Happy birthday, Carole King (born on his day in 1942)!

Best Sheet Music download from our Library.

Please, subscribe to our Library.

If you are already a subscriber, please, check our NEW SCORES’ page every month for new sheet music. THANK YOU!

Carole King (short biography)

Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. One of the most successful songwriters in American history, she wrote or co-wrote 118 pop hits appearing on the Billboard Hot 100 over the latter half of the 20th century.

Carole King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1962 and 2005.

King’s major success began in the 1960s when she and her first husband, Gerry Goffin, wrote more than two dozen chart hits, many of which have become standards, for numerous artists. She has continued writing for other artists since then. King’s success as a performer in her own right did not come until the 1970s, when she sang her own songs, accompanying herself on the piano, in a series of albums and concerts. After experiencing commercial disappointment with her debut album Writer, King scored her breakthrough with the album Tapestry, which topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks in 1971 and remained on the charts for more than six years.

Carole King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry, which held the record for most weeks at No. 1 by a female artist for more than 20 years. Her record sales were estimated at more than 75 million copies worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She has been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a performer and songwriter. She is the recipient of the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the first woman to be so honored. She is also a 2015 Kennedy Center Honoree.

Carole King Discography (on Wikipedia)

An all-star roster of artists paid tribute to King on the 1995 album Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King. From the album, Rod Stewart’s version of “So Far Away” and Celine Dion’s recording of “A Natural Woman” were both Adult Contemporary chart hits. Other artists who appeared on the album included Amy Grant (“It’s Too Late”), Richard Marx (“Beautiful”), Aretha Franklin (“You’ve Got a Friend”), Faith Hill (“Where You Lead”), and the Bee Gees (“Will You Love Me Tomorrow?”).

Former Monkee Micky Dolenz released King for a Day, a tribute album consisting of songs written or co-written by King, in 2010. The album includes “Sometime in the Morning”, a King-penned song originally recorded by the Monkees in 1967. Dolenz had previously recorded another of King’s Monkees compositions, “Porpoise Song”, on his lullaby-themed CD Micky Dolenz Puts You to Sleep.

Many other cover versions of King’s work have appeared over the years. Among the most notable are:

"You've Got a Friend" was a No. 1 hit for James Taylor in 1971 and a Top 40 hit for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway that same year.
Barbra Streisand had a top 40 hit in 1972 with "Where You Lead" twice—by itself and as part of a live medley with "Sweet Inspiration".
"Locomotion" was recorded by Grand Funk in 1974 and went to Number 1.
Helen Reddy covered two Carole King penned tunes: the first was "No Sad Song" in 1971 (number 62); the second was "I Can't Hear You No More" in 1976, combined with "Music Is My Life" to reach number 29.
The Carpenters recorded King's "It's Going to Take Some Time" in 1972 and reached number 12 on the Billboard charts.
Martika had a number 25 hit in 1989 with her version of "I Feel the Earth Move".
"It's Too Late" reappeared on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1995 by Gloria Estefan.
Linda Ronstadt recorded a new version of "Oh No Not My Baby" in 1993, reaching number 35 on the AC Chart the next year.[106]
Celine Dion recorded King's song "The Reason" on her 1997 album Let's Talk About Love with Carole King singing backup. The remake was certified Diamond in France.
"Where You Lead" (lyrics by Toni Stern), re-recorded to include King's daughter, became the title song of the TV show Gilmore Girls.
The Crusaders had an instrumental hit with "So Far Away", rising to number 39 in 1972 on the AC Chart.
"Locomotion" was recorded by Kylie Minogue, having success and starting off a long career in the music industry.

In 1996, a film very loosely based on King’s life, Grace of My Heart, was written and directed by Allison Anders. In the film, an aspiring singer sacrifices her own singing career to write hit songs that launch the careers of other singers. Mirroring King’s life, the film follows her from her first break, through the pain of rejection from the recording industry and a bad marriage, to her final triumph in realizing her dream to record her own hit album.

The story includes material and characters loosely based on King’s songwriting colleagues, as well as the singers for whom they wrote their material, and various producers involved in the creative environment that existed at the Brill Building from 1958 to 1964 and in the California music scene from 1965 to 1971.

Carole King Greatest Hits

[00:00:00] – 01. I Feel the Earth Move [00:03:00] – 02. You’ve Got a Friend [00:08:10] – 03. U̲̲̲p O̲̲̲n T̲he̲̲ R̲o̲̲o̲̲f [00:10:45] – 04. S̲o̲̲ F̲a̲̲r A̲̲̲wa̲̲y [00:15:58] – 05. T̲he̲̲ L̲o̲̲co̲̲-mo̲̲ti̲̲o̲̲n [00:18:29] – 06. S̲we̲̲e̲̲t B̲a̲̲by J̲a̲̲me̲̲s [00:21:20] – 07. I̲̲̲ F̲e̲̲e̲̲l T̲he̲̲ E̲̲̲a̲̲rth M̲o̲̲ve̲̲

Browse in the Library: