Biography
Miki Howard was raised in a church environment where both parents performed gospel music. Her mother sang with the Caravans and maintained connections with numerous entertainers, often bringing the young Howard along on visits to the residences of Aretha Franklin and Mavis Staples.
During elementary school, Howard relocated to Los Angeles alongside her mother. At fifteen she sang in a teen pageant, after which Side Effect’s Augie Johnson, present in the audience, initiated a creative partnership with her. Following Sylvia St. James’s exit, Howard joined Side Effect and remained for several years; during that period she bore two children with Johnson. In addition to her work inside the group, she supplied background vocals for Wayne Henderson, Roy Ayers, Stanley Turrentine, and assorted other artists.
Once she departed Side Effect, Howard secured a contract with Atlantic. The label’s first success for her arrived with the Billboard R&B Top Ten single “Come Share My Love.” She next recorded a version of Glenn Miller’s 1940 hit “Imagination.” Momentum held through two further Top Ten entries, “Baby Be Mine” and “That’s What Love Is,” the latter a duet with Gerald Levert born from the creative alliance Howard formed with Marc Gordon and Levert. Howard and Levert subsequently entered a romantic relationship that produced one of her signature recordings, “Love Under New Management.” Written amid their short-lived affair, the track appeared only after the romance had ended.
Howard moved to Giant in 1990, a move that yielded the number-one smash “Ain’t Nobody Like You.” Her association with the label ended abruptly after an altercation involving her husband at the company’s offices. She also portrayed Billie Holiday in a nightclub sequence within Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s she continued releasing albums, several consisting largely or entirely of covers; the projects issued in those years were Femme Fatale (1992), Shining Through (1993), Live Plus (1996), Can't Count Me Out (1997), Three Wishes (2001), and Pillow Talk (2006).
During elementary school, Howard relocated to Los Angeles alongside her mother. At fifteen she sang in a teen pageant, after which Side Effect’s Augie Johnson, present in the audience, initiated a creative partnership with her. Following Sylvia St. James’s exit, Howard joined Side Effect and remained for several years; during that period she bore two children with Johnson. In addition to her work inside the group, she supplied background vocals for Wayne Henderson, Roy Ayers, Stanley Turrentine, and assorted other artists.
Once she departed Side Effect, Howard secured a contract with Atlantic. The label’s first success for her arrived with the Billboard R&B Top Ten single “Come Share My Love.” She next recorded a version of Glenn Miller’s 1940 hit “Imagination.” Momentum held through two further Top Ten entries, “Baby Be Mine” and “That’s What Love Is,” the latter a duet with Gerald Levert born from the creative alliance Howard formed with Marc Gordon and Levert. Howard and Levert subsequently entered a romantic relationship that produced one of her signature recordings, “Love Under New Management.” Written amid their short-lived affair, the track appeared only after the romance had ended.
Howard moved to Giant in 1990, a move that yielded the number-one smash “Ain’t Nobody Like You.” Her association with the label ended abruptly after an altercation involving her husband at the company’s offices. She also portrayed Billie Holiday in a nightclub sequence within Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s she continued releasing albums, several consisting largely or entirely of covers; the projects issued in those years were Femme Fatale (1992), Shining Through (1993), Live Plus (1996), Can't Count Me Out (1997), Three Wishes (2001), and Pillow Talk (2006).
Albums
