Carol Kleyn: Love Has Made Me Stronger
Elven harp lady who, according to the back cover of this LP, was given “a harp and the courage to make her music her way” by Bobby Brown (the hippie of private press fame, not the crackhead of Whitney Houston fame). I suppose a woman of lesser stuff might not take advice from a one-man-band dude who lived in a van with his dog, but lucky for us she did and went on to make like 3 records. Of which this is her first. GET GENTLE.
[audio:kleyn.mp3]
19 Comments
I just found the vinyl in my record collection. She signed it and I was supposed to send her $5 in 1977 but never did. I would love to be able to do so. She left the address of 1747 Sunset in Seattle.
My Mom gave me “Love Has Made Me Stronger” and “takin’ the time” a few years ago and I have loved them. They’re both signed, one dated 1982 from the Sawdust festival. I think her music is very sweet and honest and I’m glad to know of this obscure folk singer.
the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach?
Yes, the Laguna Beach Sawdust festival. My mom got “Love Has Made Me Stronger” at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire several years earlier. She was out at the entrance singing and playing.
Renaissance Pleasure Fair?
check out the review of this LP at: http://www.lysergia.com/AcidArchives/index.htm
I would like to talk with hcrink about his “clean” version of the title track — When I inherited the album, it was in poor shape. I think Carol is now living in WA and would like to contact her about paying for a good, “clean” version of “takin’ the time”…and anything else she might have done in the last few decades.
I bought the vinyl LP in ’77. Sweet, but hard to understand the high notes. Carol, do you have that on CD, as well as your newer stuff? Pls. e-mail me and let me know
please e-mail me questions about carol at kellybk@gmail.com. I can forward your e-mails onto her, she’s my mom.
I heard Carol on a warm summer day in 1977 at the Renisance Faire in Calabasas/Thousand Oaks area of CA. She was sitting on a blanket, in the shade under a California Live Oak just outside the entrance to the faire. As one approached, her voice soared above the noise of the crowd, and I remember thinking “how clever the faire organizers were for putting her there to set the mood and time for this event.” Her voice still lingers in my head 30 years after.
Thank you Carol!
In the early 80s, I was at the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach and chanced upon Carol Kleyn. I sat and listened to her play while my friends walked around the event. I was entranced and purchased her album “Takin the Time”. She had even been kind enough to write a personal message to me on the cover! I’ve enjoyed it for years.
Sadly, my husband of ten years tired of me about a year ago. He had my belongings for a long time and just yesterday I was able to obtain some of my old albums. I looked immediately for my Carol Kleyn album and it wasn’t with the few he returned to me. He said “stuff happens”. I am heartbroken.
Can you direct me as to the best way to replace the album? Do you have any idea how to contact Carol in case she might be able to help me?
Thank you so much in advance
After I wrote all that, I noticed that Carol’s daughter gave us her email! I wrote her!
I’m so glad I found this site. Thank you!
Maravillosa…gracias Angel
Wow, Carol is alive and well and living on in her music! Such a sweet voice and such memories of a time long gone.
I first met her at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, and later at the Sawdust Festival. I hired her a few times to play at our goofy little hole-in-the-wall CoffeeHouse at USC back in the 1980s, and everyone was in love with her, including my boyfriend at the time. :)
Shout out to Carol! I just found Gwen Gunderson via Google, too. We should have an Old Ladies from the 1980s revival! Woot!
Hope to hear you’re well, and it’s very kind of your daughter, Kelly, to offer to keep us in contact with you.
Take care, Faery Girl!
Dana
I just found a copy of the vinyl lp called
“Love Has Made Me Stronger”. I have nothing to play it on so if anyone wants to buy it, please contact
me.
I first heard Carol in the 70’s outside the Faire in Marin County….I was transfixed by her music, her energy and her voice…I have never forgotten her and still love her music. I would LOVE to have the rest of her albums/cassettes/CD’s… WHERE CAN I FIND THEM?
Echo
Great memories of the 70’s and Carol. She is in the process of relocating to Vashon Island Washington. I can pass on your requests if her daughters email isn’t working. Her daughter Kelly should be a good contact at kellybk@gmail.com If not you can email me
mkleyn@comcast.net and I will make sure she gets your requests. She really is as nice as you all remember too!
Back in the 1970’s, when the Renaissance Pleasure Faire was held in Calabasas every year, for many years, I remember Carol sitting a blanket down from the entrance playing her harp, and I would just stand there for a while mesmerized by this angelic looking beauty playing her harp, and maybe it was the sun in my eyes, but it seemed as though I saw her in a kind of shimmering diffused light. As I listened to her play, I felt a very simple innocent love for her, I would completely forget about going to the faire, I didn’t was to lose that magic moment. Of course, after a whack on the head from a jealous date, I would reluctantly precede on to the faire.Some people would stop for a moment to listen to Carol playing, others would walk right past her with barely a glance in their hast to get to the faire, but for those of us who listened, our hearts were rewarded with a warm happy memory that the simple pleasures are the most meaningful in life.
Thank you Carol
Hi All,
Drag City Records will be re-releasing Love Has Made Me Stronger, July 2011.
They have also re-released the title track from her 1983 album, Return of the Silkie, as a digital single. All proceeds from the single will go to benefit Japan Tsunami Relief.
For updates and more news about Carol Kleyn, please visit http://www.dragcity.com/artists/carol-kleyn