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."
Pilot Error
Stephanie Mills Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
On a plane to disaster
You will crash, I was thinking about it a you passed my way
You will drop if you cannot turn the engine prop
Then you're really in danger
So I stand, though I'd like to make your landin' safe, okay
Lots of runway, room to spare
Trouble due to pilot error
Trouble due to pilot error
You're distressed and are tipping back from right to left
While you look for an answer
Coming down you can see the people on the ground go by
You have doubts, take a miracle to pull you out
You can't go any faster
I can see that you haven't any wings to fly, oh, no
Almost home without a care
Trouble due to pilot error (Trouble due to pilot error), oh oh
Partly cloudy, skies to fair
Trouble due to pilot error (Trouble due to pilot error), oh, yeah
You are lost, you've been bouncin' off the high roof tops
On a plane to disaster
You will crash, I was thinking about it a you passed my way
Lots of runway, room to spare
Trouble due to pilot error (Trouble due to pilot error)
Approach is good, they've cleared the air
Trouble due to pilot error (Trouble due to pilot error), oh oh
Almost home without a care
Trouble due to pilot error (Trouble due to pilot error), oh, yeah
Partly cloudy, skies to fair
Trouble due to pilot error (Trouble due to pilot error)
The lyrics of "Pilot Error" by Stephanie Mills describe a situation where a plane is in danger due to the mistakes of the pilot. The singer is watching this happen and can see that the plane is in trouble. She describes how the plane is bouncing off high roof tops, and how it's distressing to watch. The pilot is lost and the singer is thinking that a crash is imminent. However, there's lots of room for the plane to land safely if the pilot can get it under control.
The second verse describes how the plane is tipping back and forth, and the people on the ground are visible. The plane is going too fast, and it's going to take a miracle to pull it out of danger. The singer sees that the plane has no wings, so there's no way it will be able to fly out of the situation. The chorus comes back in, describing how there's lots of runway and room to spare for the plane to land if the pilot can get it right. The skies are clear, but the plane is in trouble, and it's all due to pilot error.
Overall, the lyrics of "Pilot Error" describe a situation of looming danger, where the fate of the people in the plane is in the hands of an inexperienced or careless pilot. The singer is watching, hoping for the best but fearing the worst, as the plane bounces and tips in the air.
Line by Line Meaning
You are lost, you've been bouncin' off the high roof tops
You're feeling adrift and bouncing around without a clear sense of direction
On a plane to disaster
You're headed towards a terrible outcome, and it's only a matter of time before you crash and burn
You will crash, I was thinking about it a you passed my way
It's becoming increasingly clear that you're going to have a catastrophic failure soon, and I can see it happening right in front of me
You will drop if you cannot turn the engine prop
If you can't keep the engine running, you're going to experience a rapid descent that puts everyone on board at risk
Then you're really in danger
If you do crash, the potential for harm and loss is very real
So I stand, though I'd like to make your landin' safe, okay
I'm here to support you, but I can't take control of the situation to save you from your own missteps
Lots of runway, room to spare
There's still time to make things right, and plenty of opportunity to land safely with the right actions
Trouble due to pilot error
The problems you're facing are largely the result of your own mistakes and misjudgments
Approach is good, they've cleared the air
You're on a promising path towards success, and any obstacles or barriers have been removed
You're distressed and are tipping back from right to left
You're under a lot of pressure and struggling to maintain stability
While you look for an answer
You're searching for a solution to your problems, but may not be looking in the right places
Coming down you can see the people on the ground go by
As you descend, you're becoming acutely aware of the many dangers and risks on the ground below
You have doubts, take a miracle to pull you out
Your confidence is faltering, and you may need an extraordinary intervention to avoid disaster
You can't go any faster
You're limited by your current abilities and resources, and can't always act as quickly as you'd like
I can see that you haven't any wings to fly, oh, no
You're completely grounded and unable to take off or fly towards safety
Almost home without a care
You're close to reaching your destination and have been feeling confident up until now
Partly cloudy, skies to fair
The conditions outside are manageable and reasonable, but things can still go wrong if you're not careful
Trouble due to pilot error
Again, the source of your trouble is largely due to your own actions and decisions
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Written by: PETER KINGSBERY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind