Stephanie Mills

Stephanie Dorthea Mills was born on March 22, 1957, to Joseph and Christine Mills in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. Raised Baptist, she sang gospel music as a child at Brooklyn's Cornerstone Baptist Church and began her professional performance career at age nine, appearing in the Broadway musical Maggie Flynn in 1968. By age eleven, she had won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater six consecutive weeks and subsequently became an opening act for the Isley Brothers.

Mills's recording career began in 1973 when she was signed to Paramount Records by Michael Barbiero, releasing her debut single "I Knew It Was Love." She later signed to Motown after being recommended by Suzanne de Passe, but her two albums for that label did not produce a hit, and she departed in 1976. Her Broadway work during this period brought her greater recognition: she originated the role of Dorothy Gale in The Wiz, the seven-time Tony Award-winning African-American adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, running in the production from 1974 to 1979. Her performance earned her a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Musical in 1975. The song "Home," which Mills first performed in the stage production, was later covered by Diana Ross for the film adaptation and became a Number 1 U.S. R&B hit and Mills's signature song.

Her commercial recording success arrived after signing with 20th Century Fox Records in 1979. There she recorded disco-oriented material, including "Put Your Body In It," "You Can Get Over," and "What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin'," the title track of her first gold album. The follow-up, Sweet Sensation, released in 1980, featured "Never Knew Love Like This Before," which reached number 12 on the R&B chart, number 6 on the Pop chart, and number 4 on the UK Singles Chart. That recording earned Mills the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 1981. Her 1981 album Stephanie included a top hit duet with Teddy Pendergrass titled "Two Hearts," and the album also achieved gold or platinum certification, as did What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin' and Sweet Sensation, all through 20th Century Fox Records.

Her 1983 album Merciless featured a cover of Prince's "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore?" and the number 3 dance chart entry "Pilot Error," her first U.S. dance hit. The following year, "The Medicine Song" reached number 1 on the U.S. dance chart, number 8 on the R&B chart, and number 29 in the UK. On May 24, 1984, Mills returned to the stage in a touring revival of The Wiz. In 1985, her recording "Bit by Bit (Theme from Fletch)" appeared in the Chevy Chase film Fletch and charted on the Billboard Hot 100, the R&B chart, and the Dance Chart.

Mills signed to MCA Records and released If I Were Your Woman in 1987, a platinum album that produced multiple Number 1 R&B hits, including the Angela Winbush-penned "I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love," the three-week chart-topper "I Feel Good All Over," and "(You're Puttin') A Rush on Me." That same year she appeared in the NBC television special Motown: Merry Christmas, performing "Christmas Everyday," a song written by Redd Foxx. Her 1989 album Home included another Winbush composition, "Something in the Way You Make Me Feel," which became a Number 1 R&B hit, as well as a new recording of "Home." The album achieved platinum status. Mills recorded Something Real in 1992 and a Christmas album before her MCA contract concluded that year.

Her stage work continued alongside her recording career. In 1988 she appeared in Harlem Suite, and in 1989 she starred in Stephanie Mills Comes Home to Broadway. She reprised the role of Dorothy in a 1993 revival of The Wiz, which closed after 28 performances. In 1994 she released Personal Inspirations, a live gospel recording on GospoCentric Records produced by Donald Lawrence. In 1997, Mills played the lead in a major New Jersey production of Stephen Schwartz's Children of Eden, which Schwartz described as the definitive production of the show. She appeared in Purlie in 1998, Ragtime in 1999, and a 2002 Actors Fund benefit concert production of Funny Girl. In 2015, she was cast as Aunt Em in NBC's live television production of The Wiz, forty years after her original Broadway run. Mills returned to Broadway in 2024, appearing as Missus Hermes in the musical Hadestown.

In 2021, Mills participated in a Verzuz battle with Chaka Khan, during which both performers sang from their respective catalogs. In 2025, Billboard named her one of the 75 Best R&B Singers of All Time.

Mills has been married three times: to Jeffrey Daniel of the R&B group Shalamar from 1980 to 1983, to Dino Meminger from 1989 to 1991, and to Michael Saunders from 1993 to 2001, with Minister Louis Farrakhan officiating that ceremony. She has a son, Farad Mills, who was born with Down syndrome. On January 21, 2026, Mills was inducted as an honorary member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority.