CARPENTERS’ TOOLS

Regarding “Trust Us, This Is Real,” on the alternative-music album tribute to the Carpenters (Sept. 11):

Writer Paul Grein’s question “And what does the man who produced and arranged the Carpenters’ long string of hits think of ‘If I Were a Carpenter’?” was posed to the wrong person. The man who produced the lion’s share of the Carpenters hits was my late father, Jack Daugherty.

Daugherty, then a staff producer at A&M; Records, produced the Carpenters’ first five albums and first 10 singles, all of which went gold and most of which have probably gone platinum by now. Nine of 12 tracks on their quadruple-platinum greatest hits collection “The Singles 1969-1973” were produced by Daugherty, a 10th track co-produced by Daugherty and the Carpenters.

Perhaps Grein’s question is excusable. If Ray Coleman’s biography “The Carpenters--The Untold Story” is any indication, Richard Carpenter seems intent on trivializing Daugherty’s inestimable influence in the creation of the Carpenters’ sound.

The purpose of my writing is to draw attention to Daugherty’s achievements as one of the most successful producers of that era.

My father would have enjoyed knowing that the sound he fashioned more than 20 years ago continues to be appreciated by so many. As he wasn’t a huge fan of modern music, he also would have appreciated the irony in the fact that 11 of the 14 titles on “If I Were a Carpenter” are remakes of songs that he produced.

MICHAEL DAUGHERTY

Los Angeles