‘America’s Got Talent’ Performer Releases Rejected Karen Carpenter Songs With Help of AI
Karen Carpenter had a beautiful talent and died far too young. She died from complications of an eating disorder at age 32. Prior to that, she made a name for herself with her stunning vocals, solo and as a part of the Carpenters. Now, one songwriter aims to pay tribute to Carpenter with a little help from artificial intelligence (AI). Kevin Cavanaugh is a musician who was seen on the first season of America’s Got Talent as part of the group Blue Velvet. The judges almost immediately gave them three X’s, but didn’t let that stop them from performing in San Diego for years.
Now, Cavanaugh wants to honor one of his favorite artists. He shared, “I started learning the piano at the age of 8, from the inspiration of the Carpenters’ music and records. I began writing songs as a teenager hoping to ONE DAY hear Karen sing one of them. Luckily for me, I was able to hand deliver a song of mine to Richard Carpenter on Nov. 6, 1974, at the LC Walker Arena soundcheck in Muskegon, Michigan. The song was called ‘So Many Days.’ Three weeks later I received a handwritten letter from their A&M Records representative Ed Sulzer stating the song was not up to Carpenters standards. But, he also welcomed me to send any other songs directly to him. I was only 12 years old. I ended up sending dozens of different songs to him at A&M Records over the years, but with no success.”
Raphael/TV Guide/Everett Collection
He composed nine songs that he believed Carpenter would have loved and used AI software to create a voice that sounds just like hers. He did not use Karen or Richard Carpenter’s real voice on any of the tunes, but aimed to show his admiration for her vocals with the songs.
In addition to this interesting demo, Carpenter is being memorialized with a new documentary called Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection, now available on Amazon Prime Video. It features never-before-released recordings and shares more about her career, love life and struggles that led to her fatal eating disorder. Watch it here and listen to one of Cavanaugh’s tunes below:
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May 2019
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