The Carpenters were one of the biggest-selling American musical acts of all time. Between 1970 and 1984 brother and sister Richard and Karen Carpenter had 17 top 20 hits, including "Goodbye to Love", "Yesterday Once More", "Close to You" and "Rainy Days and Mondays".

They notched up 10 gold singles, nine gold albums, one multi-platinum album and three Grammy awards.

Karen's velvety voice and Richard's airy melodies and meticulously crafted arrangements stood in direct contrast to the louder, wilder rock dominating the rest of the charts at the time, yet they became immensely popular, selling more than 100m  records.

Richard was the musical driving force but it was Karen's effortless voice that lay behind the Carpenters' hits.

Promoted from behind the drums to star vocalist, she became one of the decade's most instantly recognisable female singers.