He did the writing/arranging of their music for themost part. But they were both extraordinarily talented by my reckoning.
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from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Carpenter_(musician)
Richard and Karen signed with A&M Records on April 22, 1969. "Let's hope we have some hits," Herb Alpert told them. According to Richard, Alpert gave them artistic freedom in the recording studios but after Offering, their first album, was released and wasn't a big seller, it was rumored that some of A&M's people were asking Alpert to abandon the Carpenters but he believed in their talent and insisted on giving them another chance.
Alpert suggested the Carpenters record a Burt Bacharach and Hal David song called (They Long to Be) Close to You written in 1963. Though Richard worked up an arrangement only at Alpert's insistence, the song was an overnight success. Released on May 14, 1970, it rocketed up the Top 40 charts to No. 1, where it stayed for four weeks during June and July,[13] paving the way for the duo's future records.
Sitting at home one night, Richard was watching TV and saw a commercial for Crocker National Bank. He recognized the voices of Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, two A&M songwriters on the commercial's theme song "We've Only Just Begun". Richard made some calls to confirm their involvement and asked if there was a full version of the song, which Williams affirmed. Carpenter managed to turn the bank commercial jingle into an RIAA-certified Gold record. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has become a popular wedding song. The song also successfully launched the careers of Nichols and Williams, who went on to write multiple hits for the Carpenters and many other artists.[14]
Richard composed many of the Carpenters' hits as well with John Bettis as lyricist such as:
"Goodbye to Love" (1972; #7; one of the first pop ballads to have a fuzz guitar solo—influenced the development of the power ballad[15])
"Top of the World" (1972; No. 1. Though the Carpenters originally opted to not release this song as a single, a version recorded by Lynn Anderson reached No. 2 on the Billboard Country chart; following the success of Anderson's version, the Carpenters decided to release their version as a single, and it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.)
"Yesterday Once More" (1973; #2)
"Only Yesterday" (1975; #4)
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