Millie Jackson (Born 15/07/1944)

Millie was raised by her preacher grandfather until the age of fourteen, when she ran away from what she considered to be an overtly stifling environment and ever since she has been a trail blazing example of self sufficiency; not just in the material she wrote or recorded but also in the way she took control of her artistic life, branching out into record production, management and publishing. As a youngster, Jackson settled in New York (conflicting reports here, but some say to live with her father?), did some early modelling work and cut her first single in 1969 on MGM. She had a taste of minor success in 1972 with the excellent 'A Child of God (It's Hard To Believe)', which you can still find on compilations of her work.

A number of hit singles then followed ('Hurts So Good, 'My Man Is A Sweet Man' which is still a Primer favourite, although apparently Millie never really liked it) but the 1974 conceptual album "Caught Up" was the start of something particularly special. The album chronicled a love triangle (man, wife, mistress), one side providing the perspective of the wife, the other the mistress. Raunchy and exciting, she had found her audience. It also featured a great rendition of Luther Ingram's 'If Loving You Is Wrong I Don't Want To Be Right' for which she received two Grammy nominations. She followed it with the "Still Caught Up" album which, unsurprisingly continued the story. Again, the album featured excellent songs and, above all, terrific vocal work. This is possibly the better of the two albums (it has a wonderful version of Tom Jans 'Loving Arms') with a stronger "storyline" and a ludicrously melodramatic ending. Great stuff!!.

What people often forget or choose to ignore about Jackson is just what a very fine singer she is - she has a husky, powerful voice and, importantly, it's instantly recognisable. Anyone who goes back and listens to the 70s albums will be rewarded with a unique vision that should be entirely welcome in this age of interchangeable voices and identikit production values. Surprisingly, it has been reported that the monologues first started because Jackson had little or no confidence in her abilities as a singer. Always conscious that she had never had any formal training, she used the monologue format to make up for what she considered to be her vocal shortcomings. "Free And In Love", which followed the Caught Up albums, could loosely be described as the last of the trilogy - it's themes are similar and the material is strong. Anyone of these albums makes a great first Millie Jackson purchase, but the Primer goes for "Still Caught Up". You can get Caught Up and Still Caught Up on import as a package but, to be honest, listening to them back to back is a little draining emotionally. And the individual CDs are available in the UK at mid price so that's probably the best way to go.

In the 80s Jackson's star faded a little as she flirted more directly with rap (her albums in the 70s featured great monologues but never at the expense of the material), duetted with Isaac Hayes and even Elton John. She also switched gears and recorded a country album ("Just a Lil' Bit Country") that wasn't at all bad but which flopped quite badly - poor timing more than anything else. In the 1990s she helped create and tour in a musical (Young Man, Older Woman), which was a real success on the black theatre circuit. She also moved to the Ichiban label, and began to blend her gutsy, left of mainstream R&B and soul with elements of rock and pop. You can get a "Best Of" that covers much of Millie's career but in the Primer's view there's too much mediocrity mixed in with the good stuff. Much better to go straight to the ground breaking mid to late 70s material and wallow in the drama - and get to hear a lady way ahead of her time! If you want to catch Millie in a live setting, get the "Live and Uncensored" 2CD set. Funny, entertaining and great material.