karen also recorded her first and only solo album entitled "karen carpenter" in 1979-1980 while her brother richard took time off to recover from an addiction to prescription sleeping pills. the album was not released during karen's lifetime and would remain the a&amp;m vaults until 1996 when richard carpenter finally felt the time was right to release it. karen dedicated her solo to her brother "dedicated to my brother richard... with all my heart..." karen's fans have had a mixed reaction to her solo album but the majority believe the album was strong enough to be released at the time that it was recorded and would have had few strong hits for the singer. however karen choose to shelve the album after it was negatively received by the powers that be at a&amp;m records and her brother.