Lead Sister: The Story of Karen Carpenter

When the Carpenters first toured Japan, a journalist mistakenly referred to Karen as the ''lead sister'' of the band. This designation stuck and Karen liked it so much that she had a T-shirt custom-made with the slogan, which she wore while drumming on the band''s 1976 world tour. The term also sums up the approach of this biography: a celebratory re-evaluation of a pioneering woman.

As one of the ...