Minnie Riperton

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Minnie Riperton
Minnie Riperton on the cover of her 1974 album Perfect Angel which contains her signature hit "Lovin' You".
Background information
Birth name	Minnie Julia Riperton
Born	November 8, 1947
Origin	Chicago, Illinois USA
Died	July 12, 1979 Cedars Sinai Hospital
Genre(s)	Soul, R&B, rock
Years active	1964 – 1979
Label(s)	Chess, Janus, Epic, Capitol
Website	MinnieRiperton.com

Minnie Julia Riperton (November 8, 1947 – July 12, 1979) was an American soul singer from Chicago, Illinois, most noted for her abilities in the whistle register and her 1975 hit single "Lovin' You". Possessing a rare five-octave vocal range, she displayed the ability to imitate instrumentation and even birds.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early childhood 1.2 Early career 1.2.1 Andrea Davis 1.2.2 Rotary Connection 1.3 "Lovin' You" 1.4 Later career 1.5 Illness and death 1.6 Posthumous recordings 2 Vocal ability 3 Discography 3.1 Albums 3.2 Singles 4 Covers, references, and sampling 5 Trivia 6 External links

[edit] Biography

As a child, Riperton studied music, drama, and dance, and seriously considered a career in opera. However, her affiliation with the famous Chess Records record label soon allowed her to sing backup for Etta James, Fontella Bass, and Stevie Wonder. Riperton sang lead vocals for several small, unsuccessful bands before teaming up with her husband, composer Richard Rudolph, to start her solo career. Stevie Wonder agreed to produce her album Perfect Angel.

Riperton was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy in 1976. She became an active spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society and was awarded the Society Courage Award from President Jimmy Carter. She died in 1979 at the age of 31 and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

In addition to her musical legacy, Minnie Riperton is survived by her husband, Richard Rudolph; son, Marc Rudolph; and daughter, Maya Rudolph, a current cast member of Saturday Night Live.

[edit] Early childhood

Minnie Julia Riperton was born on November 8, 1947 to Daniel and Thelma Riperton. The youngest of eight children in a very musical family, Riperton embraced the arts very early in life. Although she started in ballet and modern dance, Riperton's parents recognized her abilities early in life, and she soon shifted to music and voice.

Minnie Riperton received operatic vocal training at the Lincoln Center by Miss Marion Jeffery. There she would practice breath control, holding vowels for extended times and phrase enunication, with particular care for diction. Jeffery also would train all of her range, which is rather unusual in operatic training as many classical purists deem the seventh octave unmusical.

While studying, Riperton sang operettas or a show tune, in preparation for a life in opera. Jeffery was so convinced of her pupil's abilities, she strongly pushed her to study the classics further at Chicago's Junior Lyric Opera. However, this was the '60s and Minnie was becoming very interested in soul, rhythm and blues, and rock. After graduating from high school, she enrolled at Loop College, but dropped out after a mere three weeks.

[edit] Early career

Riperton's first professional appearance occurred when she was 15 as part of The Gems. Raynard Miner, a blind pianist, heard Riperton during her membership in Hyde Park's A Capella Choir. The Gems had relatively limited commercial success with Chess Records, but the group proved to be a good outlet to expose Riperton's talents to the music industry at large. Eventually the group became a session trio (to back other albums) called 'Studio Three'. In 1964 the Gems released a local-hit "I Can't Help Myself" and their last single, "He Makes Me Feel So Good" was released in 1965. After that the group released records under numerous names - most notably 1966's "Baby I Want You" by the Girls Three and 1967's "My Baby's Real" by the Starlets. The former has achieved cult-status with Northern Soul fans and remains a favorite. The latter was a Motown-styled song reminiscent of Tammi Terrell. In 1968 "Watered Down" was released as a follow-up, under the name the Starlets. Ultimately it was the last release of Riperton's girl-group. "My Baby's Real" by the Starlets and "He Makes Me Feel So Good" by the Gems can be purchased on CD on Ace's Where the Girls Are V.3.

[edit] Andrea Davis

While a part of 'Studio Three', Riperton met her mentor, producer Billy Davis. He would write her first local hit "Lonely Girl" and "You Gave Me Soul". In honor of Davis, she used the "showbiz name" Andrea Davis for the release of those two singles. Afterward, she would use her real name.

[edit] Rotary Connection

Some months after her Andrea Davis singles hit the radio, Riperton would join the Rotary Connection, a funky rock-soul group creation of Marshall Chess, the son of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess. The band consisted of Riperton, Chess, Judy Hauff, Sidney Barnes and Charles Stepney. While she was in Rotary Connection, she met Richard Rudolph, her future husband and songwriting partner. The group released their debut in 1967, eventually releasing four more albums, 1968's Aladdin, the Christmas album Peace, Songs, and finally 1970s Dinner Music.

[edit] "Lovin' You"

Main article: Lovin' You (Minnie Riperton song)

In 1973, a college rep for Epic Records found Minnie Riperton, then a semi-retired homemaker and mother of two in Gainesville, Florida. After he heard a demo of the song "Seeing You This Way", the rep took the tape to Don Ellis, VP of A&R for Epic. Minnie signed with Epic Records and the family moved to Los Angeles, California. "Perfect Angel" turned out to be one of Minnie Riperton's best selling albums. It turned out to be the best in the UK and US. Including the rock-soul anthem "Reasons", the second single "Take A Little Trip", and the third single "Seeing You This Way", sales of the album started out slow. Epic was ready to move on to the next record, but Rudolph convinced them to release another single. With the fourth single "Lovin' You", the album really caught on. In 1974, the song went to the top of the charts in the US, number two in the UK in 1975, and number three on the R&B charts in the US. The album Perfect Angel went gold, and Minnie was finally revered as the "lady with the high voice". The album also featured the song "Every Time He Comes Around", featuring Deniece Williams as the operatic soprano in the background. People who don't know the music of Riperton well may believe her to be a one-hit wonder, despite having a fairly successful R&B career.

According to the liner notes of Riperton's Petals compilation, the melody to Lovin' You was created as a distraction for Maya when she was a baby, so that Minnie and Richard could hang out.

[edit] Later career

After Perfect Angel, Minnie Riperton and Richard Rudolph started on Riperton's third album Adventures in Paradise. Keyboardist Joe Sample played throughout the album and helped co-write "Adventures in Paradise". The album was a modest success. Despite the R&B hit "Inside My Love" (a number five US R&B hit, later covered by Trina Broussard, and Chanté Moore), the album didn't match the success of Perfect Angel. Riperton would sink back into mainstream obscurity, but enjoyed a good career in R&B. Minnie released her fourth album for Epic Records entitled Stay In Love. This album featured another colloaboration with Stevie Wonder in the funky, disco tune "Stick Together".

In 1978, Riperton's attorney Mike Rosenfeld and her husband orchestrated a move to Capitol Records. After inking a new deal with Capitol, in April 1979 Minnie released her fifth and final album, simply titled Minnie. Her last televised performance was on an episode of The Merv Griffin Show (aired July 6, 1979), where she performed "Memory Lane".

[edit] Illness and death

In 1976 Riperton revealed to Flip Wilson, who was guest-hosting for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, that she had undergone a mastectomy due to breast cancer. At the time of her diagnosis, Minnie found out that her cancer had already spread to the lymphatic system. In spite of such a grim prognosis, Minnie continued touring in 1977 and 1978, and became the National spokesperson for the American Cancer Society 78-79, but eventually the cancer would take its toll. By June of 1979 Minnie was confined to bed and she entered Cedars Sinai Hospital for the last time on Monday July 9. On Thursday July 12, 1979, Minnie Julia Riperton died peacefully in her husband´s arms as they listened to a recording of a song Stevie Wonder had written for her.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Posthumous recordings

After Riperton died, several artists recorded posthumous duets with Minnie, including Peabo Bryson and Michael Jackson. Her last single, "Give Me Time, Love Lives Forever," was released in 1980. Richard Rudolph had a song, "Now That I Have You," for Riperton that she never recorded; he gave the song to Teena Marie, who recorded it (and co-produced it with Rudolph) for use on her sophomore LP Lady T. Finally, in 1982, Capitol Records released The Best Of Minnie Riperton, a greatest hits collection.

[edit] Vocal ability

Aside from her various hits, Riperton is perhaps best remembered today for her ability to sing in the whistle register. She had a rare facility in this register. Riperton possessed a five-octave vocal range talent (the liner notes to her Petals legacy album ascribe to her a five and a half octave range). What set Riperton apart from most other whistle register singers was her ability to enunciate in the high registers. This feature is most notably heard in the song "Here We Go," where she sings "here we go" in the high register. It is unmistakably enunciated despite its high pitch. Enunciation can also be heard in songs such as "Inside My Love," "Adventures in Paradise," and "Expecting", also in "Only When I'm Dreaming" and "Teach Me How To Fly" with the Rotary Connection. She was also noted for her ability to sound almost mechanical or instrumental in the whistle register. In "You Take My Breath Away," she sings a crescendo scale ending two octaves above the staff. She has also been credited for her ability to sustain notes in the sixth and seventh octave for long periods of time, as in "Reasons", "Adventures In Paradise" and "Inside My Love." Having an innate ability to imitate many instruments helped lead to her discovery while she was a secretary at Chess Records.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

• Come To My Garden (Janus/GRT, 1970)
• Perfect Angel (Epic, 1974)
• Adventures In Paradise (Epic, 1975)
• Stay In Love: A Romantic Fantasy Set To Music (Epic, 1977)
• Minnie (Capitol, 1979)
• Love Lives Forever (Capitol, 1980)

Compilations

• Capitol Gold: The Best Of Minnie Riperton (Capitol, 1993)
• Her Chess Years (Chess, 1997)
• Petals: The Minnie Riperton Collection (The Right Stuff, 2001)
• Les Fleurs - The Minnie Riperton Anthology (EMI, 2001)

[edit] Singles

• "Lovin' You"/"The Edge Of A Dream"
• "Inside My Love"
• "Young, Willing, & Able"/"Stick Together"
• "Memory Lane"/"I'm A Woman"

[edit] Covers, references, and sampling

• On the South Park episode Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride, Uncle Jimbo and his war buddy, Ned, devise a plan to have a team mascot explode when John Stamos's older brother, Richard, hits a high F in the song, "Lovin' You".
• Deniece Williams, Mariah Carey and Tamar Braxton have stated that Minnie was an inspiration in the development of their vocal talents.
• Kate Bush referenced Ripperton in the song "Blow Away (for Bill)" from the 1980 album "Never Forever," a tribute to the many diverse influences that inspired her as a young teenager that had suffered untimely deaths; specifically the line "Minnie, Moonie, Buddy Holly, Sandy Denny..." Much of Bush's high-range vocalizing shows a direct influence for Ripperton's style.
• Jean Carne on her 1983 Motown album Trust Me did a funky version of Minnie's original "Completeness" using similar operatic notes to bring colour to the song.
• "Lovin' You" was sampled in Stagga Lee's "Roll Wit M.V.P."
• In 1989 British ambient group The Orb sampled Lovin' You on their breakthrough single, "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From the Centre of the Ultraworld".
• Shanice Wilson covered "Lovin' You" in 1991 on her Inner Child album, and again on her 2006 album Every Woman's Dreams.
• In June 1990 a quite decent cover of 'Loving You' by 'Massivo (Featuring Tracy)' emerged in the British charts and stayed in the low 20's/early 30's for 4 weeks.
• In 1991 & 1993, rap group A Tribe Called Quest sampled Riperton's "Baby This Love I Have" for the song "Check the Rhime" off of the The Low End Theory. Following that, on their next album, Midnight Marauders, they sampled "Inside My Love" for "Lyrics to Go".

• In 1995, rapper Tupac Shakur sampled Riperton's Inside my love for the song "Me Against the world" on his album which carries the same name.
• In 1996 Slum Village sampled the keyboard and Riperton's voice from 'Inside my Love' in the song 'Look of Love (Remix)', on their Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1) album.
• In 1997, Nuyorican Soul (a Masters at Work alias) covered "I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun", with Jocelyn Brown as singer.
• In 1997, Wayne Newton and Beverly D'Angelo sang "Lovin' You" in the movie Vegas Vacation.
• In 1997, her song "Inside My Love" was used by Quentin Tarantino in his movie Jackie Brown.
• In 1998, Talib Kweli & Hi Tek featuring Vinia Mojica sampled Riperton's "Baby This Love I Have" in the song "K.O.S" in the Album Black Star.
• In 1999, Mariah Carey mimicked Riperton in her song "Bliss", the third track on her album Rainbow. Carey can be heard singing the phrase "On and On" in such a manner her voice sounds almost like a steaming tea kettle to illustrate her feelings.
• In 2000, her song "Inside My Love" was used in a sex scene for the movie Road Trip.
• In 2001 one of Riperton's earlier songs, "Les Fleur", was covered by 4hero, using Carina Andersson as the lead vocalist. (4hero also produced a renowned remix of Nuyorican Soul's cover of "I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun").
• In 2001 Welsh based DJ Jean Jacques Smoothie scored a worldwide hit with "2 People", which directly sampled Riperton's "Inside My Love". The way the song was done, it appeared as if Riperton was actually a guest vocalist rather than a sampled voice.
• In 2001, singers Leona Lewis & Marley J Wills recorded a cover of Lovin' You for a demo. The pair duet on the track. Three years later Leona covered it again for another demo. Leona was unknown at the time, but both songs have now leaked onto the internet after she won talent show X-Factor in 2006.
• In 2003 Kenny Lattimore & Chanté Moore covered "Here We Go," a Minnie Riperton duet with Peabo Bryson from the posthumous Love Lives Forever album.
• In 2003 Japanese R&B singer Ken Hirai covered Riperton's song "Lovin' You" in his album "Ken's Bar".
• In 2003, Twista released the single "Slow Jamz" featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx. Riperton is one of the artists referred to in the song's lyrics.
• In 2004 Adam Lopez instrumentalized in the background of his song "Stay With Me", imitating a piccolo in a manner similar to Minnie Riperton.
• In 2004, singer Leona Lewis recorded a cover of Lovin' You for her demo. Leona was unknown at the time, but the song leaked to internet after she won talent show X-Factor in 2006.
• In 2005 Tireh duplicated Riperton's bridge acrobatics that she displayed on her climax for "Memory Lane" by sustaining notes in the whistle register to mimic the sound of a violin, in his song titled "Who Would Have Known".
• In 2005 Super Girl contestant Zhang Liangying covered "Lovin' You."
• British-American singer-songwriter Julia Fordham wrote and recorded the song "Roadside Angel" as a tribute to Minnie. It appears on her 2001 album Concrete Love, which also includes Julia's cover of "Lovin' You" as an unlisted bonus track. A live version also appears on Julia's album That's Live.
• In 2006 Japanese singer Minako Honda covered Riperton's song "Lovin' You" in her album "Kokoro wo komete...(心を込めて...)" which was released after she died in 2005.
• In 2006 Hip Hop artist Busta Rhymes sampled "Inside My Love" for the song "You Can't Hold The Torch" from his album The Big Bang.
• In the 2006 Disney film The Wild, we hear "Lovin' You" when Benny the squirrel lays eyes on his beloved, Bridget the giraffe.
• Also, in 2006 Nas used "Rainy Day In Centerville" for his song "Where Ya'll At?"
• In 2006 Gangster rapper Ice Cube sampled "Memory Lane" for the song "Growin Up" from the Laugh Now, Cry Later album.

[edit] Trivia

• Maya Rudolph, best known for her work on the NBC sketch show, "Saturday Night Live", is Riperton's daughter. Riperton can be heard singing "Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya" during the last few bars of her hit single "Lovin' You." Maya Rudolph can also be heard in discussion with Teena Marie on the final track "Too Many Colors (Tee's Interlude)" of Teena's 1980 (1980 was international 'Year Of The Child') album 'Lady T'
• Riperton was a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.(ΖΦΒ), a sorority founded on Howard University Campus on January 16, 1920. Its creed: scholarship, service, sisterly love, and finer womanhood.

[edit] External links

• Minnie Riperton Tribute Site
• Minnie Riperton at All Music Guide
• Minnie Riperton on Discogs