Remembered for her incredible vocal range--more than five octaves--that seemed to reach into the stratosphere, Minnie Riperton had a No.1 single in 1975: "Lovin' You." Riperton had planned to put her unusual voice to work in opera and studied at the Lincoln Center in her native Chicago, but instead she began a pop/soul/rhythm & blues career, singing lead for a group of girls billed as The Gems. She did backup work for Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and other performers and did some recording under an alias, Andrea Davis. In 1970, she recorded her first album, Come to My Garden, which attracted positive attention.
Riperton appeared on a number of TV shows, including The Mike Douglas Show and The Merv Griffin Show but died of cancer in 1979 when she was only 31. Her daughter, Maya Rudolph, has been a member of the Saturday Night Live cast.
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