Quincy Jones, the legendary producer and musical visionary, has passed away on November 3rd at the age of ninety-one. The Chicago-born artist began his career as a jazz arranger and conductor in the 1950's before moving into producing pop music with his first major hit, "It's My Party" for a then-sixteen year old singer, Lesley Gore which went to number one in 1963.
Throughout his extraordinary career, Jones had worked with many of the greatest musical performers of all time with the most notable being, Michael Jackson who he went on to produce his albums, "Off The Wall", "Thriller" and "Bad" which together sold well over one hundred and twenty-five million albums worldwide. Jones also composed numerous musical scores for film and television ("In Cold Blood", "Roots", "The Wiz", "The Color Purple") and was involved in organizing the artists and co-producing the 1985 US charity single, "We Are The World" to help the victims of famine in Ethiopia, raising more than eighty million dollars for the cause.
Jones helped create so much music during his time that it would be extremely difficult to try and cover even a fraction of the recordings he went on to produce. To pay tribute to this musical genius, I will focus here on the studio albums that Jones would release under his own name over the years. Here is just a tiny playlist of my favorites:
Minnie Riperton had an unusual voice for pop music. With her four-octave coloratura soprano, this singer brought colorful sounds that you didn't ordinarily hear in pop or r&b songs. This was most notable in the biggest hit of her career, "Loving You" where you hear her hit notes so high that you didn't think were humanly possible. While she is no longer with us, Riperton has been remembered as one of the great vocal stylists.
Born in Chicago, Riperton was the youngest of eight children and she embraced the arts at an early age. She began with ballet and modern dance before being encouraged to explore her musical abilities. Riperton trained with a voice coach and with her impressive vocal gift seemed poised for a career in opera. However, she was more interested in singing soul and rock.
Riperton’s first professional opportunity began when she became part of a girl group, The Gems in Chicago. While their attempts at having a big hit record never materialized, The Gems did find some success as session singers with their notable role was providing background vocals on Fontella Bass’ hit, "Rescue Me" in 1965. During this time, Riperton met producer, Billy Davis and he helped guide and produced singles with her that found minor local success. Riperton later joined a rock-soul outfit called Rotary Connection in 1966, recording several albums and touring with them until 1969. She recorded her first solo album with her husband, Richard Rudolph, a writer and producer in 1970 but "Come To My Garden" failed to receive much attention.
Soon Riperton was a mother of two and spending more time with her family than on her career. But a few demos found their way to Epic Records and they soon had her recording her next album. "Perfect Angel" was released in 1974 and brought the singer some new found fame. With fan, Stevie Wonder on board to play, write and produce a few tracks (but secretly at the time due to the concern that his label, Motown might not allow his participation), the album became an international success with the help of the last single, "Loving You". This beautiful ballad reached the top of the U.S. pop chart in 1975.
However, not long after reaching this highlight of her career, the singer received some tragic news. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and received a radical mastectomy in 1976. After bravely going public with her illness, Riperton continued recording and touring and became a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society. She released her fifth studio album, "Minnie" in May 1979 but sadly, Riperton lost her battle with cancer and passed away two months later on July 12th at the age of thirty-one. She is survived by Rudolph and their children, Marc and Maya, who many know as an actress and comedian as a former cast member on "Saturday Night Live".
The spirit of Minnie Riperton is still very much alive with her wonderful music to enjoy and to remember her gifts as an artist. Here are two of favorite songs from this glorious songbird:
Although I was a tall, skinny kid and really didn't need the extra height but I still wanted to wear them. Platform shoes also remind me of my childhood in the 1970's which was the time I was slowly evolving in to a person with my own views and opinions. Music played an important part during this time as well as I happily listened to AM radio. What was wonderful then was that I could listen to one station and be exposed to all genres of music that were popular at the time. Sadly, radio now lacks variety and has become much more narrow and segregated.
So, here is a collection of just a few of my favorite songs from artists who managed to have only one song hit the top-forty on the U.S.Billboard Hot 100 chart. I can listen to any of these songs and they still take me back to specific times in my life although some of these tunes I had no idea what they really meant or were actually about:
"Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" - Edison Lighthouse (1970)
"Smiling Faces Sometimes" - The Undisputed Truth (1971)
"Precious & Few" - Climax (1972)
"Dancing In The Moonlight" - King Harvest (1973)
"The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" - Vicki Lawrence (1973)
"Walk On The Wild Side" -Lou Reed (1973)
"Pillow Talk" -Sylvia (1973)
"Misdemeanor" - Foster Sylvers (1973)
"Kung-Fu Fighting" - Carl Douglas (1974)
"Lovin' You" -Minnie Riperton (1975)
"How Long" -Ace (1975)
"Fooled Around & Fell In Love" - Elvin Bishop (1976)
"Welcome Back" - John Sebastian (1976)
"Afternoon Delight" - Starland Vocal Band (1976)
"You Can't Turn Me Off (Not In The Middle Of Turning Me On)" - High Inergy (1977)
"Because The Night" - Patti Smith Group (1978)
"Hot Child In The City" - Nick Gilder (1978)
"New York Groove" - Ace Frehley (1979)
"Pop Muzik" - M (1979)
Here is a music video for Samantha Sang's only hit, "Emotion" that was written and produced by the Bee Gees in 1978. It's very dated and although she is trying her very best to be seductive but unfortunately it's just coming across as a little creepy:
Before she landed this hit record in 1976, Andrea True was a porn star (?)and in the music video for "More, More, More", Ms True's efforts at being sexy feels simulated, very much like she did in her previous line of work:
