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| Carole King |
Last week as I watched the CBS Morning Show, Singer/Songwriter Carole King was interviewed by Gail King and Charlie Rose. Ms. King, who turned seventy years old two months ago, has written a book appropriately entitled, “A Natural Woman.” In the year 2000, Joel Whitburn, a Billboard Magazine pop music researcher, named her the most successful female songwriter of 1955-1999, because she wrote or co-wrote 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Most songwriters would be happy with one or two songs to be considered hits, but 118? That number is inconceivable but speaks of the tremendous success Carole King has achieved. The interview was great because there is so much more about Carole King’s life than music. She views music as her job with her family being more important. Carole King really is a wonderful, down-to-earth person. My wife, who is a fan of King’s music as well, told me an amusing but eye-opening story about Carole King’s music. She was approached by a client who happened to be named Carole King. When my wife saw the name she joked with the lady and a work mate that she was working with Carole King. The woman stated that most of her life she has heard a lot of jokes about sharing her name with the musical artist. Then both she and my wife started to playfully mention song titles by King. “I feel the earth move” and “You’ve got a friend“, back and forth with song titles they went until a younger co-worker came over to see what was going on. My wife explained that she was helping the client named Carole King like the singer, but the young woman had no idea who she was talking about. Wow! Some of you reading this blog entry may also not know anything about Carole King. However, after viewing a short discography you will most likely recognize more than a few of the songs she has written throughout the years. I feel that even the young woman without knowledge of King speaking with my wife would recognize some song titles after a while. Not only has King enjoyed a successful career as a performer, her songs have been recorded by a Hall of Fame cast of musicians. Some of the songs have been hits by several different performers proving to be timeless works of art. The book is definitely going to be one of my “must-read” books this year and should be for any aspiring songwriter. Carole King has written so many hits I was torn as to which song to include as a music video. Then I thought, what better song choice but the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin’s performance of “A Natural Woman”. No other words are necessary.