Mills began her professional career at age nine, appearing in the
Broadway musical Maggie Flynn. The song "Home" was first performed by Mills in the stage production and was covered later by
Diana Ross for the movie adaptation three years later. Mills’s commercial success in the music industry remained elusive until 1979, when she signed to the
20th Century Fox Records label. There, Mills found her niche in mainly
disco music, recording songs such as "
Put Your Body In It", "You Can Get Over", and "
What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin'". The resulting album, ''
What Cha' Gonna Do with My Lovin''', being Mills's first gold record. She quickly followed the success with 1980's
Sweet Sensation, which featured Mills's hit "
Never Knew Love Like This Before". The single became a number 12 R&B and number 6 Pop hit in 1980, as well as reaching number 4 in the
UK Singles Chart. 1981's
Stephanie featured a top hit for her and
Teddy Pendergrass entitled "Two Hearts". Her 1983 album,
Merciless, featured her hit
cover of
Prince's "
How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore?", as well as the number 3 dance chart hit "Pilot Error", which was her first dance hit in the U.S. In 1984, Mills had her third UK hit with "
The Medicine Song" (number 29), Success for Mills had peaked until 1986, when her version of the
Angela Winbush-penned "
I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love", hit number 1 on the R&B singles chart. She truly returned with her next release,
If I Were Your Woman in 1987 under
MCA Records, which she was now signed. The hits from the album include the title track, originally a hit for
Gladys Knight & the Pips in 1971, a three-week number 1 R&B hit, "I Feel Good All Over", and "You're Puttin' a Rush on Me", to name a few of the songs released. The album reached
platinum status. That same year, she appeared in the NBC TV special,
Motown: Merry Christmas along with other musical artists and actors, performing the song, "Christmas Everyday", which was written by actor/comedian
Redd Foxx. Mills's success continued with 1989's
Home album. The hits from that album include "The Comfort of a Man", the title track, a cover of her old standard from
The Wiz and another song penned by Winbush titled "Something in the Way You Make Me Feel", which became another platinum record for Mills. Mills recorded one more album (1992's
Something Real) and a Christmas album before being released from her contract with MCA in 1992. In 1993, she once again starred in the role of Dorothy in
The Wiz. This revival was also short lived, closing after 28 performances. Mills released a live gospel recording in 1994 on
GospoCentric Records entitled
Personal Inspirations. The set was produced by
Donald Lawrence and featured a spiritualized retooling of her hit "I Have Learned To Respect The Power Of Love". Thereafter, Mills took a break from recording to care for her son. In 1997, Mills played the lead in a major production of
Stephen Schwartz's
Children of Eden in New Jersey, which Schwartz has called "the definitive production" of the show. She made an appearance in the 2007 gospel TV series
Sunday Best and was featured in a live interview on
The Yolanda Adams Morning Show, where she mentioned that she has her own record label (JM Records). In 2008, she began a comeback with singles recorded with
BeBe Winans and rapper
DMX to name a few. She made a comeback in independently-releasing
Born For This (released on
Expansion Records in the UK) on August 3, 2004. Her first single in over a decade, "Can't Let Him Go", was released. A twin-disc, career-spanning greatest hits compilation entitled
Gold was released by Hip-O/Universal Music earlier last year , 2017 Towards the end of 2012, Mills released a new single "So In Love This Christmas", available for download. In 2015, Mills was cast as Aunt Em in the
NBC live musical production of
The Wiz, forty years after her initial Broadway run in the show. Mills gained media attention in 2018 with her response to singer
Sam Smith, who remarked in a video posted to
Instagram that they did not like
Michael Jackson, but the Jackson hit "
Human Nature" was a "decent song". Mills' fiery response quickly gained traction as she criticized Smith in her own Instagram responses, both accusing Smith of cultural appropriation and referring to them as a "one hit wonder". In 2021, Mills participated in a
Verzuz battle with singer
Chaka Khan, at which both singers performed hits from their discography. In 2024, Mills returned to Broadway after forty years as Missus Hermes in the musical
Hadestown. ==Personal life==