Stephanie Mills Tickets

Mills began her career appearing in her first play at the age of nine. Two years later, Mills won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater a record six times. The victory led to her being cast in her first role, the orphaned child of a runaway slave in the musical "Maggie Flynn". In 1973, Mills' musical recording career was launched when she was signed to Paramount records by Michael Barbiero, and her first single "I Knew It Was Love" was released. She was later signed to Motown. Mills' career took a rise when she portrayed Dorothy in an African American adaptation of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" entitled "The Wiz", where she began dating Michael Jackson. Filled with a more urban style of music and scenery, "The Wiz" made Mills a star particularly because of her stellar performance of the song "Home". It would become her signature tune for years, and would be covered later by Diana Ross for the big-screen adaptation three years later and by Whitney Houston for her dramatic musical performance debut on TV in the early 1980s. Mills was the teen-age star of the Broadway stage production of "The Wiz". When she sang "Home", the musical's answer to "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", her theatrical delivery thrilled audiences and marked her as a talent to watch.