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.
In 2012 she released the single “So in Love this Christmas” and in 2015 was cast as Aunt Em in NBC’s live musical production of The Wiz, 40 years after initial Broadway performance in the show.
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 three times with one time being to the Shalamar member Jeff Daniel.
Stephanie Mills recordings
Never Knew Love Like This Before (James Mtume/Reggie Lucas)
Still Mine (James Mtume/Reggie Lucas)
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