New musical on songstress Carole King Broadway-bound

Singer and songwriter Carole King is interviewed on the arrivals line at ''A Celebration of Carole King And Her Music'' concert to benefit Paul Newman's The Painted Turtle Camp in Hollywood December 4, 2012.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A musical about the life of legendary singer-songwriter Carole King will open on Broadway next year, producers said on Friday.

"Beautiful: The Carole King Musical," will chart the journey of Carol Klein from Brooklyn to the top of the pop music world, producers Paul Blake and Sony/ATV Music Publishing said.

Featuring songs written by Carole King and her first husband and collaborator, Gerry Goffin, as well as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, the musical was set to open in the spring of 2014.

King "fought her way into the record business as a teenager and, by the time she reached her twenties had the husband of her dreams and a hot career writing hits for the biggest acts in rock'n'roll," the producers said in a statement.

King, 71, said musicals had been a major influence on her. "When Gerry and I first met, we made a bargain that I would write music for the Broadway show he wanted to write if he wrote lyrics for my rock'n'roll songs.

"The songs took off, and the show idea never came to fruition. Now that our songs have merged with a Broadway show, we've come full circle," she said in a statement.

King shot to fame in the early 1970s when her second album, "Tapestry," swept the Grammy awards, winning best album, song of year ("You've Got a Friend," later covered by James Taylor) and record of the year ("It's Too Late").

Other hits included "I Feel the Earth Move," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," and "Sweet Seasons." More recently, King appeared in a recurring role on the U.S. television series "Gilmore Girls."

No casting decisions were announced.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud, editing by Jill Serjeant and Doina Chiacu)