Carole King Musical Features the Songs You Grew Up Listening To

Think you can only name a couple of Carole King songs? You'll be surprised at how many hits you'll sing along to at this Broadway biography coming to WMU's Miller Auditorium.

If I asked you to name a Carole King song, you might remember "I Feel the Earth Move," "So Far Away," or that clouds in my coffee song. The first two were #1 hits for King; "You're So Vain" was a Carly Simon song. Many of the singer/songwriters popular in the 1970s blend together but Carole King's work as a songwriter before she was a singer is what sets her apart. "She is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the US, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1999."

Working in New York's Brill Building, Carole and her then husband Gerry Goffin crafted many of the songs that became the soundtrack to our lives: The Drifters' "Up on the Roof," The Chiffons' "One Fine Day," "I'm Into Something Good" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday," hits for Herman's Hermits and The Monkees. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," Goffin and King's first successful collaboration went to #1 for The Shirelles and later charted as her 1971 album Tapestry became one of the best selling albums of all time. When the album came out, we heard a new version of Aretha Franklin's "A Natural Woman"- done by the original writer. "You've Got A Friend" may be James Taylor's signature song but Carole and Gerry wrote it.

Her life started not as a superstar, but a Brooklyn teenager who fought her way into the music business and found every kind of imaginable success in her twenties. It wasn't until it all begun to fall apart that she found her true voice. Watch the trailer for a little more of the story and sing along to the songs you grew up with. I'll see you at the Tony & Grammy Award-winning show!