Minnie Julia Riperton Rudolph (November 8, 1947 – July 12, 1979) was a singer-songwriter best known for her 1975 hit “Lovin’ You” and her four-octave D3 to F7 coloratura soprano range. She is also well-known for her usage of the whistle register and has been dubbed the “Queen of the Whistle Register” by the media.
Riperton was born in 1947 and grew up on Chicago’s South Side in the Bronzeville neighborhood. She studied music, drama, and dance as a child at Chicago’s Abraham Lincoln Center. She has sung lead vocals for the Chicago-based female group the Gems when she was a teen.
Her early association with Chicago-based Chess Records provided her with the opportunity to sing backup vocals for a variety of famous musicians like Etta James, Fontella Bass, Ramsey Lewis, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, and Muddy Waters. Riperton also sang lead for the experimental rock/soul band Rotary Connection from 1967 to 1971 while at Chess.
Riperton hit the pinnacle of her career with her No. 1 song “Lovin’ You” on April 5, 1975. The song was the final single to be released from her 1974 gold album Perfect Angel. Riperton was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 1976, and she underwent a major mastectomy in April. Cancer had spread by the time she was diagnosed, and she was given around six months to survive. Despite the diagnosis, she continued to record and tour.
She was one of the first celebrities to publicly admit to having breast cancer, although she did not reveal that she was terminally ill. She became a spokesman for the American Cancer Society in 1977. In 1978, she received the American Cancer Society’s Courage Award, which President Jimmy Carter presented to her at the White House. Riperton, 31, died of breast cancer on July 12, 1979.
How did Minnie Riperton meet her husband?
From August 1970 until her death in July 1979, Riperton was married to songwriter and music producer Richard Rudolph.
While performing with Rotary Connection, Riperton met her future songwriting partner and husband, Richard Rudolph, who had a five-and-a-half octave vocal range. In 1970, they collaborated on her debut album, Come to My Garden, with brilliant producer and arranger Charles Stepney.
Riperton and Rudolph had two children together: music engineer Marc Rudolph (born 1968) and actress and comedian Maya Rudolph (born 1972), who appeared on Saturday Night Live from 2000 to 2007. When “Lovin’ You” was recorded, Maya was a youngster.
The melody of “Lovin’ You” was written as a distraction for Maya when she was a baby so that Riperton and Richard Rudolph could spend time together, according to the liner notes on Riperton’s Petals compilation CD. Riperton sings “Maya, Maya, Maya” near the end of the uncut version of “Lovin’ You.”
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