Even before Carole King‘s legacy was made with her 1971 era-defining Tapestry, she was one of pop music’s busiest and best songwriters.
With husband Gerry Goffin at her side, the pair wrote many of the period’s most enduring songs, including “Chains” (covered by the Beatles on their debut album), “The Loco-Motion” (a No. 1 recorded by King and Goffin’s babysitter, Little Eva), “Up on the Roof,” “One Fine Day” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” among so many other classics.
Before the ’60s ended, King’s songs were recorded by the Byrds, the Everly Brothers, the Monkees, Dusty Springfield and dozens of other top-name acts from the decade.
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But it was the arrival of Tapestry in February 1971 that set King on her own path after her divorce from Goffin and a short-lived stay in the band the City. That record-setting album — only Pink Floyd‘s The Dark Side of the Moon has spent more weeks on Billboard‘s album chart — influenced every singer-songwriter album that followed, from records by friends Joni Mitchell and James Taylor to her own string of hit albums throughout the ’70s, as you’ll see in the list below of Carole King Albums Ranked.
Over the decades, King extended her reach, slipping into genres as diverse as country, disco, new wave and Latin music. But at the center of almost all of her work is King’s lovely, natural voice and reciprocal piano playing, immediately recognizable and the stimulus of generations of budding singer-songwriters.
Carole King Albums Ranked
She came of age as one of the best and busiest songwriters of the ’60s. A decade later, she defined an era.
Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
