By Howard Campbell—
Joanna Marie
Lush arrangements by older brother Richard and the soothing vocals of sister Karen helped make The Carpenters purveyors of what became known as blue-eyed soul.
The duo were popular globally during the 1970s.
On Karen Carpenter tribute album, singer Joanna Marie pays tribute to one of her biggest influences by covering 10 of The Carpenters’ biggest hit songs.
The album is scheduled for release on June 2, but its lead single, There’s A Kind of Hush, was released April 14. They are co-produced by Joanna Marie and her husband, singer/musician Ed Robinson.
“I am big fan of Karen Carpenter. I remember when I was a little girl, dancing and imitating her, singing some of her hits. This project took five months, from start to finish. It was not a hard project as we already knew exactly what we were going to do and started to lay down the elements,” she explained.
Sing, For All we Know, Rainy Days And Mondays, Goodbye to Love, and Top of The World are some of the other songs on the Karen Carpenter tribute album, all done in reggae.
Joanna Marie played keyboards on the songs, while Robinson handled drum, bass and guitar duties.
Along with Carole King, Bread and The Bee Gees, The Carpenters defined the blue-eyed soul movement that emerged in the early 1970s. Karen Carpenter was also a respected session drummer before focusing on her vocals.
She died at age 32 in 1983 from a heart attack resulting from an eating disorder.
Joanna Marie, who is based in South Florida, has been recording songs as a singer and musician since her teens. The Karen Carpenter tribute album is her second album, the first being Simply Irresistible, which came out in 1999.
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