1977 Stephanie Mills

HERE I AM Blog Talk Radio, 22 March, 2010


About not getting the part of Dorothy in The Wiz:

“I am a big fan of Diana Ross so it really didn’t bother me at all ’cause, honey Michael was coming to my dressing room every day and I wasn’t thinking about The Wiz. I went to the set with him when they were filming so I didn’t think of it like it was devastating.”

WUNC Radio, April 2 2010


Host: Well apparently one of the people who saw that commercial was Michael Jackson who showed up every night and you developed quite a friendship Tell us about that.

Stephanie: Yes, yes, yes you know back then every little black girl wanted in America wanted to marry one of the Jackson Five. I got the chance to meet him because he would come to the show all the time. We developed quite a friendship. A friendship that lasted many years.

Host: I understand that you may have thought more of that relationship than he might have but you’ve kept that in your…

(laughing)

Stephanie: (laughing)I definitely thought that he was my boyfriend. At that time he was definitely my boyfriend. At 16 and 17 when you have a crush on a guy he’s your boyfriend.

Host: But it was more than that. You did sort of develop a relationship with him after that and get to know him personally after that.

Stephanie: Yes absolutely. I absolutely did. Yes we did.

Host: How do you access his career and his contribution?

Stephanie: Oh my god. He’s the biggest entertainer ever. He sold more records than anyone. His accomplishment is just unbelievable. But Michael was very disciplined and he loved to perform and dance and his fans. He loved the fans. That’s what he lived for and it showed in his life.

Mills and Jackson shared a bond earlier in their careers because they could relate to each other as child stars; the duo in fact dated for awhile in the mid-1970s. She admits that she was “madly in love” with Jackson and signed with Motown records at the time, in part, because she felt like she was “getting closer and closer to being Mrs. Jackson, because every little black girl in America wanted to marry one of the Jackson Five.”

News Observer April 9th 2010


“Well, Michael and I were really great, great friends,” she says. “We dated in the early ’80s and the ’70s, and we were good friends.” Mills insists she’s not only paying her last respects to the King of Pop on the song, but she’s also paying tribute to deceased friends and collaborators Teddy Pendergrass and Robert Brookins. “I really kind of relate it, or you can relate it back to when I recorded ‘Home.’ And when, you know, a lot of my friends had passed on with ‘Home,’ and I wanted people to remember their spirits and how wonderful the music was. It’s the same thing.”

Philly Tribune, Friday, 21 May 2010


As for her own music, Mills is excited about the summer release of her new album titled “Breathless,” recorded on her own label, CJ Entertainment. She plans to tour in support of the project, which is produced by Josiah Martin.

“‘Breathless’ is, I think, some of my best work — really writing and me really expressing myself,” said Mills. “Some of it’s personal experiences that I had, and it’s just an album full of relationships and love and different scenarios of how I like men and all that, but if they want to find out more about me, they can go to my Web site, www.stephaniemillsmusic.com.”

The diminutive diva explained that as a tribute to the late Michael Jackson, “Breathless” will include her interpretation of the Beatles classic, “Yesterday.”

“We had such a wonderful friendship in the late ’70s, early ’80s, and I just wanted to sing something from the Beatles catalog because I love the Beatles, and I know that he loved the Beatles’ catalog, and ‘Yesterday’ was one of my favorite songs,” Mills explained.

Actually, she admits to having a bit of a romance with the legendary entertainer, and recalled, “I was in love with Michael! I was really in love, and I thought I was going to be Mrs. Michael Jackson, but he was so slow! I was ready to become a bride! Oh my God! We were maybe 18-years-old. I got to know him as a person, as a friend and he was really all about our love — very affectionate, very loving. He was really all about love.”