Miki Howard Biography

The jazz and R&B singer known as Miki Howard was born Alicia Michelle Howard in 1960 in Chicago, Illinois. Miki rose to fame in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s with a string of chart-topping R&B hits, but long before that she grew up in a household filled with musical influences; her parents were gospel singers who counted among their friends such high-profile performers as Mavis Staples, Fats Domino, Shirley Caesar, and Aretha Franklin.

Miki’s mother was a member of the group the Caravans, and when Miki was nine years old, the family moved to Los Angeles, where Howard grew up visiting such famous venues as Club Maverick to watch her family’s friends in live performances. By the time Miki was sixteen, she’d already set her sights on a career as an R&B singer, and she began performing in pageants and competitions. Her talents caught the attention of Augie Johnson, who selected Miki to join his group Side Effect in 1979. With Side Effect, Miki recorded the albums After the Rain, Portraits, and All Aboard, and the minor hits “Georgy Porgy” and “I Can’t Play.”

In 1985, Miki Howard launched a solo career, signing with Atlantic Records and releasing her debut album, Come Share My Love, in 1986. The album was a huge success, spawning the number one hit off the title track, and the songs “Come Back to Me Lover” and “Imagination.” Since that time, Miki Howard has released a string of additional albums, including Love Confessions (1987), for which Howard Received a Soul Train Award for Best New R&B Artist, and the albums: Femme Fatale (1992), Can’t count Me Out (1997), Three Wishes (2001), Pillow Talk (2006), and Private Collection (2008.) The albums gave audiences the additional R&B hits: “Baby, Be Mine,” “That’s What Love Is,” “Ain’t Nuthin’ in the World,” “Love Under New Management,” “Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do),” and “Ain’t Nobody Like You.”

Miki Howard continues to perform and record. She recently released her latest album, Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, in 2014.