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IF I WAS A CARPENTER A Celebration of Karen Carpenter with biographer Lucy O'Brien At the Century Club - Soho W1 Wednesday 1st March 2023 - Doors at 6:30 pm, talk begins at 7 pm As one of the biggest-selling acts of the 1970s, The Carpenters - the sibling duo of Richard and Karen - created lush soundscapes of melodic pop, producing global hits like 'We've Only Just Begun', 'Top of the World' and 'Close to You’. Though rightly recognised as one of the greatest singers in popular music, Karen’s struggles with anorexia and her tragic early death at the age of just thirty-two in 1983 have often overshadowed her achievements. Forty years after her death, Lucy O’Brien, has written Lead Sister, a radical new biography of Karen Carpenter. In conversation with the author Travis Elborough, she’ll discuss the life and legacy of this troubled but extraordinarily talented artist, and a woman whose battles with mental health and eating disorders have astonishing resonance today. Tickets £12 - please click here to purchase Lucy O'Brien Dr Lucy O'Brien is a writer/academic and author of She Bop: The Definitive History of Women in Popular Music, Dusty: The Classic Biography and Madonna: Like an Icon, as well as co-authoring Skin's memoir, It Takes Blood and Guts. Lucy was a judge for the Penderyn Music Book Prize in 2018 and has contributed to numerous publications including Q, Mojo, NME, the Sunday Times, The Guardian, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire. She is also a TV/radio broadcaster, having co- produced Righteous Babes, the Channel 4 film about women in rock, and scripted the BBC Radio 2 series She Bop. Her PhD is on women's agency and power in popular music and, back in 1979/80, she played in all-female punk band, the Catholic Girls. ‘Bravo to one of the all-time best authors of our time: O’Brien delivers again. O’Brien removes the shackles of simplified myth to expose the innovator and trail blazer, while bravely examining the layered complications of family, fame, mental health and desire. I could not put it down.’ - Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, author of You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone: The Biography of Nico, and Being Britney |
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