Carole King: From Brooklyn’s Madison HS to Library of Congress
Carole King, Brooklyn-raised singer-songwriter, has become the first woman to win the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, joining such well-known figures as Paul Simon, Burt Bacharach, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.
“Carole King has been one of the most influential songwriters of our time,” Librarian of Congress James Billington said. “For more than five decades, she has written for and been recorded by many different types of artists for a wide range of audiences, communicating with beauty and dignity the universal human emotions of love, joy, pain and loss.”
King, who was born Carole Klein in Manhattan but grew up on East 24th Street in Gravesend, Brooklyn, actually had two careers – the first as a songwriter for other performers, the second as a singer-songwriter in her own right.