The blog that has inspired this series of Music from the Seventies said that the late Minnie Riperton (1947-1979) screamed the lyrics to “Loving You”. We need to distinguish between screaming (something the lead singer of a group like Journey would do), and seriously hitting the high notes. God blessed Riperton with divine vocal cords, with a range of five and a half octaves, rare in most humans. Her natural voice could range above a falsetto into what is called the “whistle register”. Yes, she could sing higher than the Bee Gees or Frankie Valli. Higher than John Denver’s yodeling on the song Calypso, in fact. Unlike the Bee Gees and Denver, Minnie Riperton used full voice in hitting those notes, which is why feats like these are so rare.
They may have needed guards at Riperton’s concerts to make sure no-one brought their dog.
“Loving You” topped the charts in the United States and 24 other countries.
Mariah Carey has been compared with her, and she would appear to be slightly less melodic (still pretty good though).
Before you click on the recording below, you might want to send your dog outside if you have one.