What would Karen Carpenter's career arc been like if she hadn't died?

Retirement, withdrawal, death.

Pregnant by Richard?

She would have tried for another solo album but also would have done soft pop hits with Richard. Something In Your Eyes would have been recorded by Karen instead of Dusty Springfield.

She would have been the queen of disco. After Barbra/Donna, we would have had Karen/Grace!

I should elaborate: I think Karen would have seen the Riot Grrls as what she chafed to be in the 1970s: tough, kickass musicians who made their own rules. They would have seen a talented woman being stifled by her awful mother and brother and embraced her. Can you imagine her drumming on a Courtney Love album?

Karen Carpenter's Country Christmas.

She wouldn’t be on Ozempic that’s for sure. Then again, she might have loved it. See what I did there. I’m a cunt. 😂

She’d still be a fatty

I think she would have faded away and been relegated to the same bucket as Helen Reddy, Toni Tenille, and Anne Murray. I think her tragedy is what really elevated her above and away from that fate but, had she not have had anorexia, had she just continued, she would have fallen out of favor, as almost all artists do--rightly or wrongly--and had a catalog most would regard as cheesy save for "Superstar", which people would give backhanded compliments to by saying, "She did have a good ding with 'Superstar'--even though she was too young to be singing it then." She'd do the circuit of greatest hits shows at your local small theater and a cruise line but I think, like other ladies from the 70's, she would have been regarded as an oldies act by the late 80's and held in less regard than she is now.

She could have gone spiritual at 40 and become the American Enya. The unusual purity and warmth of her voice lent itself well to that kind of rich, layered multitrack vocals.

She would have found her audience again in the wake of the Linda Ronstadt What's New era...... It all would have come around.......maybe not radio airplay and sales, but her fans would have been there....and then Kennedy Center honors, that kind of acknowledgement. America loves a come back story.

She would have had Linda Ronstadt's latter career, Pirates of Penzance, solo concert tours, maybe a bit of acting and we'd still have her beautiful voice.

Jenny Craig spokesperson, then OnlyFans.

Talent show judge

I agree with the op. She would have done more drumming for others. I think she also would have done more solo albums.

Jamie Lee Cuirtis never would have gotten that diuretic yogurt spokesperson role because Karen would have been all over it.

Finished by 1985.

Had her health not given out, she’d have wound up doing the guest spots on The Love Boat and Hollywood Squares. By that point, she’d probably be on husband number three - some bloated record producer who’d keel over and leave her everything. She’d barely emerge from her mansion except to bankroll another facelift, and every paparazzi shot would spark a 500-post DataLounge autopsy on what was left of her face.

All joking aside it would have been nice if she could find peace with herself

She would have hooked up with Bobby Gentry and reportedly be living somewhere in Nevada.

If she survived, her concerts would've been elegant and lush, with full orchestras. (Akin to Barbara Streisand's). She would've been made over; she would've been lovelier in her middle years - prettier with age. Her "Top 40 radio hits" would've ebbed by the late 1980s. She would've made millions alone by live concerts and lived life by her own rules, without Richard and her mother. She would've been highly respected and assertive, too.

Karen had a lot more personality and charm than Richard.

She also had more talent than her brother and her mother resented her for that and her major rise to fame. Agnes C. was apparently a real piece of work.

Karen Carpenter was in a no-win, mother approval vs fame vice grip. I think she had to literally make herself smaller. Then disappeared at 32 years old. Her story is so sad to me.

She had a sophisticated badass style of drumming like Buddy Rich. He and other superb drummers acknowledged her talent always.

I’ve know musicians, heavy metal players, that have told me they listen to Carpenters in their off time. I love it

At this point in her career, she would be wearing caftans and performing residency concerts in B-level venues lin Branson, Biloxi and Reno.

You're all assuming she would have been able to get out of Richard's control. He wouldn't even let her release her solo album, FFS.

1983 - A solo album produced by The Gibb Brothers hits #1, producing 4 top ten hits.

1984 - A Carptenters album is released with three moderate hits, including a duet with Olivia Newton-John

1985 - Karen is featured in Disneyland's 30th Anniversary Special, her sophomore album is released, with only two songs reaching the top 40.

1986 - Karen rebounds with Take My Breath Away, becomes pregnant

1987 - The Karen Carpenter Special airs previewing songs from her third album. After disappointing sales, her label drops her.

1988 - Karen guest stars on Hollywood Squares

1989 - Karen Carpenter's Greatest Hits is released followed by a 20 city North American tour

1991 - Karen is featured on Voices That Care

She would have eventually found therapy to deal with her toxic mother and brother and then come out as a lesbian living her best life. Had she survived starving herself in that closet.

R22 = Richard Carpenter

Aerobics instructor

Brief career as syndicated talk show host.

If OP isn’t trolling, they have a complete misunderstanding of the way past pop culture “eras” melded together. None of that stuff would even come close to happening. Huh?

I doubt if Karen Carpenter hadn’t died the way she did The Carpenters would have become hipster icons. The lurid tragedy is what drove the whole thing.