I couldn’t tell you which came first for me, the song or the vinyl cover. But I can tell you that both were enough to leave a girl SHOOK.

I was probably 5 or 6 when I laid eyes on the “Perfect Angel” vinyl in my parents’ collection. I remember it as one of the first times I’d seen a female music celebrity with my skin color. Back then, melanin was in. Dark-skinned men and women were on album covers seducing passersby through jheri curls and afro-shaded eyes, teasing with revealing sequined slits and silk shirts unbuttoned to the waist. And here was little Minnie Riperton, light-skinned and smirking in her overalls, tiny afro like a perfect Q-Tip, totally unbothered by the ice cream dripping down her hand.

And then that voice. SHOOK, I tell you. Because THIS SOUND coming from THIS WOMAN was so unreal that naturally I wanted more. I took it personally when my Mama told me there was no more, Minnie had passed away. What kind of cruel world was this?! Many years later, I learned that she hadn’t simply passed away – Minnie was one of the first American celebrities to go public with a breast cancer diagnosis. “Lovin’ You” was the last single from “Perfect Angel” before her death four years later in 1979.

“Lovin’ You” is at its most splendid here in a 1975 live recording. It’s my absolute favorite version because all of the ambient bird songs from the original track are included there in the sweet, secret garden setting. And as if you needed any further proof of her angelic status, Minnie sings several of her runs in an even higher octave than the original recording. If there’s a single person I’d point to as one who truly made me truly LOVE the possibilities of music, it might just be Minnie Riperton. In her 31 short years here on earth, I’d imagine Heaven was in shambles without her.

𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘:
“No one else can make me feel
The colors that you bring”

𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗥 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬 | 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗥 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬