Carpenters' melodic pop produced a record-breaking run of hit recordings on the American Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts, and they became leading sellers in the soft rock, easy listening and adult contemporary genres. Carpenters had three #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and fifteen #1 hits on the Adult Contemporary Chart (see The Carpenters discography). In addition, they had twelve top 10 singles (including their #1 hits). To date, Carpenters' album and single sales total more than 100 million units.

During their 14-year career, the Carpenters recorded 11 albums, five of which contained top 10 singles (Close to You, Carpenters, A Song for You, Now & Then and Horizon), thirty-one singles, five television specials, and one short-lived television series. They toured in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium. Their recording career ended with Karen's death in 1983 from cardiac arrest due to complications of anorexia nervosa. Extensive news coverage of the circumstances surrounding her death increased public awareness of the consequences of eating disorders.

The Carpenter siblings were both born in New Haven, Connecticut to parents Harold and Agnes. Richard Lynn was born on October 15, 1946, and Karen Anne followed on March 2, 1950. Richard was a quiet child who spent most of his time in the house listening to records and playing the piano. Karen, on the other hand, seemed to be friendly and outgoing; she liked to play sports, including softball with the neighborhood kids, but she also spent a lot of time listening to music.

In June 1963, the Carpenter family moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, California. In the fall of 1964, Richard enrolled at Long Beach State, now known as California State University, Long Beach, where he met future songwriting partner John Bettis, with whom he would write classics like "Top of the World", "Goodbye to Love", and "Only Yesterday"; Wesley Jacobs, a friend who played the bass and tuba for the Richard Carpenter Trio; and Frank Pooler, with whom Richard would collaborate to create the Christmas standard "Merry Christmas Darling" in 1966.

That same fall, Karen enrolled at Downey High School, where she found a knack for playing the drums. When Karen joined the marching band, band teacher Bruce Gifford - who had taught Richard in 1963 - assigned Karen a glockenspiel, a quiet instrument that Karen highly disliked. In an interview, Karen stated:

I didn't really like it (the glockenspiel) because it's not a very convenient instrument to play, and it's hard to carry.... It's always a quarter-step sharp to the band, which used to drive me crazy!

Shortly after, though, friend and fellow band member Frankie Chavez inspired Carpenter to play the drums. Karen would often borrow Chavez's drum kit when he taught her. "She and Frankie ... must have worked down the rudiments, the cadences, and the press-rolls for hours", recalls Richard. When Karen finally got a Ludwig drum kit from her parents in late 1964, she was able to play it professionally, in what Richard had described in their documentary, "Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters" as "exotic time signatures".

By 1965, Karen had been practicing the drums for a year, and Richard was refining his piano techniques with teacher Frank Pooler. The two started a jazz trio in late 1965 with their friend Wes Jacobs, who played bass and tuba.

The Richard Carpenter Trio signed up for the annual Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands in mid-1966, where they played an instrumental version of "The Girl from Ipanema" and their own "Iced Tea". The trio won the Battle of the Bands on June 24, 1966, and they were signed up by RCA Records. They recorded songs such as The Beatles' "Every Little Thing" and Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" for RCA. However, these recordings were never released (although some tracks were released decades later as part of a boxed set of Carpenters material.)

Karen joined John later in 1966 at a late-night session in the garage studio of Los Angeles bassist Joe Osborn, where Richard was to accompany an auditioning trumpet player. Asked to sing, Karen performed for Osborn, who was taken with her voice. Osborn's fledgling label, Magic Lamp Records, signed Karen as a singer, and the label put out a single featuring two of Richard's compositions, "Looking for Love" and "I'll Be Yours." The single was not a hit, and the label soon became defunct. However, Osborn let Karen and Richard continue to use his studio to record demo tapes until 1969, when they finally got an offer from A&M Records.