How is Carole King tied to Danbury?
Everyone knows Carole King for hit songs like “It’s Too Late” and “I Feel the Earth Move.” One of her songs, “Where You Lead, I Will Follow,” is even the theme song for the iconic Connecticut- set television show “Gilmore Girls.”
But did you know that King actually has more concrete ties to Connecticut than a fictional TV show?
In Danbury’s gated community of Lake Waubeeka, there is a Carol Street, named for the daughter of Sid Klein, one of the community’s founding members. Carol Klein would later change her name ( and the spelling of “Carol”) on the way to becoming one of pop music’s most renowned singer- songwriters: Carole King.
“I say that she may have babysat for me,” joked Jeffrey Gurock, a longtime resident and author of the upcoming book “Lake Waubeeka: A Community History.” “It’s possible, but I didn’t know Carol Klein. She was a teenager when I was a baby.”
Lois Yager, whose family began summering at Lake Waubeeka in the 1970s, does remember the family.
“We would put on a musical every summer,” she said. “Carole King’s mother, Genie Gingold, actually started directing and producing some of them.”