Millie Jackson

Millie Jackson — aka Milred Jackson (born July 15, 1944) — is an American soul singer from Thomson, Ga., who released 19 live and studio albums on Spring/Polydor between 1972 and 1983, followed by seven further titles on Jive and Ichiban during the subsequent 12-year period.

She was born Mildred Virginia Jackson on July 15, 1944, in Thomson, Ga., the daughter of a sharecropper. Her mother died when she was a small child. Afterward, her father moved them to Newark, NJ. As a teen, she moved in with her aunt in New York City and found modeling gigs, appearing in JIVE and Sepia.

In 1964, she had her first singing spot at a New York nightclub. Nervous about singing before a crowd of onlookers, she gave a monologue that consumed most of the show. This begat her method of telling lengthy stories before and after songs. Later that year, she won a talent contest at the Smalls Paradise nightclub in Harlem.

Jackson released her first single, “A Little Bit of Something” (b/w “My Heart Took a Licking (But it Kept on Ticking)”), in 1969 on MGM. Two years later, she signed to the more localized Spring Records, which issued her second single, “A Child of God (It’s Hard to Believe)” (b/w “You’re the Joy of My Life”). Her self-titled debut album, containing both sides of that single, appeared on Spring in 1972.

Discography:

• Millie Jackson (1972)
• It Hurts So Good (1973)
• Millie [I Got to Try It One Time] (1974)
• Caught Up (1974)
• Still Caught Up (1975)
• Free and in Love (1976)
• Lovingly Yours (1976)
• Feelin’ Bitchy (1977)
• Get It Out’cha System (1978)
• A Moment’s Pleasure (1979)
• Royal Rappin’s (1979 • Millie Jackson & Isaac Hayes)
• For Men Only (1980)
• I Had to Say It (1980)
• Just a Lil’ Bit Country (1981)
• Hard Times (1982)
• E.S.P. (Extra Sexual Persuasion) (1983)
• An Imitation of Love (1986)
• The Tide Is Turning (1988)

Sources:

• Discogs: Millie Jackson