KING, CAROLE

KING, CAROLE (Carole Klein; 1942– ), U.S. singer and songwriter. Born in Brooklyn, New York, King entered into a songwriting partnership with her husband Gerry Goffin (from whom she was divorced in 1968), and became part of one of the most successful songwriting teams of pop music of the early 1960s. They wrote such hit songs as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" (1960) for the Shirelles, "He's a Rebel" (1960) for the Chiffons, "The Locomotion" (1961) for Little Eva, "Go Away, Little Girl" (1962) for Steve Lawrence, "Up on the Roof " (1962) for the Drifters, "Take Good Care of My Baby" (1963) for Bobby Vee, "I'm into Something Good" (1964) for Herman's Hermits, "Natural Woman" (1965) for Aretha Franklin, and "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (1967) for the Monkees. She herself had a top-twenty hit during this period as well, "It Might As Well Rain until September" (1961), also co-written with Goffin. Soon after her divorce, King started a solo career as a recording artist. Her album Tapestry (1970) was one of the biggest-selling albums in pop music annals, with recorded worldwide sales of 20,000,000. It won a Grammy as Album of the Year, while one of its tracks, "It's Too Late," was voted Record of the Year; and another, "You've Got a Friend," was named Song of the Year; and she won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance – Female. King was the only woman to win all four awards. She went on to write and record such hit songs as "I Feel the Earth Move" (1971), "So Far Away" (1971), and "One Fine Day" (1980). King recorded more than 20 albums, as well as songs for such films as Head (1968), Pocket Money (1972), Murphy's Romance (1985), and A League of Their Own (Grammy nomination for Best Song, "Now and Forever," 1992). For television, she wrote the music for the TV special Really Rosie (1975); the theme for the series The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (1990–92); the title song for the TV movie Freedom Song (Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music and Lyrics, 2000); and she sang her song "Where You Lead," the opening theme of the series Gilmore Girls (2000). On Broadway, three original musical revues have featured her songs: Rock 'n Roll\! The First 5,000 Years (1982); Andre De Shield's Haarlem Nocturne (1984); and Uptown… It's Hot\! (1986). She also performed in the musical Blood Brothers (1993). In 1990, King (with Gerry Goffin) was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2001 she was one of three recipients of the New York chapter of the Recording Academy's New York Heroes Award. And in 2004, King and Goffin were awarded the Grammy's Trustees Award for their contributions to the music industry. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Perone, Carole King: A Bio-bibliography (1999); M. Cohen and G. Shaw, Carole King: A Biography in Words and Pictures (1976); P. Taylor, Carole King (1976). (Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)