1977 Minnie Riperton – Stay In Love

Stay in Love (full title: Stay in Love: A Romantic Fantasy Set to Music) is the fourth studio album by American singer Minnie Riperton, released under Epic Records. The album features the hits “Young Willing and Able” and the Stevie Wonder collaboration “Stick Together”. Unlike her previous works, the soft soul elements here tend to fade, replaced by a more upbeat disco sound which was the musical trend at the time. “Stick Together” peaked at no. 23 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Play, an alternate version known as “Stick Together (Part One)” reached no. 57 on the U.S. Hot Black Singles chart.

Stay in Love was Minnie’s first disco effort – the only of three disco containing releases that is almost entirely focused on that genre. It was also her last album for Epic Records before signing to Capitol Records. Also, this was her first album since Come to My Garden that didn’t feature husband Richard Rudolph as a producer or co-producer, although he still co-wrote all the songs. Instead, the album was produced by veteran Motown producer Freddie Perren.