100 Best Albums
- FEB 10, 1971
- 12 Songs
- Tapestry · 1971
- Tapestry · 1971
- Tapestry · 1971
- Tapestry · 1971
- Tapestry · 1971
- Tapestry · 1971
- Tapestry · 1971
- Tapestry · 1971
- Love Makes the World · 2001
- Tapestry · 1971
Essential Albums
- 100 Best Albums It would all sound trite, if it weren’t so true: In the late 1960s, a seasoned professional New York songsmith moves to Laurel Canyon, finds her voice in a whole new way, and emerges with one of the biggest records of the 1970s. That’s the shorthand history behind Carole King’s 1971 hit Tapestry, an iconic entry in the canon of genre-agnostic singer-songwriters, and the album that marked the dawning of King’s second act. Working alongside like-minded West Coast artists James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, the hitmaking singer narrowed her scope, stripping down and getting personal as a songwriter and a performer—and, in doing so, creating a timeless standard for confessional expression. In a decade dominated by monolithic pop albums, Tapestry became one of the biggest, eventually selling more than 14 million copies. Even before the album’s release, King had helped reshape American pop music as a songwriter, her work often speaking for women as a group: She articulated previously masked vulnerability on The Shirelles’ “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” and expressed daring, earthy sensuality on Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman.” But on Tapestry, her second album as a soloist, King reclaims those songs, using them to tell her own story along with a slew of new compositions. Her previous hits had been co-written with her ex-husband, Gerry Goffin, but on Tapestry, King accepted one new songwriting collaborator: Toni Stern, who provided lyrics for “It’s Too Late” and “Where You Lead.” Besides Stern’s sterling contributions, King centered her own words, voice, and piano-playing. And throughout Tapestry, her gutting honesty and earnest optimism are channeled with the easy fluency of a veteran pop songwriter. Individually, the songs have long since been woven into pop music’s unconscious: “I Feel The Earth Move” became an instant R&B classic; “You’ve Got A Friend” remains a somehow-never-saccharine pledge of loyalty; and “It’s Too Late” is the break-up anthem to end all break-up anthems. Together, they weave a Tapestry about the power of vulnerability, one that King performs with unflinching and carefree power, wrapping everything in an unpretentious and lovely musical package.
- 1989
- 1982
Artist Playlists
- The Brill Building hitmaker-turned-singer/songwriter superhero.
- Soundtracks for the movie that is your life.
- Balladeers and piano masters who followed the pop legend's path.
- Performing her pop classics that were hits for others.
Singles & EPs
Live Albums
- 1994
Compilations
More To Hear
- Weaving new standards into the fabric of pop music.
About Carole King
Across her career, Carole King wrote or co-wrote 118 hit songs that made the Billboard Hot 100—making her one of the most successful female songwriters of any era but also simply one of the most successful songwriters, period. She’s a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and was the first woman to receive the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. As a teenager, King was a music-crazy kid, attending Alan Freed’s rock ’n’ roll spectaculars at the Brooklyn Paramount. She started a band when she got to high school, and like thousands of kids in the late ’50s, hoped for stardom. In the meantime, though, she was writing songs, by herself and with her songwriting partner, boyfriend (then husband, after becoming pregnant at age 17 and dropping out of college) Gerry Goffin. They were barely past being teenagers themselves, writing music for teenagers, and that gave them an advantage. Goffin-King had a preternatural ability to synthesize everything they heard into pop gold: “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” “The Loco-Motion.” “Chains.” “Up on the Roof.” “I’m into Something Good.” “One Fine Day.” The only thing their songs had in common is that they were hits. In the ’70s, after the end of her marriage to Goffin, King relocated to Laurel Canyon. She quickly became part of the scene, befriending the likes of Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Toni Stern, a poet who became King’s primary songwriting partner. Their collaboration would give us Tapestry, King’s sophomore record, which became one of the most popular and acclaimed records in pop history, spending 15 consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard album chart and would remain on the chart for another six years, a record that didn’t get broken until Adele’s 21 in 2017. Tapestry gave us “You’ve Got a Friend” (which James Taylor took to No. 1), “It’s Too Late,” as well as King’s own versions of “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” King continued to write songs for other artists as well as write and perform as a solo artist until her official retirement from music in 2012.
- BORN
- 1942
- GENRE
- Pop