Stephanie Mills first came to fame as "the little girl with the big voice" as the star of the hit Broadway play, The Wiz, an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic book, The Wizard Of Oz. She had many R&B hits such as "I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love," "I Feel Good All Over," "(You're Puttin') A Rush On Me," "Something in the Way (You Make Me Feel)" and "Home" along with one certified million selling single, "Never Knew Love Like This Before." In addition, she also had five gold albums: Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin', Sweet Sensation, Stephanie, If I Were Your Woman and Home.
Mills honed her rich vocals singing gospel music at Brooklyn's Cornerstone Baptist Church as a small child. At age 9, she began appearing in the Broadway play Maggie Flynn. She was presented with first prize after winning "The Amateur Hour" talent contest six weeks straight at New York's famed Apollo Theater when she was nine. That success led to her being chosen as the opening act for The Isley Brothers, eventually becoming good friends with lead singer Ronald Isley. Many years later, Isley would manage and later marry singer/songwriter Angela Winbush, who co-wrote one of her number one R&B hits. Mills' début album, Movin' In The Right Direction was recorded for ABC Records in 1974. A year later, she won the role of Dorothy in The Wiz. Her rendition of the beautiful ballad "Home" was a showstopper, mesmerizing audiences nightly for a number of years. The original cast recording of The Wiz was produced by Jerry Wexler and issued by Atlantic Records in spring 1975. Curiously, when The Wiz was made into a full length feature film by Motown Records' film division and Universal Pictures, Diana Ross played the role of Dorothy instead of Mills. The film ended up being a major flop.
Singer Jermaine Jackson referred Mills to Motown head Berry Gordy, who signed her to the label. Her Motown debut was For the First Time, written and produced by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, being issued in October 1976. For the First Time is a sweet affair with Mills convincingly covering Bacharach/David standards, most of which were originally recorded by Dionne Warwick. In 1978, she signed to 20th Century Records and was teamed with the hit production duo of James Mtume — later leader of Mtume, who had a gold single with "Juicy Fruit" — and Reggie Lucas. Her first LP for the label, Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin', went gold, going to number 12 R&B and number 22 pop on Billboard's charts in summer 1979 and spawned the singles, "Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin'" and "You Can Get Over." Her next LP, Sweet Sensation (#3 R&B, #16 Pop, spring 1980) yielded "Sweet Sensation," "Never Knew Love Like This Before," and the radio-aired LP track, "Try My Love." Around this time, she briefly married former Soul Train dancer Jeffrey Daniels of the group Shalamar. Next came the LP titled Stephanie in spring 1981, which also was a huge hit, peaking at #3 R&B and #30 Pop. The album included notable songs such as "Two Hearts" — a midtempo duet with Teddy Pendergrass — "Night Games" and the radio-aired LP cut, "Don't Stop Doin' What Cha Do."
In 1981, Mills switched to Neil Bogart's Casablanca Records. Her LPs for the label included Tantalizingly Hot, Merciless and I've Got The Cure. During 1983, she had her own NBC-TV daytime talk show and reprised on role in a Broadway revival of The Wiz. She also signed with MCA Records, where she released her Stephanie Mills album.
The first single from the Stephanie Mills album was "Stand Back," in late 1985, which also included the passionate ballad "I Have Learned To Respect The Power Of Love." "I Have Learned To Respect The Power Of Love" was initially written by Rene Moore and Angela Winbush — best known as the hit singing duo Rene & Angela — as a gospel song and originally was recorded by Alton McClain and Destiny on their self-titled 1978 Polydor LP. The original version is available on Polygram's Power of Love: Best of Soul Essentials Ballads. Because of its massive radio play as an album track, Mills' version of "I Have Learned To Respect The Power Of Love, — produced by Philly Soul keyboardist Ron Kersey — was reissued as an A side holding the #1 R&B spot for two weeks in spring 1986. Its follow-up, "Rising Desire" reached #11 R&B in summer 1986.
Her next LP's title cut was the Clay McMurray/Gloria Jones/Pam Sawyer song, "If I Were Your Woman," originally a 1971 #1 R&B, #9 Pop smash for Gladys Knight and the Pips. Philly-based producer Nick Martinelli gave Mills her second #1 R&B hit with "I Feel Good All Over," written by husband and wife songwriting duo, Gabriel Hardeman and Annette Hardeman. The song held the #1 R&B spot for three weeks in spring 1987. Originally submitted to Mills' fellow MCA labelmate Patti Labelle by the Hardemans, the track was included on Mills' LP If I Were Your Woman, issued June 1987 and peaked at #30 Pop in summer 1987. Paul Laurence produced and co-wrote with Timmy Allen the chugging '"(You're Putting) a Rush On Me" giving the singer her third #1 R&B hit in fall 1987. The single made it to #85 Pop and was followed by "Secret Lady," which landed at #7 R&B in late 1987. Her covers of "If I Were Your Woman" and "Where Is The Love" followed. All were included on her If I Were Your Woman album, which peaked at #1 R&B, #30 Pop in summer 1987. Following these hits, Mills contacted Ronald Isley about working with singer/songwriter/producer Angela Winbush who had hits as half of Rene and Angela and was forging a hit-filled career as a recording artist and producer for the group Body among others. The collaboration between Mills and Winbush resulted in another #1 R&B single, "Something In The Way You Make Me Feel," in summer 1989.
Having starred for five years in the smash Broadway show The Wiz and recorded the song "Home for the play's 1975 original cast soundtrack album, she wanted to record the song again as a posthumous tribute to the play's producer, Ken Harper, and the song's composer, Charlie Smalls. On her new version of "Home," Take 6 sung the background vocals. The song went to #1 R&B in late 1989 and was followed by "Comfort Of A Man" and "Real Love." The Home LP ended up peaking at #5 R&B, #82 Pop in summer 1989. She then recorded a charting single with J.T. Taylor titled "Heart To Heart" in late 1991. Her final MCA album, Something Real included the hit "All Day All Night" and "Never Do Wrong." Following this album, she recorded a gospel album, Personal Inspirations, for Interscope Records and recorded several tracks at Philadelphia International Records with Bunny Sigler among others in the late '90s.
After a hiatus from recording Mills returned with sixteenth album, "Born For This" in 2004. It includes the singles "Can't Let Him Go" and "Healing Time." Mills is currently working on her seventeenth album titled "Breathless." The lead single chosen is a song called, "Yesterday."
All Day All Night
Stephanie Mills Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ooh
Ey, hey, yeah
Ooh
Mmm
Every time I'm with you, baby
I just can't give enough myself, no, no
Boy, you love me like nobody else
I never have to ask, he knows exactly what I need
He always finds away to bring out all the love in me
Forever we'll be strong as long as we hang on to love
We'll be satisfied
All day (And all day), all night (Feel so good)
Feel so good (Ey), feel so right
All day (All day, all night), all night (Feel so good)
Feel so good (Yeah), feel so right (Mmm)
It took so long to find someone, baby
That wasn't afraid of the strength of a real woman, no
I'm never empty hearted
â??Cause my man, my man, keeps it comin', yes, he does
I never have to ask, he knows exactly what I need
He always finds away to bring out all the love in me
Forever we'll be strong as long as we hang on to love, ooh
We'll be satisfied
All day (Yeah), all night (Feel so good)
Feel so good (Yes, it does), feel so right (All day)
All day (All day), all night (All night long)
Feel so good (Yeah), feel so right (Hey)
All day, all night (Oh...oh...)
Feel so good (Yeah), feel so right
All day (All day), all night (Feel so good)
Feel so good (Oh), feel so right
All day (Oh), all night (Feel so good)
Feel so good (Yeah), feel so right (All day and all night)
All day (Well), all night (Feel so good)
Feel so good (Oh, ooh), feel so right
You know exactly how to please
Bring me fallin' to my knees
All day
I want to love you through the night
Make it good, make it right
All day, oh
All day
All day (And all night), all night (It feels so good)
Feel so good (Oh, yeah), feel so right (Feel)
All day (All day), all night (All night, baby, all night)
Feel so good (Oh, no, oh, yeah), feel so right (Oh)
All day (All night), all night (Feel so good, feel so right, ooh)
You know exactly how to please
You see you brought me to my knees
All day
I want to love, make it right
Love you all through the night
All day
All night
Feel so good, feel so right (And all day)
All day (And all night), all night (Feel so good)
Feel so good (It feels so right), feel so right (All day)
All day (And all night), all night (It feel so good)
Feel so good (Feel so right), feel so right
All day, all night
"All Day All Night" is a song by Stephanie Mills that speaks about a pure and genuine love that is reciprocated in a relationship. The song is an ode to the love interest of Stephanie, who consistently showers her with affection and fulfills her needs without her having to ask. From the opening verse of the song, Stephanie makes it clear that she feels like she never gives enough to her man because he knows how to treat her better than anyone else, and he makes her feel like she is a queen.
Stephanie comments on the rarity of finding a man who is not "afraid of the strength of a real woman" and how her man keeps her heart full. The song's lyrics detail her satisfaction with her relationship, stating that it took a long time to find the kind of love that she experiences with him. The chorus is catchy and emphasizes the happiness that Stephanie feels when she is with her man and how he makes her feel. The song's message is that if you have love, it is one of the highest feelings that you can experience, and when it is true love, you feel it no matter what the time is.
Line by Line Meaning
Every time I'm with you, baby
Whenever I am with you, my love,
I just can't give enough myself, no, no
I feel like I cannot give you enough love,
Cause you know how to treat me, baby
Because you know how to treat me with love and care,
Boy, you love me like nobody else
You love me in a way no one else could ever imagine,
I never have to ask, he knows exactly what I need
I never have to ask you as you already know what I need,
He always finds away to bring out all the love in me
You always manage to bring out all the love in me,
Forever we'll be strong as long as we hang on to love
As long as we hold onto our love, we can conquer anything that comes our way,
We'll be satisfied
We will always be happy and content,
All day (And all day), all night (Feel so good)
Throughout the day and night, I feel so good,
Feel so good (Ey), feel so right
I feel amazing and everything feels so right,
It took so long to find someone, baby
It took me a long time to find someone like you,
That wasn't afraid of the strength of a real woman, no
Someone who is not afraid of the strength a woman possesses.
I'm never empty hearted
I am never left feeling empty inside,
Cause my man, my man, keeps it comin', yes, he does
Because you keep the love coming,
You know exactly how to please
You know exactly how to make me happy,
Bring me fallin' to my knees
You make me feel so good that I fall to my knees,
All day
Throughout the day,
I want to love you through the night
I want to love you all night long,
Make it good, make it right
Let's make it great and enjoyable,
All night
All through the night,
Feel so good, feel so right (And all day)
I feel amazing and everything feels so right.
All day (And all night), all night (Feel so good)
Throughout the day and night, it feels so good,
It feels so right
It feels so perfect,
All day
All day long,
All night
All night long,
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: RON SPEARMAN, VASSAL GRANDINGTON BENFORD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@normapadro9704
This is what I have always liked about her music. Glamour, Style, Classy, Beauty, and a Beautiful voice. She always gives a great performance.
@randyreal574
Boy, I just love every track she does!
@myhappyness1
This was & remains one of my favorite female singers. I think Stephanie was a diamond in the ruff. Today, her music still reigns on top in my opinion. Her voice was so amazing & beautiful. Blessings for old school music. Nothing compares to the pure talent it possess.
@k.c.5426
FACTS!!💯
@avimimus10
what a knockout! Her voice is magic.
@accordingtoj.r.669
These vocals her restraint is impeccable...she keeps you wanting more until the songs ends 😩😂 now you have to replay it🤣
@mreynol1
At the very end she holds that long note! I wish the song didn't fade there.
@DJDizzyTheKidd
You really don't hear stuff like this anymore. What a shame it's like real music has no place anymore.
@richardthurmond7103
Saw her in concert with Sade. What a powerful voice coming from such a small Lady 🎤
@keybaangel3
Love her music!