Carole King

Over the course of a career that is now well past the fifty year mark, Carole King has solidified her reputation as one of the finest songwriters in the history of pop music; back in 2000, a researcher for Billboard calculated that she was the most successful female songwriter of the twentieth century’s second half, on the basis that she had been involved in the penning of no fewer than one hundred and eighteen chart hits between 1955 and 1999. Her breakthrough album, Tapestry, has taken on iconic status as the years have passed, with four Grammy awards to its name and a position, according to Rolling stone, as the thirty-sixth greatest record of all time. As a live performer, too, King has been known for her prodigious work rate down the years, frequently touring with her long-time collaborator James Taylor. During live shows, she’s practically glued to the piano, and can nowadays fall back on a back catalogue that spans several decades when she comes to construct the setlist. Despite hinting at retirement in 2012, she toured Australia in early 2013 and performed at the Boston Strong benefit with Taylor; her return to British shores, though, is now long overdue.