Karen Alexander (born 1946) was an American singer-songwriter who had some success in the 1970s.

Early life and career

She was born in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in one of the suburbs of Hollywood. Her father had a psychoanalytic practice in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

. In 1965, she married Esfandiar Bahrampour, an Iranian architect and moved to Tehran. While Karen was living in Tehran she travelled back to the U.S., now and then. On one of these trips she bought a guitar and started writing songs. As a first step in her singing career she started to sing in clubs. Although it was not done for women to sing in Iran, she continued to write songs there, and sent her tapes to America. She obtained a record contract in the early seventies, and before she recorded her first album she appeared as a backing vocalist on albums by

Maria Muldaur Maria Muldaur (born Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D'Amato; September 12, 1942) is an American folk and blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. She recorded the 1973 hit song "Midnight at the Oasis" and has ...

and

Wendy Waldman Wendy Waldman (born November 29, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Biography Early life Waldman (born Wendy Steiner) grew up in the Los Angeles area. She was raised in a musical environment: her father Fred Steiner w ...

. Her first album was ''Isn't It Always Love'' (1975). She wrote all the songs herself, except for the title song, which was written by

Karla Bonoff Karla may refer to: People * Karla (name), a feminine given name * Petras Karla (1937–1969), Soviet Olympic rower Places * Karla, Kose Parish, a village in Harju County, Estonia * Karla, Rae Parish, a village in Harju County, Estonia * Kärl ...

. Her songs had an up-tempo rhythm and entertaining lyrics. Three years later she recorded her second and final album, ''Voyager''. This album had a more melancholic atmosphere, and the tempo of most songs was slower than on her first album. In Tehran she had a job at

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

, but the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

was growing more and more severe, the CBS office in Tehran closed, and Karen Alexander lost her job. Although by that time many foreigners were already leaving the country, Karen and her husband decided to stay. Eventually, the situation became too dangerous and she fled with her family in 1979. In America they moved first to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, and later to

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

Discography

* ''Isn't It Always Love'' (1975, Asylum) * ''Voyager'' (1978, Elektra)

Cover versions

The song "A Little Bit More" from her first album was covered by The Chenille Sisters and by

Julie Covington Julie Covington (born 11 September 1946) is an English singer and actress, best known for recording the original version of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", which she sang on the 1976 concept album Evita. Early life Julie Covington was born in Lon ...

References

Sources

* Bahrampour, Tara (1994) ''To see and see again: a life in Iran and America.'' New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. * "Karen Alexander"— AllMusic Guide {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Karen 1946 births Living people Singers from Los Angeles American women singer-songwriters Asylum Records artists Elektra Records artists Singer-songwriters from California 21st-century American women