it's never ceased to amaze people how such a powerful voice could possibly come out of
someone who's only four feet nine inches tall stephanie mills undeniable talent took her from
the recording studio to broadway and back along the way though she'd experienced many highs and
many lows in both her professional and personal life that would test her resilience but ultimately
make her better and stronger in the end singer songwriter and actress stephanie dorthea mills
was born and raised in the bedford-stuyvesant neighborhood of brooklyn new york she grew up
singing in her local baptist church and by the age of nine she'd make her professional
debut in the broadway musical maggie flynn she did quite a bit of television work too
including the electric company and captain kangaroo after winning amateur night at the
apollo theater six weeks straight at 11 years old stephanie went on to perform
with many superstars such as the isley brothers roberta flack and james brown
in 1973 stephanie signed paramount records and released her first single i knew it was love off
her debut album moving in the right direction she then decided to make what she thought
was a move in the right direction to another label motown to be exact there she released her
follow-up effort for the first time unfortunately neither album produced any hits then stephanie's
career would take off in a major way courtesy of broadway she landed the role of dorothy in
the musical the wiz an african-american adaptation of the wonderful wizard of oz
after the producer of the production heard her debut song and asked her to audition it was meant
to be since due to all the rejection she'd already encountered on other auditions stephanie didn't
want to try out and only did so at the insistence of her mother the song home from the show would
become her signature tune and would be covered later by diana ross for the movie adaptation
three years later many people were curious as to why stephanie didn't play her broadway role
on the big screen but in subsequent interviews she explained that things just didn't work out
for her to be able to do the job also diana was the bigger star and for whatever reason
many broadway performers don't end up playing their role in the movie versions of productions
stephanie wasn't too disappointed over it though since she was so young and had her
whole life ahead of her to accomplish her career goals she would finally experience commercial
success in the music industry in 1979 when she signed to the 20th century fox records label
there she garnered a lot of attention for the tracks put your body in it you can get over and
what you're gonna do with my lovin which was also the name of her third album she quickly followed
up with 1980's sweet sensation which featured the top 10 hit never knew love like this before
the song would also garner stephanie a grammy award for best female r b vocal performance
also at this time stephanie married and made the move from new york to los angeles to be with
her husband jeffrey daniel from the r b group shalimar they would divorce three years later
over the next five years stephanie released five albums and scored further hits including the teddy
pendergrass duet two hearts the prince cover of how come you don't call me anymore and the
medicine song she then returned to theater to star in the first of a string of short-lived revivals
of the wiz stephanie finally captured her first number one r b hit in 1986 with i have learned to
respect the power of love off her self-titled tenth album more number one r b hits followed
with i feel good all over and you're putting a rush on me from her 1987 album if i were your
woman as well as something in the way you made me feel and the title track from her 1989 album home
originally featured in the wiz back in 1975. stephanie then entered into another short-lived
marriage to long-time friend dino meminger she went on to release a couple more albums in the
90s that didn't produce any major hits before being released from her contract with mca in 1992.
stephanie's third marriage also took place around this time unfortunately third time wouldn't be the
charm as they would eventually divorce years later she'd say that she doesn't think she's good at
marriage in part due to her bouts with depression which she's suffered from for a long time
she released her first gospel album in 1994 titled personal inspirations the album peaked at number
eight on the billboard gospel chart and featured tracks written by marvin winans james cleveland
and angela winbush in 2001 stephanie gave birth to her only child a son
there's only been speculation over the years as to who his father is since stephanie has preferred
not to comment about it what she has said is that the birth of her son who has down syndrome was
the best thing to happen to her after a 10 year hiatus she came back with born for this in 2004
it features rearranged productions of past hits as well as some new tracks throughout her career
stephanie has proven to be a very outspoken and uncensored person no matter how other people felt
about what she had to say in 2017 stephanie held nothing back during an interview on sister circle
when she was asked about the state of music in the current climate she spoke candidly about
the whitewashing of r b that she believes is obvious when comparing how much more attention
soulful projects from white artists get versus black artists she also added a warning to black
artists about needing to come to the realization that their relationships with certain people are
really about the bottom line and not genuine friendship and then these black people out
here that are these stars need to know that when you're invited to people's homes
you're just entertainment right you're just entertainment because you have that hit
record at that time you have that hit movie at that time and don't not have a hit record
stephanie made headlines in august 2018 with her response to singer sam smith who was seen
in a video posted to social media saying quote i don't like michael jackson but this is a good song
in reference to the king of pop's 1983 hit human nature miss mills went all the way off on the
british singer-songwriter saying don't come for michael jackson when you wish you have sold as
many records and you wish you were the king of pop like he was i'm so tired of you people
studying our music and studying our artist and claiming that you don't like our music
go sit your one hit wonder ass down and learn how to finish a tour when you can sell as
many records as the king of pop michael jackson then maybe you can say something
during a stop at new york's power 105.1 radio station morning show the breakfast
club in november 2019 stephanie touched on her past relationships with men and
how she ended up playing the role of sugar mama she bought two different men
luxury cars and when asked what was the nicest thing a man had ever gifted her
you could hear a pin drop in the studio from the deafening silence
she admitted that no man she'd ever been involved with showered her with presents including michael
jackson who she dated during the late 70s stephanie does however look back on that time
with michael specifically with nothing but fond memories and a couple of years later she even
mentioned on an instagram post that she wishes they had married so she could have protected him
fox souls the tammy mac late show invited stephanie on in early 2020
and she revealed that at the start of her career mtv and vh1 never wanted to play her music videos
due to her being quote to black when the whole seemed confused as to why stephanie didn't
think things were a lot better now for black artists than decades ago stephanie summed up
her feelings simply by stating that even though it looks like many people are being celebrated
for the most part they are really only being tolerated
since her relationship with her son is so special to her it was no surprise that the next project on
stephanie's docket would be related to catering to his needs she formed the 444 love foundation
headquartered in charlotte north carolina it's a non-profit that advocates and invests
in caring for educating and developing programs for individuals with special needs in the summer
of 2021 stephanie surprised everyone with the release of her first new single in nearly a decade
called let's do the right thing the reason it had been so long is because she'd already decided
not to go back into the studio again due to her love and preference for live performance
she summed up the significance behind the song in a video posted on her instagram the message
is for us as black people to come together and do the right thing for us not to look for others
to help us or give us a helping hand we need to help ourselves she also made a point of releasing
the song on juneteenth a day celebrating the end of slavery in the united states stephanie's also
written several more tracks that she plans to release on other significant american dates on
november 18th after stephanie said that the powers that be weren't interested her and chaka khan did
come together to participate in a versus battle to celebrate their respective careers and sisterhood
at 65 stephanie shows no signs of slowing down and currently continues to perform and tour nationwide
in front of sold-out audiences spreading love and empowering people to be their best
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