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#655 NEVER KNEW LOVE LIKE THIS BEFORE Stephanie Mills
New Yorker Stephanie Mills was born in 1957. Her vocal skills started developing while singing at church, before the young girl won a talent contest and began acting on stage. In 1975 she was lauded for her performance as Dorothy in the '"The Wiz" musical on Broadway. Jermaine Jackson helped her sign up with Motown Records. Her debut LP was issued the following year.
The hits started for Mills once she switched labels to 20th Century Records in 1978. She was a regular visitor to the US R&B chart by the time 'Sweet Sensation' became her 2nd LP for the new record company. Released in 1980, it spawned her best selling hit, "Never Knew Love Like this Before". It was one of the fruits of her teaming with the production duo James Mtume and Reggie Lucas. The former would form the funk group Mtume and score a hit with "Juicy Fruit". The 2 producers penned this song for Mills and watched as it rose up the charts around the world, peaking at #4 in the UK and #6 in America.
During the same year, Mills married (briefly) Jeffrey Daniels from the group Shalamar. She continued recording worthy R&B/ dance pop tracks following her 1980 hit. She also had her own TV talk show. In 2004, she released a critically well received LP entitled 'Born For This!', proving she can still impress with her voice.