Minnie Riperton: A Loving Artist
If soul music had a fairy godmother, it would be Minnie Julia Riperton-Rudolph. Born November 8, 1947, she was raised in the South Side of Chicago as the youngest of eight children. Riperton studied at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, taking classes in ballet, drama, and music, with aspirations of becoming an opera singer. Certainly, the skills she acquired from this era of her life only continued to refine as she grew older and found her own style of music. Before releasing her own music, Riperton sang as a back-up vocalist and with bands. This is where she met Charles Stepney, a writer and music producer she would work with for the rest of her career. Other names behind the curtain include her husband, Richard Rudolph, and close friends, Stevie Wonder, George Benson, and Leon Ware. These legends are only a few lives Riperton impacted with her pure admiration for life and soul music.

