On November 8, 1904, Minnie Julia Riperton Rudolph, an American singer-songwriter, was born. Her 1975 song “Lovin’ You” and four-octave D3 to F7 coloratura soprano range are what people most commonly associate her with.
She has earned the title of “Queen of the Whistle Register” in the media due to her well-known use of the register.
Where did Minnie Riperton go to college and high school?
After graduating from Hyde Park High School, she enrolled in Loop College and joined the Zeta Phi Beta sorority (now Hyde Park Academy High School). She graduated from college early to focus on her singing career.
She received operatic vocal instruction from Marion Jeffery at the Abraham Lincoln Center in Chicago. She practised her breathing and phrasing, paying particular attention to her diction.
Jeffery showed Riperton how to use all of her skills. She sang show songs and operettas while studying with Jeffery to become an opera singer.
Jeffery pushed her pupil hard to continue studying the classics at the Junior Lyric Opera in Chicago because she was so sure in her abilities. But the teenage Riperton was beginning to demonstrate a taste for soul, rock, and rhythm and blues.
