# Stephanie Mills
**Stephanie Mills** (born 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress who rose to fame as Dorothy in the original Broadway production of *The Wiz* and went on to a string of 1980s R&B hits, including the Grammy-winning "Never Knew Love Like This Before"[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/stephanie-mills-mn0000021334/biography). Known early in her career as "the little girl with the big voice," she combined a Broadway performer's stagecraft with a gospel-rooted voice that made "Home," from *The Wiz*, her signature song[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/stephanie-mills-mn0000021334/biography) • [2](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Stephanie-Mills/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1957, in Brooklyn, New York[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/stephanie-mills-mn0000021334/biography) |
| Signature role | Dorothy in the original Broadway production of *The Wiz*, which opened January 5, 1975 at the Majestic Theatre and ran to 1979[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/stephanie-mills-53170) • [4](https://playbill.com/article/celebrate-more-than-45-years-of-the-wiz-on-broadway) |
| Grammy | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, "Never Knew Love Like This Before," 1981[2](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Stephanie-Mills/) |
| R&B chart record | Five No. 1 hits on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, including "Home" and "I Feel Good All Over"[5](https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/grammy-winning-icon-stephanie-mills-blasts-disrespectful-lady-gaga) |
| Gold albums | Five: *Whatcha Gonna Do with My Lovin'*, *Sweet Sensation*, *Stephanie*, *If I Were Your Woman*, and *Home*[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/stephanie-mills-mn0000021334/biography) |
| Broadway returns | Aunt Em in NBC's *The Wiz Live!* (2015); Missus Hermes in *Hadestown* (July to October 2024)[6](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/stephanie-mills/profile/) • [2](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Stephanie-Mills/) |
| Hall of Fame | National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, 2019[5](https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/grammy-winning-icon-stephanie-mills-blasts-disrespectful-lady-gaga) |
## Early years in Brooklyn and the Apollo
Mills grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn and began singing at about age three in the choir of the Cornerstone Baptist Church, where she developed her gospel sound[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/stephanie-mills-mn0000021334/biography) • [7](https://wers.org/vault-of-soul-stephanie-mills/). At nine she won the Amateur Night competition at Harlem's Apollo Theater six weeks in a row, a run that drew industry attention[8](https://northcarolinamusichalloffame.org/inductee-item/stephaniemills/). That same year she made her Broadway debut as Pansy in the musical *Maggie Flynn*, appearing alongside [Shirley Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/shirley-jones) and [Jack Cassidy](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-cassidy)[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/stephanie-mills-53170). The Apollo success led to a stint as opening act for the Isley Brothers, and as a teenager she recorded her first album, *Movin' in the Right Direction*, for ABC Records in 1974[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/stephanie-mills-mn0000021334/biography).
## The Wiz and Broadway stardom
Mills's breakthrough came when theatrical producer Ken Harper, who was assembling *The Wiz*, an all-Black Broadway adaptation of [L. Frank Baum](https://www.edgepedia.org/l-frank-baum)'s *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz*, asked her to audition; at 17 she won the lead role of Dorothy[9](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/stephanie-mills). The show opened at the Majestic Theatre on January 5, 1975 and won seven [Tony Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-awards), including Best Musical[4](https://playbill.com/article/celebrate-more-than-45-years-of-the-wiz-on-broadway) • [10](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/when-wiz-debuted-broadway-50-years-ago-sparked-brand-new-day-audiences-180986814/). Mills starred in the run until it closed in 1979[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/stephanie-mills-53170).
She was passed over for the 1978 film version, in which [Diana Ross](https://www.edgepedia.org/diana-ross) played Dorothy, and Mills later said the widely panned film "could have been the first black classic, and it just wasn't that"[9](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/stephanie-mills). The stage song "Home" became her signature number; she recorded it again on her 1989 album *Home* as a tribute to the show's producer Ken Harper and composer Charlie Smalls, and the song reached No. 1 on the R&B chart[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/stephanie-mills-mn0000021334/biography) • [5](https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/grammy-winning-icon-stephanie-mills-blasts-disrespectful-lady-gaga). In 2015, forty years after her Broadway debut, she played Aunt Em in NBC's live television production *The Wiz Live!*[6](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/stephanie-mills/profile/).
## Recording career
**The 20th Century years.** After leaving *The Wiz*, Mills signed with 20th Century Records and, working with the production team of James Mtume and Reggie Lucas, released *Whatcha Gonna Do with My Lovin'* in 1979, her first gold record[11](https://iamstephaniemills.com/about/) • [7](https://wers.org/vault-of-soul-stephanie-mills/). The follow-up *Sweet Sensation* (1980) reached No. 3 on the R&B album chart and contained the million-selling single "Never Knew Love Like This Before," which won the 1981 Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance[9](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/stephanie-mills). The self-titled *Stephanie* (1981) included "Two Hearts," a duet with [Teddy Pendergrass](https://www.edgepedia.org/teddy-pendergrass), and Mills also received a 1982 American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist[5](https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/grammy-winning-icon-stephanie-mills-blasts-disrespectful-lady-gaga).
**The MCA comeback.** After a mid-1980s dip in commercial success, Mills signed with MCA and found renewed chart strength with *If I Were Your Woman* (1987), which went gold and produced two Top 10 R&B hits, the gospel-edged "I Feel Good All Over" and the dance-oriented "(You're Puttin') A Rush on Me"[12](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-25-ca-16185-story.html). Across 1986 and 1987 she reached the top of the R&B chart three times, adding "I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love," written by [Angela Winbush](https://www.edgepedia.org/angela-winbush)[9](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/stephanie-mills). In all she placed five songs at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, the fifth being "Something in the Way (You Make Me Feel)"[5](https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/grammy-winning-icon-stephanie-mills-blasts-disrespectful-lady-gaga). In interviews she has been explicit that she stayed with R&B rather than chasing pop crossover, saying "I realize that R&B is what I do best"[12](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-25-ca-16185-story.html).
## Later theater and touring work
Mills reprised Dorothy in Broadway revivals of *The Wiz* in 1983 to 1984 and again in 1992 to 1993, headlined her own Broadway special *Stephanie Mills Comes "Home" to Broadway* in 1989, and appeared in a Chicago production of *Ragtime* in 1998 and 1999[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/stephanie-mills-53170). In July 2024 she returned to Broadway after forty years, replacing Lillias White as Missus Hermes in *Hadestown* through October of that year[2](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Stephanie-Mills/).
In 2025 and 2026 she toured as one of four headliners on "The Queens! 4 Legends. 1 Stage." arena tour with [Patti LaBelle](https://www.edgepedia.org/patti-labelle), Chaka Khan, and [Gladys Knight](https://www.edgepedia.org/gladys-knight), produced by Black Promoters Collective; her set drew on "Home" and "Never Knew Love Like This Before" among other hits[13](https://apnews.com/article/a3746872ad87dd6b0b857abb84a4eff9) • [14](https://www.setlist.fm/setlists/stephanie-mills-13d6b9a5.html).
## Public commentary
Mills has been a frequent and blunt commentator on the treatment of Black artists in the music industry. In a 2017 appearance she criticized what she described as the whitewashing of R&B and the appropriation of Black culture, remarking that "The hardest thing for an artist to realize is that you're just a dollar to most people"[15](https://thegrio.com/2017/11/15/stephanie-mills-kardashians-white-music/). In a 2021 interview she argued that pop crossover is an illusion for Black R&B artists and advised younger artists to be themselves[16](https://thegrio.com/2021/06/30/stephanie-mills-the-grio-exclusive/). In October 2026, in an interview on The Jason Lee Show, she said [Lady Gaga](https://www.edgepedia.org/lady-gaga) owed her an apology over an unpaid surprise performance years earlier, in which she said Gaga's team later told her to delete photos taken at the event[5](https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/grammy-winning-icon-stephanie-mills-blasts-disrespectful-lady-gaga).
## Legacy
*The Wiz* became a cultural landmark: its original production's music and design shaped Black musical theater, and "Home" has been covered widely, including by [Whitney Houston](https://www.edgepedia.org/whitney-houston) in her 1983 television debut and by Beyoncé and [Jazmine Sullivan](https://www.edgepedia.org/jazmine-sullivan)[10](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/when-wiz-debuted-broadway-50-years-ago-sparked-brand-new-day-audiences-180986814/) • [17](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-the-wiz-40-anniversary-20181024-story.html). Mills's own performance set a template for the Black female Broadway voice; a scholarly history of the musical notes that her definitive turn as Dorothy, along with [Jennifer Holliday](https://www.edgepedia.org/jennifer-holliday)'s in *Dreamgirls*, tied the voice of a Black woman on Broadway to a pop and R&B sound rather than the classical Broadway idiom[18](https://assets-us-01.kc-usercontent.com/f7ca9afb-82c2-002a-a423-84e111d5b498/cfbb772f-ce66-43b2-9d92-ac1230825c99/978-1-4780-3095-9_601.pdf). Actors who followed her in the role, including Diana Ross on film and Nichelle Lewis in the 2023-2024 revival tour, are routinely described as following in her footsteps[19](https://apnews.com/article/63a17bc2f488a70d6cb82e3484cf939d).
## References
1. [Stephanie Mills Biography, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/stephanie-mills-mn0000021334/biography)
2. [Stephanie Mills, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Stephanie-Mills/)
3. [Stephanie Mills, IBDB](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/stephanie-mills-53170)
4. [Celebrate More Than 45 Years of The Wiz on Broadway, Playbill](https://playbill.com/article/celebrate-more-than-45-years-of-the-wiz-on-broadway)
5. [Grammy-Winning Icon Blasts 'Disrespectful' Lady Gaga, The Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/grammy-winning-icon-stephanie-mills-blasts-disrespectful-lady-gaga)
6. [Stephanie Mills Biography, Broadway Buzz](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/stephanie-mills/profile/)
7. [Vault of Soul: Stephanie Mills, WERS 88.9FM](https://wers.org/vault-of-soul-stephanie-mills/)
8. [Stephanie Mills, North Carolina Music Hall of Fame](https://northcarolinamusichalloffame.org/inductee-item/stephaniemills/)
9. [Stephanie Mills, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/stephanie-mills)
10. [When 'The Wiz' Debuted on Broadway 50 Years Ago, Smithsonian Magazine](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/when-wiz-debuted-broadway-50-years-ago-sparked-brand-new-day-audiences-180986814/)
11. [About, Stephanie Mills official site](https://iamstephaniemills.com/about/)
12. [Mills Returns to Her Strength with 'Woman', Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-25-ca-16185-story.html)
13. [All hail the 'Queens', Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/a3746872ad87dd6b0b857abb84a4eff9)
14. [Stephanie Mills Concert Setlists, setlist.fm](https://www.setlist.fm/setlists/stephanie-mills-13d6b9a5.html)
15. [Stephanie Mills holds nothing back about the whitewashing of R&B, TheGrio](https://thegrio.com/2017/11/15/stephanie-mills-kardashians-white-music/)
16. [Stephanie Mills talks new music and the illusion of crossing over, TheGrio](https://thegrio.com/2021/06/30/stephanie-mills-the-grio-exclusive/)
17. [On its 40th anniversary, a look at how 'The Wiz' forever changed black culture, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-the-wiz-40-anniversary-20181024-story.html)
18. [Black Women in American Musical Theatre (book chapter PDF)](https://assets-us-01.kc-usercontent.com/f7ca9afb-82c2-002a-a423-84e111d5b498/cfbb772f-ce66-43b2-9d92-ac1230825c99/978-1-4780-3095-9_601.pdf)
19. [Broadway-bound revival of 'The Wiz' finds its next Dorothy, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/63a17bc2f488a70d6cb82e3484cf939d)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Pop and R&B singer-songwriters › R&B and soul, 1970s and 1980s › Quiet storm and pop R&B*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license