Millie (singer)

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Millie
Birth name Millicent Small
Also known as Millie Small
Born 6 October 1946 (1946-10-06) (age 61)
Origin Clarendon, Jamaica
Genre(s) Blue Beat, Ska, Reggae
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter
Years active 1963 - 1968, 2004
Label(s) Fontana, Trojan

Millie (born Millicent Small, 6 October 1946, Clarendon, Jamaica[1]) — often known as "Little Millie Small," and in the United States as "Millie Small" — is best known as the singer of the 1964 hit, "My Boy Lollipop".

Contents

[edit] Career

Millie was the daughter of a sugar plantation overseer.[1] In her teens, she was part of a duo called "Roy and Millie" (with Roy Panton) and was recording for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One record label.[1] They had a minor local hit with "We'll Meet".[1]

In late 1963 she went to Forest Hill, London to make her fourth recording, an Ernest Ranglin rearrangement of "My Boy Lollipop", which had originally been recorded and released by Barbie Gaye in late 1956. Released in March 1964, Small's cover was a massive hit, reaching number two both in the UK Singles Chart[2] and in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It also topped the chart in Australia. Initially it sold over 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[3] Including singles sales, album usage and compilation inclusions, the song has since sold more than seven million copies worldwide.[1]

"My Boy Lollipop" was doubly significant in British pop music history. It was the first major hit for Island Records (although it was actually released via Fontana Records because Chris Blackwell, Island's owner, did not want to overextend the label's then-meagre resources; in the U.S. the record appeared on the Smash Records subsidiary of Mercury Records), and Small was the first artist to have a hit that was recorded in the so-called "bluebeat" style. (She was billed as "The Blue Beat Girl" on the single's label in the U.S.)[1] This was a "music genre" that had recently emerged from Jamaica, and which, as with ska, was a direct ancestor of reggae.

Millie continued to tour and perform up to the early 1970s. She lived in Singapore from 1971 to 1973 before returning to the UK which is now her home. She has an adult daughter, who is studying art and the music industry.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Time Will Tell
2004
Trojan

[edit] Singles

  • Shenley Duffas: "Give To Get" b/w Shenley & Millie: "What You Gonna Do", 7": Island WI 036, 1963
Year Single Label
1963 "Don't You Know" / "Until You're Mine" Fontana
1964 "My Boy Lollipop"
"Sweet William"
"I Love The Way You Love" / "Bring It On Home To Me"
1965 "I've Fallen In Love With A Snowman" / "What Am I Living For"
"See You Later Alligator" / "Chilly Kisses"
"My Street" / "It's Too Late"
"Bloodshot Eyes" / "Tongue Tied"
1966 "My Street" / "A Mixed Up Fickle Moody Self-centred, Spoiled Kind Of Boy" Brit
"Killer Joe" / "Carry Go Bring Come" Fontana
1967 "You Better Forget" / "I Am In Love" Island
"Chicken Feed" / "Wings Of A Dove" Fontana
1968 "When I Dance With You" / "Hey Mr. Love"
1969 "Readin' Writin' Arithmetic" / "I Want You Never To Stop" Decca
  • Millie was not a one-hit wonder. For example, subsequent recordings such as "Sweet William" and "Bloodshot Eyes", both charted in the UK at numbers 30 and 48, respectively.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f All Music Guide biography
  2. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums, 19th, London: Guinness World Records Limited, p. 367. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
  3. ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs, 2nd, London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd, p. 178-79. ISBN 0-214-20512-6. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links