The Words and Music of Carole King

After collaborating with Paul Simon in high school, and composing hits for The Shirelles, Aretha Franklin, The Monkees, Blood, Sweat and Tears, and other artists throughout the 1960s, Carole King launched herself into the spotlight with the 1971 album "Tapestry".

The album sold over 22 million copies, and was seen by many as one of the most important feminist statements of the day.

This social statement lay not so much in the words or the music that King wrote as in the fact that King wrote, sang, played, and controlled her product.

Tapestry and her subsequent albums are discussed in the course of this volume, along with songs covered and performed by other artists.

In 1988, the National Academy of Songwriters presented King and her one-time husband and collaborator Gerry Goffin with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Goffin and King were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Frame as non-performers in 1990.

Carole King was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986.

Over the past fifteen years, her music for films has won her a new generation of fans. This long overdue examination will allow readers the chance to see how King has developed over time, what her work means to other contemporary performers, and what it has meant to American music at large over the past 50 years.

The work concludes with an annotated bibliography, an annotated discography, and a general index.