"As he speaks, Wonder is noodling on the harpejji, the electric string instrument you've probably seen him play on TV on the Grammy Awards or " Dancing With the Stars." "It was just a magical time," he adds before letting the music pour from his fingers for a moment: long, rippling melodic lines that keep veering between a major and a minor key."
"That steadfast serenity comes through nowhere more vividly than in "Lovin' You," which hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 in April 1975. The next-to-last cut on Riperton's album "Perfect Angel" - which Wonder co-produced with the singer's husband, Richard Rudolph - is a radically stripped-down ballad about romantic devotion that makes you feel as though you're eavesdropping on a couple in their home. And it's got one of the most famous high notes in pop music history."
Stevie Wonder describes playing Fender Rhodes and later noodling on a harpejji while Minnie Riperton sang during the recording of "Lovin' You." Riperton's voice and the song's spare arrangement convey serenity and intimate romantic devotion. "Lovin' You" reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 in April 1975 and helped propel the album Perfect Angel to the top of the R&B chart for three weeks. Wonder co-produced Perfect Angel with Richard Rudolph. Riperton had been singing professionally for more than a decade and the single suggested she was poised for a sustained career breakthrough.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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