Carole King

Song Writer, Performer, Author, Environmentalist

Carole King is arguably the most successful female songwriter of the 20th century pop music era. Among the dozens of hits she wrote with Gerry Goffin in the 1960s were “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” (Shirelles, 1961) “Take Good Care of My Baby” (Bobby Vee, 1961), “The Loco-Motion” (Little Eva, 1962), “Up On The Roof” (The Drifters, 1962), “Chains” (The Cookies, 1962; The Beatles, 1963) and dozens more. In 1967, “Natural Woman” was immortalized by Aretha Franklin.

With her 1971 solo album, Tapestry, King achieved renown as a singer/songwriter and earned four Grammy Awards®—Record, Song, and Album of The Year as well as Best Pop Vocal Performance. Tapestry was recently certified 14 times Platinum and has sold over 30 million copies worldwide.

Her other awards and honors include: Songwriters Hall of Fame (1987), Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1990), BMI Icon Award (2012), The Gershwin Prize for Popular Song (2013), MusiCares Person of the Year (2014) and Kennedy Center Honors (2015). In 2021, King was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for the second time, becoming the first musician to be inducted as a songwriter and performer.

In addition to her musical career, King, who moved to Idaho in 1977, has been working for 32 years with scientists, environmental advocates, and organizations in the Northern Rockies to preserve wilderness and biodiversity in that ecosystem. For nearly 40 years her nearest neighbor was an unlogged national forest.  She brought that lived experience to Capitol Hill and worked with members of Congress in both parties to educate the public about the urgent need to protect species and habitat through the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. She has testified at four House hearings: in 1994, 2007, 2009 and most recently in 2022.

In her 2022 testimony King stated that mechanized, taxpayer-subsidized logging in our national forests accelerates climate change and that annual carbon emissions from logging in the U.S. are comparable to annual carbon emissions from burning coal in the U.S.