He had numerous roles in the Carpenters, including record producer, arranger, pianist, keyboardist, and songwriter, as well as joining with Karen on harmony vocals.

Harold was born in China, where his own parents were missionaries, and was educated at boarding schools in England,[5] before working in the printing business.

[8] Richard was introduced to Perry Como and Ella Fitzgerald, among many others through his father's record collection,[9] and by age 12, he knew he wanted to be in the music business.

[12] At Long Beach, Richard also met Gary Sims, Dan Woodhams, and Doug Strawn, who later became members of the Carpenters’ live band.

In 1966, the Richard Carpenter Trio played "Iced Tea" and "The Girl from Ipanema" at the Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands.

They won the competition, and shortly afterward recorded three songs at RCA Studios: "Every Little Thing", "Strangers in the Night", and the Carpenter original, "Iced Tea".

[citation needed] In 1967, Richard and John Bettis worked briefly at Disneyland but were fired for performing modern pop music instead of the turn-of-the-century songs they were hired to play.

In the same year, Richard, Karen, and Bettis joined three other student musicians (Leslie Johnson, Gary Sims and Danny Woodhams) from Long Beach State to form a sextet, Spectrum.

Although Spectrum played frequently at LA-area nightclubs such as Whisky a Go Go, they met with an unenthusiastic response—their broad harmonies and avoidance of rock 'n' roll limited the band's commercial potential.

In a similar vein to Spectrum, the group was also short-lived, but produced "Don't be Afraid", "All of My Life" and several other songs that appeared on the Carpenters' debut album.

Alpert suggested that the Carpenters record a Burt Bacharach and Hal David song called "(They Long to Be) Close to You" written in 1963.

The song also successfully launched the careers of Nichols and Williams, who went on to write multiple hits for the Carpenters and many other artists.

Author James Gavin noted in his New York Times review of Randy L. Schmidt's biography Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter (2010):[5] "His mother is said to have given him his first pill,"[4] an observation that was previously portrayed in the CBS-TV television film The Karen Carpenter Story (1989) and commented on in several of that made-for-TV movie's reviews, which also noted that Agnes (their mother) had been taking them under prescription and thus thought they were safe.

A reviewer of the BBC biopic Only Yesterday: The Carpenters Story (2007) notes: "As their fame grew, cracks began to show in their wholesome facade.

[19]Nick Talevski similarly observes in Rock Obituaries – Knocking on Heaven's Door (2010): "Constantly on the road since 1970 with their Vegas-style act, both Karen and Richard Carpenter were in ill health by late 1975.

Lyrics include: Our hearts were filled with music and laughter, Your voice will be the sweetest sound I'll ever hear and yet, We knew somehow the song would never end, When time was all we had to spend.

Carpenter funds an annual scholarship/talent show for people with artistic abilities that is held at the Thousand Oaks Civic Center.

[31] Her brother, Mark Rudolph, was the Carpenters' road manager as well as the radio call-in "contestant" in the [Oldies] "Medley" on the album Now & Then (1973).

A young Mary made a cameo appearance in the Carpenters' promotional video for the song "I Need to Be in Love" (1976).

Goldmine said the book "provided a candid and detailed look at much of what went into the Carpenters sound as well as Richard's personal thoughts on the music business today.