b. Mildred "Millie" Jackson, 15th July 1944, Thompson, Georgia, U.S.A.
Millie Jackson is an accomplished singer and songwriter, sometimes playing the part of a comedienne in her performances.
Millie possesses one of Soul Music’s outstanding voices.
She is, also, the mother of the R&B songstress, Keisha Jackson.
Millie was born in Thomson, Georgia.
She was the daughter of a sharecropper, her mother passing away when she was a child.
Millie relocated, with her father to Newark, New Jersey, later moving to Brooklyn to live with an aunt.
In 1964, she entered a Harlem nightclub talent contest, which she won.
A Little Bit Of Something' b/w 'My Heart Took A Licking (But It Kept On Ticking)' - 1969
Her first recordings followed in 1969 for MGM Records, featuring the single 'A Little Bit Of Something' b/w 'My Heart Took A Licking (But It Kept On Ticking)'.
Millie departed the label and moved on to the New York-based Spring Records.
Her first charting single was 1971's ‘A Child of God (It's Hard to Believe)’, which reached number 22 on the R&B charts.
Over the next three years she recorded several soul singles, which included two U.S. R & B Top 10 entries, namely 'Ask Me What You Want' and 'My Man A Sweet Man'.
The following year brought her biggest single success and her third Top Ten hit, ‘It Hurts So Good’, which made #3 on the R&B charts and #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
millie jackson - 1972 / hurts so good - 1973 / caught up - 1974 / still caught up - 1975
The single was featured on the album of the same name and in the blaxploitation film ‘Cleopatra Jones’.
In 1974, Millie released the album ‘Caught Up’, which featured her version of Luther Ingram's million-seller, ‘(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right’, for which she received two Grammy nominations.
Millie changed producers to work only with Brad Shapiro, recording at Muscle Shoals Studio in Alabama with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
She continued to record most of her material in Alabama, including the follow-up album, ‘Still Caught Up’.
lovingly yours - 1976 / feelin' bitchy - 1977 / get it outcha system - 1978 / an imitation of love - 1986
In 1977, Millie’s version of Merle Haggard's country hit ‘If You're Not Back In Love By Monday’ became an R&B hit.
Despite excursions into C & W and a collaboration with Isaac Hayes, Millie’s material became more suggestive, manifested in the titles 'Sexercise Pts 1 & 2' and 'Slow Tongue (Working Your Way Down)'.
In 1979, she collaborated with Isaac Hayes for ‘Royal Rappin’s’ and the same year saw her release a double album, ‘Live And Uncensored’.
Millie also formed and produced the group Facts of Life, who charted in 1976 with ‘Sometimes’ (number 3 R&B).
She left Spring in 1984, after the label folded, and signed to the Jive Records imprint for future album releases.
Millie achieved some success on the U.K. singles market in 1985 when she duetted with Elton John on the song 'Act Of War', which reached the Top 40.
In 1991, she wrote, produced and starred in the successful touring play ‘Young Man, Older Woman’, based on her album of the same title for Ichiban Records.
In 2001, Millie included a track on a movie sountrack for the film 'The Magnet' entitled 'One Day My Soul Will Be Opened Up'.
Nearly all of Millie's Spring albums saw CD release in the 90's on UK Ace's Southbound label.
These days, Millie runs her own record label called Weird Wreckuds, and, for a time, hosted her own radio show.
Millie recently performed at Washington, D.C.'s Howard Theatre and at B.B. King's Blues Club in 2012.
Albums:
Millie Jackson (Spring Records 1972)
It Hurts So Good (Spring Records 1973)
I Got To Try It One Time (Spring Records 1974)
Caught Up (Spring Records 1974)
Still Caught Up (Spring Records 1975)
Free And In Love (Spring Records 1976)
Lovingly Yours (Spring Records 1977)
Feelin' Bitchy (Spring Records 1977)
Get It Out 'Cha System (Spring Records 1978)
A Moment's Pleasure (Spring Records 1979)
with Isaac Hayes: Royal Rappin's (Polydor Records 1979)
Live And Uncensored (Spring Records 1979)
For Men Only (Spring Records 1980)
I Had To Say It (Spring Records 1981)
Just A Lil' Bit Country (Spring Records 1981)
Live And Outrageous (Spring Records 1982)
Hard Times (Spring Records 1982)
E.S.P (Extra Sexual Persuasion) (Sire Records 1984)
An Imitation Of Love (Jive Records 1986)
The Tide Is Turning (Jive Records 1988)
Back To The Shit (Jive Records 1989)
Young Man, Older Woman (Jive / Novus Records 1991)
Young Man, Older Woman: Cast Album (Ichiban Records 1993)
Rock N' Soul (Ichiban Records 1994)
It's Over (IC Records 1995)
Not For Church Folk (Southbound Records 2002)
