She is a singer and stage star once known as "the
little girl with the big voice", born in Brooklyn, New York.Her musical debut came when she was
nine and appeared in her first play.This was followed by her winning the Amateur Night a record six
times at the Apollo Theater and led to her being noticed and given a role
in the Broadway musical Maggie Flynn.Her singing career began to take off and in 1973 she was
the opening act for the Isley Brothers, after which she was noticed by
Jermaine Jackson and offered a contract with Motown Records.Her time with them wasn't as
successful as she'd hoped so in 1975 she accepted the part of Dorothy in
the stage musical The Wiz which brought her acclaim and provided her
with her signature tune "Home", which would later be covered by Whitney
Houston and Diana Ross in the film adaptation.After leaving Motown in 1976 she was quiet on the music
scene until 1979 when she was signed to 20th Century Fox and saw
success with several disco music songs which are still popular today such
as "What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin'", "Never Knew Love Like This Before"
and "You Can Get Over".She
also had a successful collaboration with Teddy Pendergrass when their duet
"Two Hearts" became a hit.The
peak of her success came after she joined MCA Records in 1985 where her
album If I Were Your Woman reached platinum status and spawned 3
chart hits.A further platinum
album and two hits came with her 1989 Home album.She stepped out of the limelight
from 1995 to look after her son, but returned to the stage in 1997 playing
the lead in a production of Children of Eden by Stephen
Schwartz.She began a
recording comeback in 2000 and then from 2004 to 2006 she took on the part
of the voice of Serenity Villa in Gene Simmon's animated My Dad the Rock
Star.The winner of
several awards she has received three Grammy Award nominations, winning
one, and has also received four American Music Award nominations, winning
one.She has been married
twice with one time being to the Shalamar member Jeff Daniel.
Stephanie Mills recordings
Never Knew Love
Like This Before (James Mtume/Reggie
Lucas)
