that worth getting into? or more of just good singles?

badujunkie said:

Riperton! and she has an astounding sound, all her own. You should check her out, not just singles.

Why are you even asking the question about Minnie? GET IT!

Timmy84 said:

70s R&B flashback: "Everytime He Comes Around" by Minnie Riperton (1974)

She is fantastic. I was tipped off about her just a couple of weeks ago, i had never heard of her before.
A good place to start might be a cd called 'Les Fleurs - The Minnie Riperton Anthology'. It is a 15 track selection of her beautiful music, and while not a major anthology of her work, it does serve as a good introduction, and can be picked up quite cheap, try Amazon.
Enjoy.

Had no idea until about a year ago that Maya Rudolph (of "Saturday Night Live" fame) was her daughter.

PDogz said:

Near the end of "Lovin You",you can hear Minnie singing..."Maya,Maya...."

SoulAlive said:

I adore Minnie! I'm actually listening to Perfect Angel right now.

For the price of a decent compilation you could probably buy most of her albums, she only has six, and four of them can be brought in double packs for less than £10!! I don't think compilations work well with artists like Minnie because the songs on her albums are much more varied than her well known songs would suggest. I was completely surprised when I listened to her albums, there's a real mix of genres on most of them. Some of it even sounds a little country lol

I've yet to check out Rotary Connection...any fans?

TD3 said:

AshK said:

One of my fave albums, I call her, Syreeta and Deniece Williams the "soul soprano trinity" for obvious reasons

And yes, I'm a BIG fan of Rotary Connection, although most fans understandably prefer Songs, this one made me a fan, esp this song...


I got introduced to THAT album through this cover version...


The GREATEST thing about Rotary Connection(to me) is they put Charles Stepney on the map.

Harlepolis said:

I may have said this before; you have a great taste in music! I've not heard of Syreeta and Deniece Williams ...I may check them out purely on your recommendation though...

That's a great track btw, thanks! I've literally just ordered a Rotary Connection double pack Songs and Hey Love. Can't wait for them to arrive

'Perfect Angel' is her masterpiece...


Perfect Angel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Perfect Angel
Studio album by Minnie Riperton
Released August 9, 1974 (1974-08-09)[1]
Recorded 1974 at The Record Plant
(Hollywood, Los Angeles, California)
Genre Soul, R&B
Length 36:43
Label Epic
Producer Scorbu Productions (aka Stevie Wonder and Richard Rudolph)
Professional reviews

* Allmusic 4.5/5 stars

Perfect Angel is the second studio album by Minnie Riperton, released in 1974 by Epic Records.[2] It was re-released on CD on October 25, 1990.[2] The album contains the biggest hit of Riperton's career, "Lovin' You", which topped the U.S. Pop Singles chart for one week in early April 1975.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Background
* 2 Track listing
* 3 Personnel
o 3.1 Musicians
o 3.2 Production
* 4 Charts
* 5 References

[edit] Background

In 1973, a college intern for Epic Records found Riperton in semi-retirement. She had become a homemaker 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.

With associate producers Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff on hand engineering and programming the synthesizers, Riperton and company recorded Perfect Angel at the Record Plant in LA – Stevie Wonder’s choice of studio in the West Coast. Perfect Angel was a musical romp through rock (“Reasons”), easy-going pop (“Seeing You This Way”) with a wonderful message song that closed out side one (“On The Edge Of a Dream” – written in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr). Wonder wrote the title tune as well as “Take a Little Trip”.

“Perfect Angel” would have had eight songs, but Wonder felt that one more was needed to meet the industry standard of a 40-minute album. He asked Riperton and Rudolph to come up with a tune that they considered to be their “most embarrassing song”. With hesitation, Riperton did mention a lullaby she sang to Maya to put her to sleep at night so that she and Rudolph could spend “grown-up time”. With Rudolph’s help, Riperton came up with "Lovin’ You" – which was quickly recorded with Wonder on electric piano and synthesizers (Rudolph supplied the chirping birds from a sound effects reel).

Epic released Perfect Angel in August 1974 one month after Wonder’s Fulfillingness hit the record stores. While the album represented Riperton’s eclectic musical directions, it posed a marketing dilemma with the label – is she a rock singer or soul or pop? Where should the label place her records at retail – the rock bins or the R&B department? As for radio, "Reasons" – the first single - was embraced by the rock stations but R&B radio weren’t too keen on the hard-rocking guitar work heard on the disc. “Every Time He Comes Around” and “Seeing You This Way” hit a similar brick wall.

Sales of the album started out slow and Epic was ready to move on to the next record. The solution to this issue was found when a few MOR (Middle Of the Road) radio stations were playing “Lovin’ You” from the album. When Riperton and Rudolph learned about this, they asked Epic to give the song a shot as a single release. The label agreed and “Lovin’ You” was on 45 in January 1975. The single made a slow three-month climb to #1 on the pop charts in April (#3 R&B), thanks to an intense promotional schedule (her TV appearances on American Bandstand and Soul Train aired the same Saturday afternoon) and several in-person concert appearances.

The album went gold on the strength of "Lovin' You" and remains the only gold album in Riperton's career. Minnie 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. According to the liner notes from Riperton's Petals compilation CD, the melody to "Lovin' You" was created as a distraction for Maya when she was a baby, so that Riperton and Rudolph could hang out.

After Riperton died, Stevie Wonder performed the title track on Soul Train, as a special tribute to Riperton.
rack listing

All songs written by Minnie Riperton and Richard Rudolph except where indicated.

1. "Reasons" – 3:25
2. "It's So Nice (To See Old Friends)" – 4:47
3. "Take a Little Trip" (Stevie Wonder) – 4:11
4. "Seeing You This Way" – 2:51
5. "The Edge of a Dream" – 4:20
6. "Perfect Angel" (Stevie Wonder) – 3:41
7. "Every Time He Comes Around" – 3:55
8. "Lovin' You" – 3:54
9. "Our Lives"-