BHM: Fro’s You Should know…..

Posted on February 4th, 2009 by visionist.
Categories: Afronistas, Fro's You Should Know, History, Sharing.

Minnie Julia Riperton (November 8, 1947 – July 12, 1979) was an American singer and songwriter best known for her five-and-a-half octave vocal range and her 1975 single “Lovin’ You.”

As a child Riperton studied music, drama, and dance at Chicago’s Lincoln Center. In her teen years, Riperton sang lead vocals for the Chicago-based girl group, the Gems. Her early affiliation with legendary Chess records afforded her the opportunity to sing backup for various established artist 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 short, but esteemed, 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.”

Tragically, in 1976 Riperton was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a modified radical mastectomy. Facing a grim prognosis, Riperton continued recording and touring,and in 1977 Riperton became the first black female to serve as spokesperson for the American Cancer Society. That same year Minnie also received the Society’s Courage Award presented to her at the White House by then President Jimmy Carter. On Thursday, July 12, 1979 at 10:00AM, while lying in her husband’s arms, Riperton lost her valiant three year struggle with cancer as she listened to a recording Stevie Wonder had made for her. On Sunday, July 15, 1979, following a funeral service attended by more than five hundred mourners, Riperton was interred in Pierce Brother’s Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California,

In 1991 and 1993, rap group A Tribe Called Quest sampled Riperton’s “Baby This Love I Have” for the song “Check the Rhime” on the “The Low End Theory” album. Following that, on their next album, “Midnight Marauders“, they sampled “Inside My Love” for “Lyrics to Go.”

• In 1996, Slum Village sampled the keyboard and Riperton’s voice from “Inside My Love” in the song “Look of Love (Remix),” on their album Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1).
• In 1997, Nuyorican Soul (a Masters at Work alias) covered “I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun,” with Jocelyn Brown as singer.
• In 1998, Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Hi Tek featuring Vinia Mojica sampled Riperton’s “Baby This Love I Have” in the song “K.O.S” on the album Black Star.
• In 2006, the late prolific hip-hop producer J Dilla sampled “Inside My Love” for Busta Rhymes‘ song “You Can’t Hold The Torch” from his album The Big Bang (album) and previously for the Jaylib song “Smootherness”, and “Look of Love Remix” from the Slum Village album “Fan-Tas-Tic (Vo

0 comments.