Minnie Julia Riperton (November 8, 1947 in Chicago – July 12, 1979) was an American singer-songwriter best known for her vocal range of five-and-a-half octaves, and her 1975 single Lovin You. She was married to songwriter and music producer Richard Rudolph from 1972 until her death in the summer of 1979. They had two children—music engineer Marc Rudolph and actress/comedienne Maya Rudolph. Riperton grew up on Chicagos South Side. As a child, she studied music, drama, and dance at Chicagos Lincoln Center. In her teen years, she sang lead vocals for the Chicago-based girl group, The Gems. Her early affiliation with the legendary Chicago-based Chess Records afforded her the opportunity to sing backup for various established artists such as Etta James, Fontella Bass, Ramsey Lewis, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, and Muddy Waters. While at Chess, Riperton also sang lead for the experimental rock/soul group Rotary Connection, from 1967 to 1971. In 1969 Riperton, along with Rotary Connection, played in the first Catholic Rock Mass at the Liturgical Conference National Convention, Milwaukee Arena, Milwaukee, WI, produced by James F. Colaianni. Riperton reached the apex of her career with her number-one hit single, Lovin You, on April 4, 1975. The single was the last release from her 1974 gold album entitled Perfect Angel. In January 1976, Riperton was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a radical mastectomy. By the time of diagnosis, the cancer had metastasized and she was given about six months to live. Despite the grim prognosis, she continued recording and touring. Riperton was one of the first celebrities to go public with her breast cancer diagnosis, but did not disclose she was terminally ill. In 1977, she became a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society. In 1978, Riperton also received the American Cancer Societys Courage Award which was presented to her at the White House by President Jimmy Carter. She died at age 31 on July 12, 1979. Riperton was born in Chicago to Thelma and Daniel Riperton, a Pullman porter. The youngest of eight children in a musical family, Riperton embraced the arts early on. Although she began with ballet and modern dance, Ripertons parents recognized her vocal and musical abilities and encouraged her to pursue music and voice. At Chicagos Lincoln Center, Riperton received operatic vocal training from Marion Jeffery. She practiced breathing and phrasing, with particular emphasis on diction. Jeffery also trained Riperton to use her full range. While studying under Jeffery, Riperton sang operettas and show tunes, in preparation for a career in opera. Jeffery was so convinced of her pupils abilities that she strongly pushed her to further study the classics at Chicagos Junior Lyric Opera. The young Riperton was, however, becoming very interested in soul, rhythm and blues, and rock. After graduating from Hyde Park High School, now Hyde Park Career Academy, she enrolled at Loop College and became a member of the prestigious Zeta Phi Beta. She dropped out of college to pursue her music career. In 1967, Riperton met songwriter Richard Rudolph, whom she married five years later. They have a son named Marc, and their daughter is Maya Rudolph, a successful television and film actress/comedienne. Career Early career Ripertons first professional singing engagement was with The Gems, when she was fifteen. Raynard Miner, a blind pianist, heard Riperton singing during her stint with Hyde Parks A Cappella Choir and became her musical patron. The Gems had relatively limited commercial success, but proved to be a good outlet for Ripertons talent. Eventually the group became a session group known as Studio Three and it was during this period that they provided the backing vocals on the classic 1965 Fontella Bass hit Rescue Me. In 1964, The Gems released a local hit, I Cant 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 1966s Baby I Want You by the Girls Three and 1967s My Babys Real by the Starlets. The latter has achieved cult status with northern soul fans and remains a favorite. It also was a Motown-style song reminiscent of Tammi Terrell. In 1968, Watered Down was released as a follow-up, under the name The Starlets. It was the last release of Ripertons former girl group. 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 also You Gave Me Soul. In honor of Davis, she used the pseudonym Andrea Davis for the release of those two singles. Rotary Connection Some months after her Andrea Davis singles hit the radio, Riperton joined Rotary Connection, a funky rock-soul group creation of Marshall Chess, the son of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess. Rotary Connection consisted of Riperton, Chess, Judy Hauff, Sidney Barnes and Charles Stepney. The group released their debut in 1967 and, eventually, five more albums: 1968s Aladdin; the Christmas album Peace; Songs; and finally 1970s Dinner Music and Hey Love. Come to My Garden Ripertons debut solo album Come to My Garden (1970) Ripertons first solo album, Come to My Garden, produced, arranged, and orchestrated by Charles Stepney, was released in 1970 by GRT Records. She was presented as a solo artist by Ramsey Lewis on Saturday, December 26, 1970 at Chicagos famed London House. She performed several numbers from the album accompanied by Charles Stepney, the albums producer. Although commercially unsuccessful, Come to My Garden is now considered a masterpiece by music critics and many others in the music industry. Perfect Angel and Lovin You Lovin You In 1973, a college intern for Epic Records found Riperton in semiretirement. She had become a housewife and a 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. Riperton signed with Epic Records, and the family moved to Los Angeles, California. The subsequent record, Perfect Angel, turned out to be one of Ripertons best-selling albums. Included were the rock-soul anthem Reasons, the second single, Take a Little Trip (written by Stevie Wonder, who also coproduced the album), 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 caught on, and in April 1975, the song went to the top of the charts in the U.S. and 24 other countries. The song reached number two in the UK, and number three on the U.S. R&B charts. It sold more than one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA in April 1975.Perfect Angel went gold, and Riperton was finally revered as the lady with the high voice and flowers in her hair. The album also featured the song Every Time He Comes Around, with Deniece Williams singing the background vocals. Ripertons daughter is Saturday Night Live actress Maya Rudolph, who was a child when Lovin You was recorded. According to the liner notes from Ripertons Petals compilation CD, the melody to Lovin You was created as a distraction for Maya when she was a baby, so Riperton and Richard Rudolph could spend time together.Near the end of the unedited Lovin You, Riperton sings Maya, Maya, Maya; in concert, near her death, she changed this to Maya, Maya, Ringo, Maya. Ringo was her nickname for her son, Marc. Maya Rudolph can also be heard in discussion with Teena Marie on the final track Too Many Colors (Tees Interlude) of Teenas 1980 album Lady T. Later career After Perfect Angel, Riperton and Richard Rudolph started on Ripertons third album, Adventures in Paradise (1975). Joe Sample of The Crusaders cowrote the title song, Adventures in Paradise, and Crusaders producer Stewart Levine, coproduced the album. While shooting a promotional clip for the album, she was attacked by a lion, but was not seriously injured. During an appearance on The Sammy Davis, Jr. Show, she played the footage of the incident for Sammy and her fellow guests, including Richard Pryor. The album was a modest success. Despite the R&B hit Inside My Love (a number five U.S. R&B hit, later covered by Trina Broussard, Chanté Moore and Delilah (musician) ), the album did not match the success of Perfect Angel. Some radio stations refused to play Inside My Love due to the lyrics: Will you come inside me? Her fourth album for Epic Records entitled Stay in Love featured another collaboration with Stevie Wonder in the funky disco tune Stick Together. She also sang backup on Wonders songs Creepin from 1974s Fullfillingness First Finale and Ordinary Pain from 1976s Songs in the Key of Life and was mentioned prominently in his song Positivity on A Time to Love. Ripertons last album, Minnie (1979) In 1977, Riperton lent her vocal abilities to a track named, Yesterday and Karma, on Osamu Kitajimas album, Osamu. In 1978, Ripertons attorney Mike Rosenfeld and her husband, Richard Rudolph, orchestrated a move to Capitol Records for Riperton and her CBS Records catalogue. In April 1979, Riperton released her fifth and final album, Minnie. During the recording of the album, her cancer progressed to the point that she was in a great deal of pain.[2] Memory Lane was a hit from the album, and was arguably Ripertons greatest work. Riperton incorporated the sadness of the ending of a relationship while suddenly shifting to cries of I dont want to go, save me, now Im slippin fast, thought it was over; here I go again, and travelin down, faster than the speed of sound. It is thought that Memory Lane was her farewell to her family and to the world. Her last televised performance was on an episode of The Merv Griffin Show (aired July 6, 1979), during which she performed Memory Lane and Lover and Friend. Illness and death On August 24, 1976, Riperton told 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, Riperton found out her cancer had already spread to the lymphatic system, and was given about six months to live. She continued touring in 1977 and 1978, and became the national spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society 1978–79 campaign. Extreme lymphedema immobilized her right arm in early 1979. In her final singing appearances on television (most notably on the Mike Douglas Show), her right arm would remain in a fixed position during her performances. By mid-June, she was confined to bed. She entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on July 10. On Thursday, July 12 at 10 am, while lying in her husbands arms, Riperton died while listening to a recording Stevie Wonder had made for her. That Sunday, following a funeral service attended by more than five hundred mourners, Riperton was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Her epitaph is the opening line of her most famous song, Lovin you is easy cause youre beautiful. Ripertons grave at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery Posthumous recordings After Riperton died, several artists contributed vocals to tracks she had recorded before her death, to help compile Richard Rudolphs final tribute to his wife, Love Lives Forever. Included, among others, were Peabo Bryson, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. Ripertons last single, Give Me Time, was released in 1980. Richard Rudolph wrote the song, Now That I Have You for Riperton, but she never got the chance to record it; he gave the song to Teena Marie, who recorded it (and coproduced it with Rudolph) on Maries second LP, Lady T. Finally, in 1981, Capitol Records released The Best of Minnie Riperton, a greatest hits collection. The new song on the album was a remake of Joni Mitchells A Woman of Heart and Mind, which was a holdover from the Minnie sessions. Also included were an alternate mix of Memory Lane, live versions of Can You Feel What Im Saying, Lover And Friend, Young, Willing and Able and two Moments with Minnie. It also included the hits Perfect Angel, Lovin You, Inside My Love, Adventures In Paradise, and two tracks from Love Lives Forever: the singles Here We Go and You Take My Breath Away. During the 1990s, Ripertons music was sampled by many rap and hip-hop artists, including Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, A Tribe Called Quest, Blumentopf, and Tragedy Khadafi. Vocal ability Aside from her various hits, Riperton is perhaps best remembered today for her ability to sing in the whistle register, in which she had rare facility.Riperton possessed a five-octave vocal range (the liner notes to her Petals legacy album ascribe five-and-a-half octaves to her). Ripertons ability to enunciate in the high registers set her apart from most other whistle-register singers. This feature is most notably heard in the song Here We Go, where she sings here we go in the whistle register. Whistle-register enunciation can also be heard in songs such as Inside My Love, Adventures in Paradise, Expecting, Only When Im Dreaming, and also in Teach Me How to Fly and Like a Rolling Stone with the Rotary Connection. Riperton was also noted for her ability to sound almost mechanical or instrumental in the whistle register. In You Take My Breath Away, she sang a portamento 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, Could It Be Im in Love, Adventures in Paradise, and Inside My Love and also Love Me Now with the Rotary Connection. Having an innate ability to imitate many instruments helped lead to Ripertons discovery while she was a secretary at Chess Records. In her recordings. Ripertons highest recorded note reached in the whistle register was F7 on the third scale of You Take My Breath Away. Minnie reached this extremely high note before on an early recording of Teach Me How to Fly and Could It Be Im in Love. Also in a live performance of the song Ruby Tuesday from Rotary Connection, she sang an F#7. In a 1998 interview for Vibe magazine, Mariah Carey cited Riperton as an influence on her. Documentary On June 7, 2009, TV One (US TV networks) Unsung series premièred a one-hour documentary on Ripertons career and life. It included interviews with her husband Richard, son Marc, daughter Maya (Maya Rudolph), sister Sandra Riperton, and many others who worked with Riperton. Discography Studio albums Year Album Chart positions US certifications[11] Record label US US R&B UK 1970 Come to My Garden 160 — — — GRT 1974 Perfect Angel 4 1 33 Gold Epic 1975 Adventures in Paradise 18 5 — — 1977 Stay in Love 71 19 — — 1979 Minnie 29 5 — — Capitol 1980 Love Lives Forever 35 11 — — — denotes the album failed to chart Compilation albums Year Album Chart positions Record label US US R&B 1981 The Best of Minnie Riperton 203 59 Capitol 1993 Capitol Gold: The Best of Minnie Riperton — — 1997 Her Chess Years — — Chess 2001 Petals: The Minnie Riperton Collection — — The Right Stuff Les Fleurs: The Minnie Riperton Anthology — — EMI — denotes the album failed to chart Singles Year Single Chart positions Album US US R&B US A/C US Dance UK 1972 Les Fleurs — — — — — Come to My Garden 1974 Reasons — — — — — Perfect Angel Seeing You This Way — — — — — 1975 Lovin You 1 3 4 — 2 Inside My Love 76 26 — — — Adventures in Paradise Simple Things — 70 45 — — 1976 Adventures in Paradise — 72 — — — 1977 Stick Together (Part One) — 57 — 23 — Stay in Love Wouldnt Matter Where You Are — — — — — Young Willing and Able — — — — — 1979 Memory Lane — 16 — — — Minnie Lover and Friend — 20 — — — 1980 Here We Go — 14 — — — Love Lives Forever Give Me Time — 75 — — — — denotes the single failed to chart
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 18:17:33 +0000
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