Natural Woman

She is a Natural.  It was inborn.  She had the gift from the beginning.

It’s called Temperament.

She is a Songbird, and a Natural Woman.

It is embedded in the warp and woof of her make, she is a Tapestry.

Ever changing and ever staying the same.  Many hues and colors, textures, and feelings.

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This extreme concreteness and specificity seems to come naturally to the ISFP [Composer Artisan] and is embedded “in the warp and woof of the man’s make.” [Please Understand Me, page 205]

A Natural Woman: A Memoir

Carole King, Composer Artisan, (born February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, her Tapestry album topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks in 1971, and remained on the charts for more than six years. She was most successful as a performer in the first half of the 1970s, although she was a successful songwriter long before and long after. She had her first number 1 hit as a songwriter in 1960 at age 18, with “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”, which she wrote with Goffin.  She was named the most successful female songwriter of 1955–99.

King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry. Her most recent non-compilation album is Live at the Troubadour, a collaboration with James Taylor, which reached number 4 on the charts in its first week, and has sold over 600,000 copies.  She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting. [Wikipedia, revised]

“When a person is creative you must write, it just comes through you…”

‘While she has shown the public her musical genius for decades, she shows her human side in detail as well in her first autobiography, “A Natural Woman: A Memoir.”  In the book King, 70, talks openly about not only her musical career, but also the happy times and struggles of several marriages. For example, her first husband, fellow song-writer Gerry Goffn, took LSD and battled mental illness, she said, while her third husband, Rick Evers, physically abused her before his death from an apparent cocaine overdose.  And in this book where she confesses as much about her life as about those close to her, the generally level-headed King admits she smoked marijuana early in her musical career.  She also mentions her mostly joyful times as the mother of four children, her support of liberal political and environmental issues, her search for spiritual meaning evolving from her Jewish heritage, and the court battles she and fourth husband Rick Sorensen fought in the 1980s to keep the road through their Idaho property private.’

Born Carol Klein, she had learned to play the piano from her mother, whose Russian-born mother thought owning and playing a piano indicated status.  King’s talent demonstrated itself early on, and she was signed to a musical contract and became a professional songwriter while still a teenager.  She was part of the legendary songwriting teams from the Brill Building which were the most prolific of the rock & roll era. Teams such as Goffin and King, Greenfield and Sedaka, and Mann and Weil focused songs on teenage experiences with lyrics that were believable, romantic and melodramatic, while the music was a simple melodic voice.  She was there when rock ‘n’ roll was in its infancy.

“I just do what I do and assume it’s going to be well received if I’m good at it.”

More than the other ArtisansComposers are in tune with their senses, and so have a sure grasp of what belongs, and what doesn’t belong, in all kinds of works of art. While the other Artisans are skilled with people, tools, and entertainment, Composers have an exceptional ability-seemingly inborn-to work with subtle differences in color, tone, texture, aroma, and flavor.

Although Composers often put long, lonely hours into their artistry, they are just as impulsive as the other Artisans. They do not wait to consider their moves; rather, they act in the here and now, with little or no planning or preparation. Composers are seized by the act of artistic composition, as if caught up in a whirlwind. The act is their master, not the reverse. Composers paint or sculpt, they dance or skate, they write melodies or make recipes-or whatever-simply because they must. They climb the mountain because it is there. [Please Understand Me II]

“It was put on me. I never accepted it. I just did what I did.”

As King’s musical career developed, her desire to record her own material or perform live as the featured entertainer did not, however. But with the help of longtime pal James Taylor, she was convinced to perform “Up on the Roof” during one of his concerts, and the rest is history.  Overcoming her fears indirectly resulted in the recording of “Tapestry” in 1971. It would go on to become one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed pop albums of all time and would bring her four Grammy Awards.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7404928n

I’ve always tried to do what I feel. I feel in touch with the music of this generation. — Carole King

2 thoughts on “Natural Woman”

  1. I adore her, one of my favorite songwriters and even though she never considered herself a fine singer I thoroughly enjoy her own renditions, she has of all the singers, the most songs by her (and others versions), on my ipod. The world is a more beautiful place for Ms King.

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