A natural woman

Mon 4 Dec 2017

We take a look at the life of songwriter Carole King, as told in the hit musical Beautiful, which arrives at our theatre in March. 

You might think you’ve never heard of Carole King. You might just about be unaware of her solo career. But you will definitely know some of her songs. Writing on her own or with her one-time husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin, she’s the woman behind hits like You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman, Take Good Care Of My Baby, You’ve Got A Friend, So Far Away, It Might As Well Rain Until September, Up On The Roof, and Locomotion.

Carole King was born Carole Joan Klein in 1942 in New York. A precocious child, she started learning the piano aged three, and skipped two grades of school because of her intelligence. She changed her name to Carole King in high school, when she formed her first band. She attended Queens College, where she met her first husband, Gerry Goffin. They married – band both dropped out of college – in 1959, when King became pregnant with their first daughter.

While working during the day, the two composed songs together in the evening – one of these was their first hit Will You Love Me Tomorrow, which was taken to the top of the American Billboard charts in November 1960 by The Shirelles – the first black female group to reach the number one slot.

The success of this song enables them to quit their job, and become full-time songwriters. During the sixties, the pair wrote songs for Aretha Franklin, The Monkees, The Drifters, and many more. They even made a star of their former babysitter: Little Eva, the original performer of their song Locomotion.

Carole herself had a hit of her own during this period (It Might As Well Rain Until September), but largely concentrated on songwriting for others. It wasn’t until she and Goffin separated in 1968 that King really began to explore her talents as a performer.

After moving from New York to California, and working with fellow musicians like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, Carole released her first solo album, the appropriately named Writer, in 1970. This didn’t make a huge impact on the charts, but her follow up, Tapestry, was a huge success. It held the top spot in the album charts for 15 consecutive weeks, spending a total of six solid years in the charts, and selling around 25 million copies. It also produced hit singles like It’s Too Late, which topped the Billboard chart. No longer just a success as a writer of songs for other people, Carole King was now a star in her own right.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical: Tuesday 27 to Saturday 31 May.