Jane Eis­ner traces the pro­fes­sion­al accom­plish­ments and per­son­al chal­lenges of pop icon Car­ole King, explor­ing her unique con­tri­bu­tion to Amer­i­can music. King’s extra­or­di­nary career has defined Amer­i­can pop­u­lar music for more than half a cen­tu­ry. Born in New York City in 1942, she shaped the sound­track of 1960s teen cul­ture with such songs as ​“Will You Love Me Tomor­row,” one of many Brill Build­ing clas­sics she wrote with her first hus­band, Ger­ry Gof­fin. She was a lead­ing fig­ure in the singer-song­writer move­ment of the 1970s — her 1971 album Tapes­try won a record four Gram­mys. Yet she strug­gled to rec­on­cile her fame with her roles as a wife and moth­er and retreat­ed to the back­woods of Ida­ho, only to emerge in recent years as a polit­i­cal activist and the sub­ject of the Tony-win­ning Broad­way show Beau­ti­ful: The Car­ole King Musi­cal. 

Jour­nal­ist and author Jane Eis­ner places King’s life in his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al con­text, reveal­ing details of her hum­ble begin­nings in post­war Jew­ish Brook­lyn, the roots of her musi­cal genius, her four mar­riages, and her anguish about pub­lic life. Draw­ing on numer­ous inter­views as well as his­tor­i­cal and con­tem­po­rary sources, this book brings to life King’s pro­fes­sion­al accom­plish­ments, her per­son­al chal­lenges, and her last­ing con­tri­bu­tions to the great Amer­i­can songbook.