| BIOGRAPHY |
Millie Jackson is much more than an entertainment legend. The shapely,
charismatic and multi-talented entertainer is without a doubt, a music
industry icon whose oft criticized career paved the way for many of
today’s forward female recording artists and entertainers. Not
only has her lengthy career attracted fans from all walks of life along
the way; it’s rumored that Bette Midler and Roseanne took pages
from Millie’s high voltage explicit approach to sex, to enrich
their respective careers.
In spite of being stamped bawdy, brash and bad, Millie is the epitome of performance
perfection on stage. She has no peer in this department!!! Several years ago,
she added a new dimension to her established legendary career by creating, financing,
directing and starring in a ‘hit’ musical stage play that was based
on one of her previous recordings, “Young Man, Older Woman”. During
the play’s touring years, audiences (old and new) discovered that Millie
Jackson was equally at home as an actress, as she was singing songs in a musical
mesmerizing manner.
“Young Man, Older Woman” broke numerous box office records and attracted
countless SRO audiences in cities and venues it played during its close to four-year
run. It’s overwhelming success prompted David Patrick Stearns of USA Today
to write a feature article, citing Millie as an astute businesswoman and lauding
her, for her ability to turn her brand of risqué music into stage play
success. In Los Angeles, actor/comedian Martin Lawrence created a special role
for her to play on his popular TV sitcom after seeing her perform in “Young
Man, Older Woman” at the Wiltern Theatre.
It’s definitely no stage joke that her career was launched in a New York
nite club on a bet. It happened in a Harlem nite club shortly after she finished
high school. Winning the bet by performing resulted in Millie’s metamorphic
rise from a fledgling performer to a world-renown electrifying entertainer.
Her first record release, “A Child of God,” on Spring Records, more
or less set the tone for what was to come with sexual and social hypocrisy from
the transplanted Georgia native. Her debut album resulted in Millie being named ‘Most
Promising Female Vocalist’ by a NATRA a now defunct radio and record industry
organization. The following year, her single, “It Hurts So Good,” was
featured in the Warner Brothers film, “Cleopatra Jones”. The soundtrack
album resulted in Millie winning ‘Best Female R&B Vocalist’ honors
from Cash Box Magazine.
Both her powerful vocal prowess and her ability to gather material to fit perfectly
into the philosophical tune trends of the times surfaced when her next album
was released. Then, with the help of Brad Shapiro she started producing herself.
Their team efforts produced ‘gold’ for the album “Caught Up”.
They also wrote history in the annals of the recording industry. Over the ensuing
years, Millie’s name became synonymous with a streak of hit albums. “Get
It Out Cha System,” “Feelin’ Bitchy,” “Hard Times,” “A
Moment’s Pleasure,” “Live and Uncensored,” “For
Men Only,” “I Had To Say It,” “A Little Bit Country” and “Live
and Outrageous” were some of the albums that earned Millie more ‘gold’ on
Spring Records and added to her liberated lyrical approach. A few years later
she produced and performed on an album with Isaac Hayes. The collaboration was
entitled “Royal Rappin’s”.
Her next duet recording effort was in 1985 with pop recording star Elton John.
The single’s release and music video, “Act of War” made the
national pop charts and resulted in Millie becoming a crossover artist. The success
of this duet with Elton paved the way for her first booking as a headline act
at Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Millie’s Amphitheatre performance
earned her a tie for a ‘Best Concert Performance Award’ with Sting,
in an annual poll conducted by the Los Angeles Reader Newspaper.
Jive/Zomba Records, an English-based record label distributed by RCA Records
was Millie’s next label after Spring Records. Four albums and several singles
were released during her tenure there. Two of the singles reached the national
Top Ten R&B music charts. Ironically, “Young Man, Older Woman” was
the last album Millie recorded for the label. It was also the title that caught
her fancy when she decided to write and produce her first play.
To satisfy public demands for the play’s soundtrack album, Millie struck
a deal with Georgia-based Ichiban Records to record and release the “Young
Man, Older Woman” cast album. Its success prompted a second album, “Rockin’ Soul”.
This album showcased her ability to successfully bridge the musical gap between ‘soul’ and
pop music..
Her third album with Ichiban Records was entitled “It’s Over!??” This
was the soundtrack album for her second musical stage play, “The Sequel
(It Ain’t Over)”. In her humorous innate way she described her third
album for Ichiban, as… “Well, we finally got the punctuation dilemma
settled!”
Promotional differences and directions resulted in Millie’s second musical
stage play being short lived after successful runs in New York City and Detroit.
It also robbed waiting audiences around the country from seeing and hearing the
legendary R&B singing trio of Ray, Goodman and Brown; Douglas Knyght Smith
(her “younger” co-star from the first play), Keisha Jackson, and
Antonio Fargas (“Huggie Bear” from Starsky & Hutch) on stage
with Millie Jackson, doing their acting and singing thing in her all new hilarious
musical stage play.
Of the many songs recorded and released by Millie over the years, her “Phuck-U-Symphony” remains
the most re-recorded. She appeared in the movie “Wigstock,” and was
dubbed the Mother of Hip Hop by Da Brat who asked Millie to appear on her last
album. This record session lead to Millie being called on to do a Sprite television
commercial.
For the past several years Millie has been doing her daily radio show on KKDA
in Dallas, Texas, from various locations around the country. More recently she
was inspired to record again. Rather than go through changes with other record
labels, she decided to launch her own label and record the types of songs and
materials that made her the outspoken, sexually liberated Millie Jackson that
people loved and flocked to see.
The name of her new record label is Weird Wreckuds – git it!! Her new single “Butt-A-Cize” is
currently available, and her new album entitled “Not For Church Folk!” will
be released shortly. |
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