Featured Artist
Millie Small
MILLIE SMALL
Having first burst upon the Jamaican music scene as a teenage sensation in 1962, partnering Roy Panton on a number of best-selling singles, Millie Small caught the ear of Island Record boss, Chris Blackwell, who had the young Clarendon-born singer relocate to London, subsequently acting as her manager and legal guardian.
Less than a year after her arrival in Britain, Millie was storming Pop charts around the globe with her irresistible Ska version of Rock & Roll obscurity, ‘My Boy Lollipop’. Further hits followed with ‘Sweet William’ and ‘Bloodshot Eyes’, but despite a number of numerous laudable follow-ups, both as a solo act and partnering Jackie Edwards, subsequent crossover triumphs proved elusive.
In 1968, after 5 years of touring and recording for Fontana and Island, Millie signed for Decca, but the company’s failure to promote her work sufficiently led to a move to Graeme Goodall’s Doctor Bird and soon after, Trojan. The recent development of Reggae presented a new opportunity for the songstress and early in 1970, she announced she was back in the big time with the release of her first solo album in five years, ‘Time Will Tell’. A brief spell with President ensued, but in 1971, after cutting the Jimmy Cliff song, ‘Honey Hush’, she left Europe for Singapore, eventually returning to London two years later.
Since then, Millie has preferred to stay out of the spotlight and while rumours persist of a comeback album and possibly an autobiography, these remain speculation – for the time being at least.
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