Stephanie Mills (born March 22, 1957) – Starlight (1979)
The legendary singer's breakthrough album featured this stellar LP-only cut, co-written and produced by the genius duo James Mtume and Reggie Lucas.
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Singer/songwriter and actor Stephanie Mills first rose to fame playing the role of Dorothy in the 1974 original Broadway production of The Wiz. Her recording career got off to a slow start before she collaborated with genius songwriter/producers James Mtume and Reggie Lucas, who helped her become an R&B/disco superstar in the late seventies and early eighties.
Born and raised in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, Stephanie Dorthea Mills got her start singing gospel at her church. When her mother called out to her, she would answer in song, and by seven had developed a flawless imitation of Diana Ross and the Supremes. She appeared in her first musical on Broadway at age nine, won Amateur Night at the Apollo six weeks straight when she was eleven, and was selected by the Isley Brothers to become their opening act.
She was signed to Paramount Records in 1973, and her first single was released the following year. “I Knew It Was Love” (1974) was a beautiful slow jam. Its B-side was the funky track “The Passion And The Pain,” co-written by Bert Keyes and Pat Holley, arranged by Keyes and produced by Eddie V. Deane. It would never appear on any of her subsequent albums.
The single failed to chart, partially because Paramount was winding down its music division and selling it to ABC Records. But when one of the producers assembling an all-Black cast for the new production The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical heard it, Mills was called in to read for the role of Dorothy, and she got the part.
She played Dorothy in the musical’s tryouts in Detroit, Baltimore, and Philadelphia during the fall of 1974. The producers considered shutting the show down after its January 5, 1975 opening night on Broadway drew mixed reviews. A publicity campaign saved it that featured a TV commercial with footage of the cast led by Mills singing “Ease On Down The Road,” and the show went on to run for four years and nearly 1,700 performances.
Mills was passed over for Dorothy’s role in the 1978 big-budget film adaptation, which instead went to Diana Ross. It was a decision almost universally considered to have been a major casting blunder, and one of the reasons the film version was a box office failure.
In 1975, her debut album Movin' In The Right Direction was released on ABC. Its funky, disco-flavored title track b/w the heartfelt slow jam “You Do It To Me” did not chart.
Later that same year, she switched labels to Motown where famed songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David co-wrote and produced her second album, the last major project they worked on together. For the First Time (1975) did not chart, nor did its single “This Empty Place,” and the LP was a forgettable effort save for its closing cut, the symphonic “Please Let Go.”
Also in 1975, the Original Cast Recording for The Wiz was released on Atlantic, featuring her signature song from the show “Home.”
In the late 70s, Mills dated Michael Jackson. In an interview years later, she recalled that period:
“I loved Michael. I thought that I was going to be Mrs. Michael Jackson, but I was ready at 20 and 21 to get married and he was not even close to getting married or having a girlfriend at the time, but yes we dated. We dated for a while. (But) Michael wanted so much more is probably why we went our separate ways. He wanted to be the biggest star in the world, and he wanted to associate with certain people that I didn’t want to associate with. So we just went in different paths…he liked and would go to their houses and stuff, and I wasn’t particularly interested in going.”
She later fell in love with Jeffrey Daniel from Shalamar, and the two were married from 1980-83.
In late 1978, as The Wiz nearing the end of its Broadway run, Mills refocused her energies on her singing career and signed to 20th Century Fox Records. She was soon to be paired with producers James Mtume and Reggie Lucas, a collaboration that would help them all reach greater heights. As former U.S. correspondent for the UK magazine Blues & Soul David Nathan recounted in 2004:
“(In) the autumn of 1978…the duo excitedly revealed that they were submitting demos in hopes they would be producing Stephanie Mills, then fresh off her award-winning role as “Dorothy” in the Broadway musical, “The Wiz.” Hitless from an album with ABC and (one) with Motown, Mills was in need of a hit and Mtume & Lucas were confident they could provide one.”
Their demos were approved, and before the year was over they had produced her third album What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin', recorded at Sigma Sound Studios’ New York City location. It was released in March, 1979. They co-wrote almost all of it, including its stellar title track which was issued as a single that July and became her first hit, peaking at #8 R&B and #22 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The single’s B-side was one of only two cuts on the LP not written by Mtume and Lucas, the slamming disco-funk jam and #8 dance chart hit “Put Your Body In It.” It was co-written by guitarist Ed Moore and drummer Howard King, who both played on the album and were members of Mtume and Lucas’ own group Mtume.
The album’s second single was the superb disco-funk message song “You Can Get Over,” with socially conscious lyrics that reminded us we have the power to build a better world:
“I believe this world can be a place of peace and harmony / Gonna show you, get up and take your stand / 'Cause I know you got the power in your hand / Feel it glowin' in every child, woman, and man”
It only reached #55 R&B and just missed the Hot 100 at #101. But it did hit #8 on the disco charts.
One of the best album-only tracks on What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin’ was the stellar jam “Starlight,” which was co-written by Mtume and Lucas. Like the rest of the LP, it featured Mtume on percussion, Lucas and Moore on guitars, King on drums, bassist Basil Fearington, Harry Whitaker and Hubert Eaves III on keyboards, and a dozen backing vocalists including Tawatha Agee and Gwen Guthrie.
Mtume and Lucas produced or co-produced another three albums for Mills, including her next LP Sweet Sensation, released in April, 1980. It peaked at #3 on the R&B album charts and #16 on the Billboard 200 on its way to going gold, largely on the strength of its second single, the smash hit “Never Knew Love Like This Before.” Co-written by Mtume and Lucas, it became her all-time best known song, reaching #6 on the Hot 100 and #12 R&B.
They also co-wrote the album’s superb disco-funk title track, which was released as the album’s lead single and went to #3 R&B and #5 on dance charts. Mills shot memorable promo videos for both singles in Central Park.
Another of the album’s highlights was the stellar jam “Try My Love,” co-written by Tawatha Agee and Hubert Eaves III.
Happy Birthday to the fabulous Stephanie Mills.
Further info:
“James Mtume: Multi-faceted Musical Pioneer and Friend,” by David Nathan, SoulMusic.com, 2004.
“Stephanie Mills holds nothing back about the whitewashing of R&B,” The Grio, November 15, 2017.
“Stephanie Mills Claims Michael Jackson’s Wanting To Date A Certain ‘Type’ Of Woman Possibly Led To Their Break Up,” Blavity, March 11, 2023.
#soul #funk #disco #StephanieMills