well as a critical review of her aborted solo career. A behind-the-scenes look into the life of a superstar, from the prolific recordings and the relentless touring to the awards, fame, and fortune, this history also chronicles her struggle with anorexia nervosa and gives important new details from her autopsy that shed new light on her death at age 32. Groups such as Sonic Youth and the Corrs and artists including k. d. lang and Madonna have cited Karen Carpenter among their major influences, and this definitive biography, based on exclusive interviews with nearly 100 of her friends and associates, is a testament to her brief yet remarkable life.
Synopsis
Judy Garland on Judy Garland is the closest we will come to experiencing and exploring the legends planned autobiography. Collecting and presenting the most important Garland interviews and encounters that took place between 1935 and 1969, this work opens with her first radio appearance under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and concludes with her last known interview, one taped for Radio Denmark just months before her death. What makes this collection unique is that it places Judy in the role of storyteller. She wrote a number of essays for various publications and sat for countless print, radio, and television interviews. These and other autobiographical efforts she made are proof that Judy Garland wanted her story told in her own words. Finally, 45 years after her death, here it is.
About the Author
Randy L. Schmidt compiled and edited Yesterday Once More and served as creative consultant for several television documentaries on the Carpenters, including the E! True Hollywood Story, A&Es Biography, and VH1s Behind the Music.
Dionne Warwick is a popular American singer, an actress, and activist; a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization; and the former United States Ambassador of Health.