Minnie Riperton was born in 1947 and grew up in the Bronzeville area on Chicago’s South Side, the youngest of eight children. At an early age she took a keen interest in dance and music, which led her to enrol at the Lincoln Centre to study dance, drama and music. As part of her studies, Riperton worked with Marion Jeffery, an opera coach, who encouraged Riperton to develop her vocal range, with a view to pursuing a career in opera, operettas and musicals.
Riperton had other ideas! At the age of fifteen, she began singing as a member of a local girl trio, called the Gems. In 1964, the girls released a single “I Can’t Help Myself”, which sold well locally. They also called themselves Studio Three and provided backing vocals at local studios, including Chess, where they backed Fontella Bass on her “Rescue Me” recording. Riperton also sang backing vocals for Etta James, Ramsey Lewis and a few of the Chess Blues artists. The Gems made a number of later singles, which were released under a variety of names. The most popular was “My Baby’s Real” by the Starlets. Riperton soon took the decision to abandon her studies and seek a career as a singer of R&B and Soul music.
During the sessions at Chess Records, Riperton met Billy Davis, who wrote “Lonely Girl” and “You Gave Me Soul”, her first two solo singles. To add to the plethora of names used on recordings involving Riperton, these two singles were released using the name Angela Davis. The four-octave range is already in evidence, making quite an impression as Riperton’s voice soars to the heights. Riperton had the ability to sing at a level above the usual falsetto range, reaching higher notes which are in the “whistle register” of the human voice. It is used by many coloratura sopranos in operas, but it is rare in popular music. One of those who took notice was Marshall Chess, who invited Riperton to join Rotary Connection in 1966.
Four years later, Riperton made her first solo album and her first single in her own name, working with several of the Rotary Collection team. Both were released on the GRT label, which had been set up in California by the General Recorded Tape company, before they bought Chess in 1969. 1970’s “Come To My Garden” consists of ten tracks, nine of which were written or co-written by Charles Stepney. His co-writers were Rose Johnson, Sidney Barnes, Jon Stocklin and Richard Rudolph, who married Minnie Riperton in 1970! Stepney also arranged and orchestrated the songs and produced the album, which was recorded at Chess’ Ter Mar Studios in Chicago. The session band included Ramsey Lewis (piano and orchestra leader), Maurice White (drums), Phil Upchurch (guitar) and Cleveland Eaton (bass). Backing vocalists were Gospel singer Elsa Harris, Riperton herself, and Kitty Haywood, who had sung on the last Rotary Connection album.
The opening track on the album, “Les Fleur”, was released as a single in 1971 but failed to chart. (Note: There are several spellings of this title). The album itself reached number one hundred and sixty on the Billboard 200. It wasn’t a strong enough response to encourage GRT to continue working with Riperton; her link to Chess came to an end. The album was re-mastered and re-issued in 2002.
After the birth of her two children, Riperton returned to her career in music, switching to Epic Records and putting out an album entitled “Perfect Angel” in 1974. It sailed into the charts, reaching number four on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and number one on the Billboard R&B Albums Chart, achieving gold disc accreditation from the RIAA. The stand-out song “Lovin’ You” was released as a single and charted internationally, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, number three on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart and number two on the Official UK Pop Singles Chart. It was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA and a silver disc by the BPI in the UK.
Riperton wanted Stevie Wonder to produce the album. He was a fan, but he had serious issues with the limitations placed on him by his contract with Motown. He agreed to join the project but worked under a pseudonym, El Toro Negro, to avoid problems. Wonder produced the album with input from Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, who were playing such a strong role in Wonder’s own success at that time. The songs were largely written by Riperton and her husband Richard Rudolph, but Stevie Wonder contributed two, including the title track. El Toro Negro left his mark on the album by playing drums on tracks one and four, piano on tracks two, five and eight, and harmonica on track nine. The whole album was recorded at the Record Plant in Los Angeles.
The stand-out tracks are “On The Edge Of a Dream”, written as a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, and the big hit “Lovin’ You”, which was the last song to be recorded. It was based on a lullaby that Riperton sang to her young daughter Maya. Richard Rudolph came up with the bird song!
Riperton went on to achieve recognition for her next two Epic albums and then two on the Capitol label, all of which charted, as did eight more singles released between 1975 and 1980.
Minnie Riperton
Photo: Epic Records Trade Ad. (Wikimedia Commons)
Sadly, Minnie Riperton had been diagnosed with cancer in 1976. She died three years later, at the age of thirty-one. For the last two years of her life, she worked on behalf of the American Cancer Society, as a result of which she was awarded the Society’s Courage Award in 1978. She went to the White House to receive the award from President Jimmy Carter.
Minnie Riperton was not like any of the other R&B female soloists at Chess, but she was clearly an inspiration to Charles Stepney. Her album “Come To My Garden” shows her unique talent, and the world-wide success of “Lovin’ You” confirmed what an outstanding singer she was. Her contribution to the Soul and R&B music of Chicago was brief but spectacular.
