Carole King
- Music Artist
- Music Department
- Composer
Carole King is an American composer and singer-songwriter.
She is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the USA, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1999. King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1952 and 2005.
King's career began in the 1960s when she and her first husband, Gerry Goffin, wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists, many of which have become standards. She has continued writing for other artists since then. King's success as a performer in her own right did not come until the 1970s, when she sang her own songs, accompanying herself on the piano, in a series of albums and concerts. After experiencing commercial disappointment with her debut album 'Writer', King scored her breakthrough with the album 'Tapestry', which topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks in 1971 and remained on the charts for more than six years. King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being 'Tapestry', which held the record for most weeks at No. 1 by a female artist for more than 20 years. Her most recent non-compilation album was 'Live at the Troubadour' in 2010, a collaboration with James Taylor that reached number 4 on the charts in its first week and has sold over 600,000 copies. Her records sales were estimated at more than 75 million copies worldwide.
She is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the USA, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1999. King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1952 and 2005.
King's career began in the 1960s when she and her first husband, Gerry Goffin, wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists, many of which have become standards. She has continued writing for other artists since then. King's success as a performer in her own right did not come until the 1970s, when she sang her own songs, accompanying herself on the piano, in a series of albums and concerts. After experiencing commercial disappointment with her debut album 'Writer', King scored her breakthrough with the album 'Tapestry', which topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks in 1971 and remained on the charts for more than six years. King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being 'Tapestry', which held the record for most weeks at No. 1 by a female artist for more than 20 years. Her most recent non-compilation album was 'Live at the Troubadour' in 2010, a collaboration with James Taylor that reached number 4 on the charts in its first week and has sold over 600,000 copies. Her records sales were estimated at more than 75 million copies worldwide.
