Stephanie Mills Biography

Stephanie Mills was born in 1957 in Brooklyn, New York. The young Stephanie grew up singing gospel music in her local church, but before she reached the age of ten, she had already made her Broadway debut. After winning a series of amateur competitions, including ones at the prestigious Apollo Theater, she earned a job as the supporting act for the Isley Brothers. Her debut album, Movin’ in the Right Direction was released in 1974, when Mills was still a teenager, but her biggest and most famous role was just around the corner. One year later, she was offered the role of Dorothy in the Broadway production of The Wiz, the role with which she is most associated and for which she earned the highest accolades from the critics.

Mills continued her endeavors as a solo recording artist, though, and in 1978 she released Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin’, an album which reached gold status and gave audiences the hit singles  "Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin'" and "You Can Get Over." A series of hit albums and singles followed over the years, including: Sweet Sensation (1980), Stephanie (1981), Tantalizingly Hot (1982), Merciless (1983), I’ve got the Cure (1984), Stephanie Mills (1986), If I Were Your Woman (1987), Home (1989), Something Speical (1992), and Personal Inspirations (1995), featuring the hits "Sweet Sensation," "Never Knew Love Like This Before," "Try My Love," "Two Hearts," "Night Games," and "Don't Stop Doin' What Cha Do," "I Have Learned To Respect The Power Of Love," "Rising Desire,” "If I Were Your Woman," "I Feel Good All Over," '"(You're Putting) a Rush On Me," and "Something In The Way You Make Me Feel.”

Mills entered a period of hiatus during the end of the 1990’s, and was quiet until the new millennium, when she launched a comeback and released Born For This in 2004. Fans were eager to hear Stephanie’s first single in more than ten years, “Can’t Let Him Go,” and the song hit was released to much anticipation on urban contemporary radio.  Breathless came next in 2010, and in 2012, Stephanie Mills released the single “So In Love this Christmas.” Mills continues to perform, tour, and record, and shows no signs of slowing down.