Mixhouse Vs. The Carpenters. Megamix Once More by Jonas Mix Larsen.

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The Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter. Producing a distinctively soft musical style, they became among the best-selling music artists of all time. During their 14-year career, the Carpenters recorded 11 albums, 31 singles, five television specials, and a short-lived television series. Their career ended in 1983 by Karen's death from heart failure brought on by complications of anorexia. Extensive news coverage surrounding the circumstances of her death increased public awareness of eating disorders.

The duo's brand of melodic pop produced a record-breaking run of hit recordings on the American Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts, and they became leading sellers in the soft rock, easy listening and adult contemporary genres. The Carpenters had three No. 1 singles and five No. 2 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and fifteen No. 1 hits on the Adult Contemporary chart. In addition, they had twelve top 10 singles. To date, the Carpenters' album and single sales total more than 100 million units.

Karen Carpenter has been called one of the best female vocalists of the 20th Century by a number of influential publications as diverse as Rolling Stone and National Public Radio, and Sir Paul McCartney called her the best female vocalist ever, saying that she was "the best female voice in the world: melodic, tuneful and distinctive." A critical re-evaluation of Carpenters occurred during the 1990s and 2000s with the making of several documentaries produced in the United States, Japan, and Great Britain, like Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters (United States), The Sayonara (Japan), and Only Yesterday: The Carpenters Story (Great Britain). It has been said that Karen's signature vocals helped spur more contralto singers into pop music such as Anne Murray, Rita Coolidge, and Melissa Manchester. Despite contentions that their sound was "too soft" to fall under the definition of rock and roll, major campaigns and petitions exist toward inducting Carpenters in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 1990, the alternative rock band Sonic Youth recorded "Tunic (Song for Karen)", which depicted Karen saying goodbye to relatives as she got to play the drums again and meet her new "friends", Dennis Wilson, Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin. A tribute album, If I Were a Carpenter, by contemporary artists such as Sonic Youth, Bettie Serveert, Shonen Knife, Grant Lee Buffalo, Matthew Sweet, and The Cranberries, appeared in 1994 and provided an alternative rock interpretation of Carpenters hits.

Several of their songs have achieved the status of popular standards. "Superstar" has been covered by numerous artists, with popular recordings from Luther Vandross and Ruben Studdard to Bette Midler, Shonen Knife, Sonic Youth and Colleen Hewett.

Both "We've Only Just Begun" and "(They Long to Be) Close to You" have been honored with Grammy Hall of Fame awards for recordings of lasting quality or historical significance.

Modern entertainers such as Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Shania Twain, Jann Arden, Anastacia, The Corrs, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Chrissie Hynde, Gloria Estefan, Lorrie Morgan, LeAnn Rimes, Michelle Wright, k.d. lang, Kelly Jones of Stereophonics, Christina Perri, Beyoncé, Johnny Borrell of Razorlight, Jo O'Meara from S Club, Carnie Wilson from Wilson Phillips, Mandy Moore, Michael Jackson, and Madonna have listed Karen Carpenter as a huge influence on their careers.

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