Carole King Biography

By the time her album Tapestry rocketed her to fame in 1971, singer/songwriter Carole King had already earned a reputation as one of music’s most successful and talented composers. King formed her first band while still in high school, having learned to play the piano at age four. While still a young woman, King forged a writing partnership with Gerry Goffin, and together they wrote the Shirelle’s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow, which hit the charts in 1961. Bobby Vee’s "Take Good Care of My Baby," followed, and together Carole King and Goffin composed more than one hundred chart hits which crossed over a variety of different styles.

But Tapestry, Carole King’s crowning achievement, was the best selling album of the era and remained for more than six years on the charts.  “So Far Away,” “It’s Too Late, and “I Feel the Earth Move” were some of the major hits off the album.
Carole King followed Tapestry with Music, which also hit number one and offered the single “Sweet Seasons.” Rhymes and Reasons, in 1972, and Wrap Around Joy, In 1974, both hit the charts at number two and number one respectively.

Pearls, released in 1980, featured a collection of works written with Goffin, and shortly thereafter, Carole King moved to Idaho to live in a small mountain village. Carole King has since become very active in politics, particularly politics related to the environmental movement. King has worked with the Alliance for the Wild Rockies in an effort to pass the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA), even testifying on Capital Hill three times on its behalf. King is a politically active member of the Democratic Party, and has even discussed her views in a variety of forums, including a March 18th, 2008 episode of The Colbert Report.

In 2013, Carole King became the subject of the Tony-award winning Broadway musical, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Starring Jessie Mueller in the show’s first run, Beautiful premiered in previews in late 2013 and continues to run to this day. A few years later, the show branched to performances around the world in other major cities, and in 2017, the show went on international tour.

Today, Carole King’s legacy includes not only the writing or co-writing of more than 100 hits on the Billboard charts, but also twenty-five solo albums, Tapestry being the most successful. King has been indicted into both the Songwriters and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has earned four Grammy Awards. In 2015, she was recognized as a Kennedy Center Honoree, and in 2016, she performed at the British Summer Times Festival in London, performing all tracks from her Tapestry album live, for the first time. Most recently, King, a long-time political advocate, marched in the international 2017 Women’s March, carrying a simple sign, reading “One Small Voice.”