| The David Nathan Pages |
MINNIE RIPERTON June 1979, In person interview conducted by David Nathan in Los Angeles This interview was David's second face-to-face conversation with Minnie; at the time, she was dealing with health challenges - in 1976, she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had undergone a masectomy. One of the conditions for having the interview was that we wouldn't talk about her health but focus instead on her then-forthcoming album. She passed away on July 12 at the age of 31, just weeks after this interview had taken place at her then-manager's office in Los Angeles. (c) 2007, David Nathan/SCI Enterprises, All rights reserved |
MINNIE RIPERTON has a new album out and it marks her debut set on Capitol Records. She's feeling justifiably pleased with it
and has good reason to: those who've heard initial mixes conclusively agree that this would be Minnie's best to date.
After a few years with Columbia Records, the lady whose "Lovin' You" brought her international success and prominence in
1975 had decided "it was time to move on - and I feel only a few record labels that really could see the direction I wanted to
take my music and I think in Capitol we've found people who have an appreciation of my talent as an artist and as a woman. I
didn't want to be swallowed up again which is kinda what happened at CBS."
Minnie's relaxing in the management office of Kenn Fritz (who also handles amongst others George Benson) and she's
eloquent and articulate as always. She seems genuinely enthused about her new label affiliation as well as her new album.
She wrote all but three of the cuts with husband Dick Rudolph and she feels the album (simply entitled "Minnie") represents
what she's about in a contemporary setting. Cuts like the ethereal "Return To Forever," "Never Existed Before" with its strong
Brazilian influences and "Dancin,'" with its disco-oriented feel show Minnie in a broad spectrum. '
"When it came time to sit down with the people at Capitol about the album, I already knew what I wanted basically. I've always
admited the work of Henry Lewy (who's worked with Joni Mitchell, Carole King and The Mamas & Papas) because I dug the
way he recorded music and especially the way he captured the female voice. I'd also heard he was a real nice guy and sure
enough, when we met, he turned out to be real mellow and open-minded. He was a joy to work with because he doesn't
demand, he gives as well.
"We knew what we wanted because Dick and I had worked on pre-production on tunes at home, so when we were with Henry
it was more like he was a movie 'director' than a producer per se. He spent a lot of time just looking for the right technical
equipment to use for instance - we ended up using some old mikes instead of the brand new kind and you wouldn't believe
the difference that made in itself."
Minnie adds that one of the most important aspects of this particular project is that "we didn't rush - Capitol didn't say 'we've
got to have it next week' - and it wasn't anything like what I had to deal with at CBS. And then too, I found Henry was really into
what I was writing, dug what I was saying and you know that's a great asset when you're working with someone."
And aside from the co-producer of her album, Minnie's also been working with some other very special people - like Stevie
Wonder (who lent his talents to Minnie's first Epic album, "Perfect Angel," her initial [major label] solo set after several years as
part of Rotary Connection) and Jose Feliciano....
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| MINNIE RIPERTON 1979 Interview (MR-79-2007) Conducted by David Nathan, (c) 2007, David Nathan/SCI Enterprises |
