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."
D-A-N-C-I-N'
Stephanie Mills Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You captured my heart
Now I've got to face the danger I'm ready to start
Thought that I could make it on my own
All alone I tried to hard to fake it
Now the truth must be known
Two hearts are always better
Together forever
True romance we'll treasure
You've given me so much of yourself
Till I don't need nobody else
And with each passing day
My love for grown strong in ever way
You are my life ooo
Never thought that love could touch me
Move me this way
Don't you ever leave me, baby
Promise you'll stay I'm so glad I got you, girl
Turnin' my world all around
We won't let nobody change
This love that we, we found
Two hearts are always better
Together forever
Two hearts are always better
True romance we'll treasure
You given me so much of yourself
Till I don't need nobody else
And with each passing day
My love for grows strong in every way
You are my life
Two hearts are always better (Always, always)
Two hearts (Two) are always better [Me and you, yeah]
(Just me and you) [Me and you] (Tell them two)
Two hearts [Two hearts] are always better [Always better]
(Don't you know, you got to know) [Baby, me and you]
(Talkin' 'bout two) Two hearts
[One and one makes two, heh] are always better
[Me and you, yeah] (Oh, oh, yeah)
Two hearts are always better (Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah)
Two hearts (Yeah, two) are always better
(Don't you know, two, yeah two)
Two hearts are always better
Two hearts are always better [Don't you know, talkin' bout me and you]
Two hearts [That makes two] are always better
[Always] (Yeah) [Always better, girl]
(Two) Two hearts (Two hearts) are always better
[Tried so hard to make it, girl]
The lyrics of Stephanie Mills's song D-A-N-C-I-N' reveal a story of two strangers who fall in love and are now willing to face the dangers of the unknown together. The singer initially believed she could make it on her own but now realizes that two hearts are always better than one. She treasures the true romance they share and believes that every passing day makes their love grow stronger. The lyrics are an ode to the power of love and the need for human connection.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the importance of two hearts being together forever and always being better. The repetition of this line reinforces the idea that love is a partnership and that people need each other to make life fulfilling. The lyrics also reflect the fear of losing a loved one and the desire for promises of staying together.
Overall, the song's message is that life is difficult but love can make it bearable. It is a song about finding someone who can turn your world around and making that love last.
Line by Line Meaning
Came into my life a stranger
Someone I didn't know came into my life
You captured my heart
You won me over
Now I've got to face the danger I'm ready to start
I know there's risk involved, but I'm willing to take it on
Thought that I could make it on my own
I believed I could succeed without anyone else's help
All alone I tried too hard to fake it
I put on a facade, trying to be something I wasn't
Now the truth must be known
I need to be honest about my feelings and situation
Two hearts are always better
It's better to have two people in a relationship than one
Together forever
We'll be united forever
True romance we'll treasure
Our genuine affection will always hold value
You've given me so much of yourself
You've given me a lot of your love and attention
Till I don't need nobody else
I don't need anyone else to make me feel complete
And with each passing day
As time goes on
My love for grown strong in ever way
My affection grows stronger each day
You are my life ooo
You are the most important thing in my life
Never thought that love could touch me
I didn't believe love was possible for me
Move me this way
You've changed me for the better
Don't you ever leave me, baby
I never want you to go away
Promise you'll stay I'm so glad I got you, girl
Please commit to staying, I'm happy to have you
Turnin' my world all around
You've completely changed my life for the better
We won't let nobody change
No one can alter our love for each other
This love that we, we found
The affection we share
Two hearts are always better (Always, always)
It's better to have two people in a relationship than one
Two hearts (Two) are always better [Me and you, yeah]
We're better off together, just the two of us
(Just me and you) [Me and you] (Tell them two) Two hearts
We should let others know about our love
[Two hearts] are always better [Always better]
It's better to have two people in a relationship than one
(Don't you know, you got to know) [Baby, me and you]
We need to fully understand and acknowledge our love for each other
(Talkin' 'bout two) Two hearts
We're discussing the importance of two individuals in a relationship
[One and one makes two, heh] are always better
A couple is always stronger than one person alone
[Me and you, yeah] (Oh, oh, yeah)
You and I are in this together
Two hearts are always better (Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah)
It's better to have two people in a relationship than one
Two hearts (Yeah, two) are always better
We're better off together, just the two of us
(Don't you know, two, yeah two) Two hearts are always better
It's better to have two people in a relationship than one
Two hearts are always better [Don't you know, talkin' bout me and you]
It's better to have two people in a relationship than one
Two hearts [That makes two] are always better
A couple is stronger than one person alone
[Always] (Yeah) [Always better, girl] (Two) Two hearts (Two hearts) are always better
It's always best to have two people in a relationship, because a couple is stronger than one person alone
[Tried so hard to make it, girl]
I've put a lot of effort into this relationship
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: TAWATHA AGEE, JAMES MTUME, EDWARD MOORE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Ronald Elston
IT'S CALLED PUT YOUR BODY IN IT , NOT DANCING ,BUT I LOVE THIS CLASSIC AND HER PERFORMANCE, EXCELLENT🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
el stinko
It’s an audio playback. But yes. Not the correct song title.
Just Allah
I got this jayn on repeat
Just Allah
🔥🔥🔥🔥❤
BROTHA Jeff
I always like this song! So underrated from her other hits!
Just Joseph
Wow, finally some early performances from Stephanie. This is amazing. Please change the Title to this. Its not Dancing. Its Put Your Body In It.
Just Allah
Perhaps they mean this is Stephanie Mills dancing to put your body in it and it has more to do with her dancing than the title of the song. Im enjoying her performance. She's dancing her ass off. She wouldn't have to wonder what Im gonna do with her lovin🤣. Her mama made me stop fuckin with the piano in her house when I was a lad, but Im a grown assed man now. Where u @ Steph😍🤣
Frank Lofaro Jr.
She was, and still is, so beautiful and HOT! I LOVE her! So full of life, love and energy!
Just Allah
She has taken great care of herself
Just Allah
And cute with her little 6 piece chicken mc nugget bite sized oompa loompa ass🤣😍