Lost Gem: Minnie Riperton and Stevie Wonder tugged our hearts with “Give Me Time”

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Minnie Riperton’s career was short but productive. Riperton released six solo albums between 1970s Come to My Garden and the posthumously released Love Lives Forever, which came out in 1980, a year after her death. Riperton was also the vocalist on the four studio albums released by the band Rotary Connection between 1967 and 1970.

From the angelic and idealistic “Les Fluers” to the sensual “Inside My Love,” the sweet lullaby of “Loving You” and the aching nostalgia of “Memory Lane,” Riperton and her four-octave voice gave us some of her generation’s most distinctive and high quality music. Her death from breast cancer hit fans and peers alike very hard. So, 1980s Love Lives Forever was a labor of love for the all-star cast of musicians who worked to bring this project to life.

The album sported a couple of songs that were all over radio throughout 1980 in “Here We Go” (with Peabo Bryson serving as a duet partner and Roberta Flack adding backing vocals) and “You Take My Breath Away,” another duet, this time featuring George Benson. Love Lives Forever consisted of tracks Riperton recorded and co-produced with her husband Richard Rudolph in 1978.

Quincy Jones produced the final product, lifting Riperton’s vocal from the original recording and redoing the instrumental and backing vocal tracks. Guest artists included Benson, Patrice Rushen, Stevie Wonder, Hubert Laws, Michael Boddicker. Michael Jackson joined Benson, Flack and Bryson on the vocals.

However, the hidden gem on this album is “Give Me Time,” a song that is heartbreakingly beautiful, particularly knowing that Riperton would be dead a year after its recording. The song deals with the one resource that people often take for granted and that cannot be retrieved once it’s gone – time. The words that Riperton sings in this song express a desire to truly show someone how important they are in whatever time is left. Stevie Wonder’s achingly sentimental harmonica solo gives the song added poignancy.

We can only imagine what Riperton was experiencing physically and emotionally while recording this song. She was dealing with a recurrence in her cancer and had to confront the real possibility that she would be leaving her husband and children behind. Riperton poured whatever strength she had into this vocal and she creates a valedictory that is an absolute gem. Try to keep it together when you hear this one.

By Howard Dukes

Minnie Riperton feat. Stevie Wonder
“Give Me Time”

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