Millie Jackson

Mildred Virginia Jackson (born July 15, 1944) is an American R&B and soul recording artist. Beginning her career in the early 1960s, three of Jackson's albums have been certified gold by the RIAA for over 500,000 copies sold. Jackson's songs often include long spoken sections, sometimes humorous, sometimes sexually explicit. She recorded songs in an R&B, disco, or dance-music style and occasionally in a country style.

Occasionally, Jackson has been called the "mother of hip-hop," or of rapping itself. This has more to do with the long spoken sections in many of her songs as opposed to actual rapping. According to the cataloguing site WhoSampled.com, her songs have appeared in 189 samples, 51 covers, and six remixes.

"Since she always enjoyed writing poems, in the early '70s Jackson began crafting such proto-rap R&B singles as the outspoken "A Child of God (It's Hard to Believe)."

Early life

Born in Thomson, Georgia, Jackson is the daughter of a sharecropper Jubilee Jackson. Her mother died when she was a child and subsequently, she and her father moved to the New York City area and settled in Newark, New Jersey. She found an occasional modeling gig for magazines like ''JIVE'' and ''Sepia''.

In 1964, Jackson performed at a club in New York City. She subsequently appeared in a "string of one nighters" after this. Her performance was mostly talk and spoken words, but her onstage banter would become a focal point in her stage act. This banter stemmed from her being unsure of what to do in front of the crowd.

"I just talked to the audience because I was nervous," Jackson said. "Then my label (Spring) wanted to record it like I was doing it live. It was longer than a three-minute single, but not quite a whole album side so I said, 'We need to keep this story going.'"

Career

Jackson's recording career reportedly began on a dare to enter a 1964 talent contest at Harlem nightclub Smalls Paradise, which she won. Although she first recorded for MGM Records in 1970, she soon left and began a long association with New York-based Spring Records. Working with the label's in-house producer, Raeford Gerald, her first single to chart was 1971's deceptively titled "A Child of God (It's Hard to Believe)," which reached number 22 on the R&B chart. In 1972, Jackson had her first R&B top ten single with the follow-up, "Ask Me What You Want", which also reached the pop top 30, then "My Man, A Sweet Man" reached No. 7 R&B and No. 50 on the UK Singles Chart; all three songs were co-written by Jackson.
"My Man, A Sweet Man" consists of northern soul as is her 1976 recording "A House for Sale". The following year brought her third US R&B top ten hit, "It Hurts So Good