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Karen Carpenter Death: American Singer Died Of Heart Failure In 1983

Audiences are eager to know more about Karen Carpenter Death. We shall all always remember her in our hearts.

Karen Anne Carpenter and her older brother Richard formed the singing and drumming duo known as The Carpenters, one of the most successful American musical groups of all time.

She stood out among her peers, who praised her vocal prowess thanks to her three-octave contralto range.

Carpenter left her hometown of New Haven, Connecticut, in 1963 and relocated to Downey, California, with her family. She joined the Long Beach State Chorus and began learning the drums after high school.

After several years of touring and recording, The Carpenters were signed to A&M Records in 1969; they went on to experience enormous economic and critical success throughout the 1970s.

Carpenter, initially the only drummer for the group, gradually changed into the band’s frontwoman as her drumming duties were confined to a few live shows or album tracks.

After that, she started to receive comments about how she looked all the time and developed anorexia as a coping mechanism for the overwhelming pressure to look skinny on stage.

Karen Carpenter Death: American Singer Died Of Heart Failure In 1983

Karen started dieting when she was still a senior in high school. On the advice of her doctors, she began the Stillman diet, which called for only eating lean meals, drinking eight glasses of water each day, and avoiding fatty foods.

Her weight dropped to 120 pounds until 1973 when the Carpenters’ fame peaked (8 st 8 lb). Later, she discovered a photo of herself from a concert that suggested she was “heavy.”

She hired a personal trainer who suggested she change her diet, but instead of reducing weight, she gained muscle, creating the impression that she was more extensive. Karen let her trainer go and began her calorie-counting diet.

Karen Carpenter Death
Karen Carpenter died of heart failure at the age of 32. (Source: Rockandrollgarage)

After promptly reducing 20 pounds (1 st 6 kg), she intended to lose additional weight. Because of her eating habits, she frequently gave food to others to get it off her plate.

In 1975, she was barely 6 st 7 lb. Some admirers saw and wrote to the couple to find out if there were any issues. When she hid her illness from the public in 1981, she insisted that she was “just pooped.”

Later, Richard claimed that neither he nor his parents could help her. She informed Richard that she was anorexic and needed assistance. She decided to consult New York City psychotherapist Steven Levenkron.

In the 1980s, Karen also started taking thyroid replacement treatment, which increases metabolism, and laxatives, which speed up the passage of food.

She lost more weight even though her health got worse. In September 1982, she was transported to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, where she was put on an intravenous drip.

After the successful treatment, she started gaining weight, which strained her heart. She could keep a healthy weight after that for the rest of her life.

On January 11, 1983, Karen made her final public appearance at a gathering of previous Grammy Award winners. She seemed frail but happy, friend Dionne Warwick recounted, urging everyone to look at her.

Karen and Richard Carpenter February 1, 1974. (Source: Freedrum rocks)

Karen chatted with her brother about the next Carpenters record on February 1, 1983, the final time she saw him. On February 4, she collapsed in her bedroom at her parent’s residence.

The paramedics reported that her heart was beating once every 10 seconds, and at 9.51 am, she passed away at Downey Community Hospital.

After an autopsy ruled out the usage of narcotics or a prescription overdose, the cause of death was given as “emetine cardiotoxicity due to or as a consequence of anorexia nervosa.”

At 1,110 milligrams per deciliter, her blood sugar level was more than ten times the national norm.

The coroner attributed Carpenter’s heart failure to her frequent use of ipecac syrup, an over-the-counter emetic intended to cause vomiting.

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