On this date, February 10, 1971, the album Tapestry by Carole King was released on Ode Records.

Tapestry is one of the best selling albums of all time, with over 25 million copies sold worldwide.  It has been certified Diamond by the RIAA in the United States, with more than 10 million copies sold. "It's Too Late" was gold certified by the RIAA.  

Carole received four Grammy Awards in 1972 including Album of the Year - Tapestry,  Song of the Year - "You've Got A Friend", Record of the Year - "It's Too Late" and Best Pop Vocal Performance - Tapestry.   The lead singles from the album, "It's Too Late" & "I Feel The Earth Move", spent five weeks at number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts.  In 2003, Tapestry was ranked number 36 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. 

Tapestry was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, as well as Carole's version of "You've Got A Friend" in 2002 and "It's Too Late in 2003.  

Carole wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on Tapestry, several of which had already been hits for other artists such as Aretha Franklin's (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman and The Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow".  Two songs "It's Too Late" and "Where You Lead" were co-written with Toni Stern.  James Taylor, who also played on Tapestry, had a number one hit of his own with "You've Got A Friend".  He had encouraged Carole, who was performing in his band, to perform her own songs. 

Produced by Lou Adler, Tapestry was recorded at Studio B, A & M Recording Studios in Hollywood during January 1971 and was engineered by Hank Cicalo. 

Personnel:

Carole King - piano, keyboards, vocals, background vocals
Curtis Amy - flute: baritone, soprano and tenor saxophone: string quartet
David Campbell - cello, viola
Merry Clayton - background vocals
Terry King - cello, tenor saxophone, string quartet
Danny Kortchmar - acoustic guitar, conga, electric bass, sring quartet
Russ Kunkel - drums
Charles "Charlie" Larkey - bass guitar, string bass, string quartet
Joni Mitchell - background vocals
Joel O'Brien - drums
Ralph Schuckett - electric piano
Barry Socher - viiolin, tenor saxophone, viola, string quartet
Perry Steinberg - bass guitar, violin, tenor saxophone, string bass
James Taylor - acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Julia Tillman - background vocals
 

Watch "The Making of Tapestry" trailer for American Masters on PBS

More fun facts can be found here.