Carole King Biography Quotes 10 Report mistakes

Early Life and Musical Beginnings
Carole King was born Carol Joan Klein on February 9, 1942, in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She showed an early aptitude for the piano, developing a strong ear for harmony and song craft by her teens. In high school she wrote and recorded demos, building the confidence to approach the professional songwriting world. At Queens College in New York she met fellow student and lyricist Gerry Goffin, whose literary sensibility complemented her melodic instincts. The two married in 1959, beginning a partnership that would help define popular music in the 1960s.

Brill Building Songwriter Years
King and Goffin joined the Aldon Music stable overseen by publisher Don Kirshner, working in the Brill Building-era ecosystem alongside peers such as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, and Neil Diamond. In that environment King honed a disciplined approach to melody, arrangement, and piano voicings while Goffin supplied incisive lyrics. Their breakthrough came with Will You Love Me Tomorrow, recorded by the Shirelles in 1960, the first No. 1 pop hit by a girl group. The team followed with an extraordinary string of classics: Take Good Care of My Baby for Bobby Vee, Up on the Roof for the Drifters, One Fine Day for the Chiffons, Go Away Little Girl for Steve Lawrence, Pleasant Valley Sunday for the Monkees, and The Loco-Motion, a hit for Little Eva, who had worked as their babysitter. They also wrote (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman for Aretha Franklin, a title and concept suggested by producer Jerry Wexler. Kings gift for memorable chord progressions and empathetic melodies, paired with Goffins storytelling, became a signature sound of early 1960s pop and soul.

Transition to Artist and The City
As the decade progressed, King and Goffin grew apart personally even as the hits continued. After their divorce in 1968, King moved to Los Angeles and, with guitarist Danny Kortchmar and bassist Charles Larkey, formed the band The City. Their 1968 album introduced King as a performing artist, showcasing her hushed, intimate vocal style and personal songwriting. Though the record did not find a wide audience at the time, it pointed the way to her solo career and deepened her connections within the Laurel Canyon scene, where friendships with artists like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell proved influential.

Solo Breakthrough and Tapestry
King released her solo debut, Writer, in 1970, then reached a historic peak with Tapestry in 1971, produced by Lou Adler. The album distilled her strengths: direct, conversational lyrics, piano-driven arrangements, and melodies that felt both fresh and timeless. Tapestry included I Feel the Earth Move, So Far Away, and Its Too Late (with lyrics by Toni Stern), as well as Youve Got a Friend and her own versions of Will You Love Me Tomorrow and A Natural Woman. Friends including James Taylor lent support, and the records understated intimacy resonated with a broad audience. Tapestry spent months at No. 1, sold in the millions, and earned multiple Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for Its Too Late, while Youve Got a Friend won Song of the Year. Kings writing, once aimed primarily at other performers, had become the vehicle for her own voice, articulating independence and vulnerability for a new era of singer-songwriters.

1970s Productivity and Collaborations
Following Tapestry, King released a steady stream of albums, among them Music, Rhymes and Reasons, Fantasy, and Wrap Around Joy, which yielded hits like Jazzman and Nightingale. She often collaborated with trusted musicians such as Danny Kortchmar and worked closely with producer Lou Adler through much of the decade. James Taylor remained a frequent collaborator and friend; his recording of Youve Got a Friend became a signature, further highlighting Kings compositional range. Lyricist Toni Stern continued to contribute, and King alternated between deeply personal songs and pieces that showcased her pop instincts. Even as trends shifted, her core strengths - honest lyricism, rich piano voicings, and sophisticated but accessible song structures - kept her at the forefront of 1970s pop.

Personal Life and Resilience
King balanced artistry with family life. With Gerry Goffin she had two daughters, Louise and Sherry. After moving west she married Charles Larkey, with whom she had two more children, and later married Rick Evers and then Rick Sorenson. She wrote candidly about the challenges she faced, including domestic abuse during her brief marriage to Evers, in her memoir A Natural Woman. Seeking privacy and a closer connection to the land, she eventually settled in rural Idaho, where the landscape and solitude informed her later writing and activism.

Later Career, Activism, and Memoir
In the 1980s and 1990s King continued to record and perform, revisiting her early catalog on Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King and exploring contemporary textures on later albums. She remained a magnetic live presence, and her partnership with James Taylor periodically rekindled onstage, culminating in the Troubadour Reunion concerts that celebrated their shared history. Beyond music, King emerged as a notable advocate for environmental causes, especially the protection of wild lands in the Northern Rockies. She testified before lawmakers, lent her visibility to conservation campaigns, and used her songs to amplify messages about stewardship and community. Her memoir, published in 2012, offered a frank account of her formative years, creative partnerships, and hard-won independence, giving readers a window into the craft behind so many beloved songs.

Beautiful and Renewed Recognition
Kings life and catalog inspired Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, a stage production that traces her evolution from Brill Building writer to solo artist. Opening on Broadway in 2014, it introduced a new generation to the songs she created with Gerry Goffin and to the friends and rivals who populated that world, including Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Jessie Mueller, who portrayed King, won acclaim and a Tony Award, while King herself, initially reluctant to relive painful chapters, eventually embraced the shows celebration of her journey and the people who shaped it.

Honors and Legacy
Kings achievements have been recognized across decades. She entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame and, with Gerry Goffin, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 for their songwriting contributions; later, she was inducted again as a performer. She received the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, becoming the first woman to be so honored, and was celebrated at the Kennedy Center Honors. These accolades reflect the breadth of her impact: from crafting indelible hits for others to redefining the singer-songwriter archetype. Figures like Lou Adler, Don Kirshner, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Toni Stern, and her former partner Gerry Goffin were integral to that arc, but Kings singular voice - empathetic, harmonically rich, and emotionally plainspoken - is the through line.

Enduring Influence
Carole Kings songs remain part of the everyday soundtrack - sung at pianos, covered by artists across genres, and embedded in film, television, and the stage. Her capacity to write from within a characters heart, whether for the Shirelles, Aretha Franklin, the Monkees, or for herself, continues to guide songwriters who aim for clarity without cliche and depth without ornament. As a performer, writer, collaborator, mother, and advocate, she has sustained a career that hinges on honesty and craft. The people around her helped sharpen those gifts, but the work endures because it feels lived-in and true, capable of meeting listeners wherever they are and, as Youve Got a Friend promises, carrying them through.

Our collection contains 10 quotes who is written by Carole, under the main topics: Art - Music - Equality - Career.

Other people realated to Carole: B. B. King (Musician), Peter Tork (Musician), Peter Asher (Musician), Jake Epstein (Actor)