A Shining Star Eclipsed (1)

Born in 1931, Stepney first came to prominence as the in-house arranger at Chicago's Chess Records in the mid-sixties, working on a variety of recordings for artists such as Ramsey Lewis, The Dells and Marlena Shaw. When Marshall Chess, the son of Chess Records founder Leonard, wanted to put together a 'supergroup' that would lie between the boundaries of what was considered rock and soul on his subsidiary Cadet Concept label, he brought Stepney aboard as Co-producer and arranger. Stepney embraced the concept whole heartedly. Together they enlisted a mix of rock musicians like guitarist Bobby Simms, bass player Mitch Aliotta and drummer Vincent Donlinger, top Chicago session men and R&B vocalists such as Sidney Barnes and Judy Hauff.

The final recruitment, a vocalist with one of the most distinctive voices or at least octave ranges ever, happened quite by chance. Terry Callier, then a staff writer at Cadet Records, explains. "Minnie Riperton was the receptionist at the studio. One day a tune was being played in the studio and outside a voice was singing along. 'Who's that? Who's that?' demanded Charles Stepney. 'It's Minnie ...' someone said, hah, we all know where that went!"⁰

Unsurprisingly, with her amazing five octave range, Riperton had originally wanted to become an opera singer. In the meantime she'd become a member of The Gems, who had moderate success on Chess and sung backing vocals for many of the labels major artists before splitting. Since then she'd been reduced to the role of secretary, occasionally releasing solo recordings under the name Andrea Davis. True success for Minnie would still be a long time coming, but the first step came in Stepney's brave decision not to ignore her vocal range, but take advantage of it. With Riperton at the helm vocals became a chorus, set against dramatic orchestral arrangements, underpinned by a strong rhythm section.

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