Millie Jackson

Sometimes, the heckler is right. Many moons ago, a young Millie Jackson wrecked some poor tuneless hackette's act in the famed Harlem nightclub, Small's Paradise. The would-be diva dared Jackson on-stage. Oops! After dusting the object of her ridicule with her gorgeous, soaring alto, Jackson embarked on a monster career...

By Tom Bowker

March 4, 2004

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Sometimes, the heckler is right. Many moons ago, a young Millie Jackson wrecked some poor tuneless hackette's act in the famed Harlem nightclub, Small's Paradise. The would-be diva dared Jackson on-stage. Oops! After dusting the object of her ridicule with her gorgeous, soaring alto, Jackson embarked on a monster career that has spanned more than 30 years, 26 albums, and a slew of top-20 R&B singles. Although some of her best-selling singles are straight-ahead love songs like "My Man, a Sweet Man," Jackson&'s strongest weapon is her ability to mix her sweet singing voice with half-sung, half-rapped, brutal sexual politics. Cheating husbands and the cheated-on suckers who put up with them are equally subject to Jackson's scorn in numbers like "Leftovers": "Tell me something/You been married to her and shackin' with me/So who do you feel you're cheating on?" The jackass doesn't think he did anything wrong. His wife shows up to claim him, and Jackson drops one on her: "How can you lay there stretched out in my bed/With my brand-new nightie on/and my brand-new rollers in your nappy head?" Jackson kicks all their asses out, and the people cheer. Be among those cheering on Saturday, March 6, at the Mahi Temple (1500 NW North River Dr., Miami). Show starts at 8 p.m. Call 305-325-0640.

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