Carole King

Carole Klein was born in Brooklyn, New York. 

In 1958, during her student days, she met lyricist Gerry Goffin, whom she later married. The duo made a name for themselves during the Brill Building era of pop, operating just around the corner from the building itself at 1650 Broadway. The pair became a virtual songwriting machine, with artists queuing up to record their tunes as they came off the production line.

During 1962 - at the tender age of 20 - King recorded a worldwide hit of her own in It Might As Well Rain Until September for the Dimension label. 

Goffin and King effectively were Dimension Records. Even though it was songwriter-publisher Don Kirshner who launched the label in 1962, the first release - Little Eva's The Loco-motion - was penned by King and her partner and featured Carole on backing vocals. Hardly surprising, since Eva was Carole's babysitter!

In 1968, King and second husband, bassist Charles Larkey, linked with guitarist Danny Korchmar to form The City - a short-lived project - and recorded the album Now That Everything's Been Said. 

For many though, the first real Carole King album was 1971's Tapestry. If she had done nothing else apart from that one album, she would still retain superstar status. That album alone sold around 20 million copies worldwide and spent an astonishing 302 weeks in the US chart (topping it for 15). The post-Woodstock generation, largely unexposed to the thrill of Brill, suddenly discovered a new heroine via a superb LP without a single filler-track.