Stephanie Mills

Biography

Stephanie Dorthea Mills (born March 22, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She rose to stardom as Dorothy Gale in the original seven-time Tony Award winning Broadway run of the musical The Wiz from 1974 to 1979. The song "Home" from the show later became a Number 1 U.S. R&B hit and her signature song.
During the 1980s, she had five Number 1 R&B hits, including "Home", "I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love×I Have Learned To Respect The Power Of Love1985 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love3:50BI Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love3:50", "I Feel Good All Over×I Feel Good All Over1987 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Feel Good All Over4:13BI Feel Good All Over (Suite)4:13", "(You're Puttin') A Rush on Me×(You're Puttin') A Rush On Me1987 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksA(You're Puttin') A Rush on Me4:25B(You're Puttin') A Rush on Me (instrumental)4:25" and "Something in the Way (You Make Me Feel)×Something In The Way (You Make Me Feel)1989 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksASomething in the Way (You Make Me Feel)4:37BLove Hasn't Been Easy on Me (edit)4:18". She won a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her song "Never Knew Love Like This Before×Never Knew Love Like This Before1980 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksANever Knew Love Like This Before3:29BStill Mine5:33" in 1981. Her albums What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin, Sweet Sensation×Sweet Sensation15 April 1980 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Sweet Sensation4:34A2Try My Love3:52A3I Just Wanna Say6:16A4Wish That You Were Mine4:13B1D‐a‐n‐c‐i‐n’5:46B2Still Mine5:39B3Never Knew Love Like This Before5:31B4Mixture of Love4:18 and Stephanie×Stephanie22 April 1981 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Winner4:50A2Two Hearts4:40A3Don't Stop Doin’ What ’cha Do4:44A4Top of My List3:41B1I Believe in Love Songs4:12B2Night Games5:44B3My Love’s Been Good to You4:12B4Magic5:06 went gold or platinum, all through 20th Century Fox Records. In 2025, Billboard named her one of the "75 Best R&B singers of All Time".

Early life

Stephanie Mills was born to Joseph and Christine Mills and raised in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Mills was raised Baptist and sang gospel music as a child at Brooklyn's Cornerstone Baptist Church.

Career

Mills began her professional career at age nine, appearing in the Broadway musical Maggie Flynn. After winning Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater six weeks straight at age eleven, Mills went on to become the opening act for the Isley Brothers. In 1973, Mills was signed to Paramount Records by Michael Barbiero, and her first single "I Knew It Was Love" was released. Mills was later signed to Motown after being suggested by Suzanne de Passe. Her first two albums there failed to produce a hit, and Mills left the label in 1976.
Mills's career took a rise when she portrayed Dorothy in the seven-time Tony Award winning Broadway musical The Wiz, an African-American adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The song "Home" was first performed by Mills in the stage production and was covered later by Diana Ross for the movie adaptation three years later. Mills’s commercial success in the music industry remained elusive until 1979, when she signed to the 20th Century Fox Records label. There, Mills found her niche in mainly disco music, recording songs such as "Put Your Body In It", "You Can Get Over×You Can Get Over1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAYou Can Get Over9:00BDeeper Inside Your Love3:54", and "What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin'×What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin'29 March 1979 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin'4:05A2You Can Get Over4:59A3Deeper Inside Your Love3:54A4Feel the Fire5:13B1Put Your Body in It4:05B2Starlight3:35B3You and I4:46B4Don't Stop Dancin'3:45". The resulting album, What Cha' Gonna Do with My Lovin', being Mills's first gold record.
She quickly followed the success with 1980's Sweet Sensation, which featured Mills's hit "Never Knew Love Like This Before×Never Knew Love Like This Before1980 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksANever Knew Love Like This Before3:29BStill Mine5:33". The single became a number 12 R&B and number 6 Pop hit in 1980, as well as reaching number 4 in the UK Singles Chart. 1981's Stephanie featured a top hit for her and Teddy Pendergrass entitled "Two Hearts×Two Hearts1981 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksATwo HeartsBI Just Wanna Say".
Her 1983 album, Merciless×Merciless19 August 1983 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?4:12A2Never Get Enough of You4:31A3Eternal Love4:41A4His Name Is Michael3:18A5Here I Am4:13B1My Body4:06B2Do You Love Him?3:47B3Pilot Error5:07B4Since We've Been Together3:13, featured her hit cover of Prince's "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore?", as well as the number 3 dance chart hit "Pilot Error×Pilot Error1983 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAPilot Error (club mix)6:20BPilot Error (album version)5:07", which was her first dance hit in the U.S. In 1984, Mills had her third UK hit with "The Medicine Song×The Medicine Song1984 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAThe Medicine Song6:30BThe Medicine Song (dub version)5:49" (number 29), which also reached number 1 on the U.S. dance chart and number 8 on the R&B chart. On May 24, 1984, Mills returned to theater to star in a short-lived touring revival of The Wiz.
In 1985, Mills's recording of "Bit by Bit (Theme from Fletch)" was featured in the Chevy Chase film, Fletch, and reached number 52 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, number 78 on The Billboard Hot 100 and number 15 on the Dance Chart.
Success for Mills had peaked until 1986, when her version of the Angela Winbush-penned "I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love×I Have Learned To Respect The Power Of Love1985 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love3:50BI Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love3:50", hit number 1 on the R&B singles chart. She truly returned with her next release, If I Were Your Woman in 1987 under MCA Records, which she was now signed. The hits from the album include the title track, originally a hit for Gladys Knight & the Pips in 1971, a three-week number 1 R&B hit, "I Feel Good All Over×I Feel Good All Over1987 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Feel Good All Over4:13BI Feel Good All Over (Suite)4:13", and "You're Puttin' a Rush on Me", to name a few of the songs released. The album reached platinum status. That same year, she appeared in the NBC TV special, Motown: Merry Christmas along with other musical artists and actors, performing the song, "Christmas Everyday", which was written by actor/comedian Redd Foxx.
Mills's success continued with 1989's Home album. The hits from that album include "The Comfort of a Man", the title track, a cover of her old standard from The Wiz and another song penned by Winbush titled "Something in the Way You Make Me Feel", which became another platinum record for Mills.
Mills recorded one more album (1992's Something Real×Something Real1992 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Never do You Wrong4:472All Day, All Night4:443Somewhere in This Broken Heart4:584Stone Cold Woman4:205Love the Hurt Away4:306Heartache4:197Policy of Love4:558I Found a New Love4:169All in How Much We Give3:271024-Hour Woman5:2111Never Gonna Give You Up5:1112I Just Want Love3:59) and a Christmas×Christmas1 June 1995 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1This Christmas4:502It Doesn't Feel Like Christmas (Without You)4:123We Can Move Mountains4:204Merry Christmas4:005Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer4:346Silent Night5:167Christmas With You4:588Love Is to Listen4:239White Christmas4:0810Jingle Baby4:08 album before being released from her contract with MCA in 1992. In 1993, she once again starred in the role of Dorothy in The Wiz. This revival was also short lived, closing after 28 performances. Mills released a live gospel recording in 1994 on GospoCentric Records entitled Personal Inspirations. The set was produced by Donald Lawrence and featured a spiritualized retooling of her hit "I Have Learned To Respect The Power Of Love". Thereafter, Mills took a break from recording to care for her son.
In 1997, Mills played the lead in a major production of Stephen Schwartz's Children of Eden in New Jersey, which Schwartz has called "the definitive production" of the show. She made an appearance in the 2007 gospel TV series Sunday Best and was featured in a live interview on The Yolanda Adams Morning Show, where she mentioned that she has her own record label (JM Records). In 2008, she began a comeback with singles recorded with BeBe Winans and rapper DMX to name a few. She made a comeback in independently-releasing Born For This (released on Expansion Records in the UK) on August 3, 2004. Her first single in over a decade, "Can't Let Him Go", was released. A twin-disc, career-spanning greatest hits compilation entitled Gold was released by Hip-O/Universal Music earlier last year

Towards the end of 2012, Mills released a new single "So In Love This Christmas", available for download. In 2015, Mills was cast as Aunt Em in the NBC live musical production of The Wiz, forty years after her initial Broadway run in the show.
Mills gained media attention in 2018 with her response to singer Sam Smith, who remarked in a video posted to Instagram that they did not like Michael Jackson, but the Jackson hit "Human Nature" was a "decent song". Mills' fiery response quickly gained traction as she criticized Smith in her own Instagram responses, both accusing Smith of cultural appropriation and referring to them as a "one hit wonder".
In 2021, Mills participated in a Verzuz battle with singer Chaka Khan, at which both singers performed hits from their discography. In 2024, Mills returned to Broadway after forty years as Missus Hermes in the musical Hadestown.

Personal life

Mills has been married three times:

Jeffrey Daniel: (1980–1983), Jeffrey Daniel was from the R&B/soul group Shalamar.
Dino Meminger: (1989–1991).
Michael Saunders: (1993–2001), Minister Louis Farrakhan officiated the wedding ceremony.
Mills has a son, Farad Mills, who was born with Down syndrome. She also once had a brief relationship with fellow singer Michael Jackson.
Mills was inducted as an honorary member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority on January 21, 2026.

Stage work

Maggie Flynn (1968)
The Wiz (1974–79; 1984; 1993)
Harlem Suite (1988)
Stephanie Mills Comes Home to Broadway (1989)
Children of Eden (1997)
Purlie (1998)
Ragtime (1999)
Funny Girl (2002) (Actors Fund benefit concert)
Hadestown (2024)