Miki Howard (born Alicia Michelle Howard on September 30, 1961 in Chicago, Illinois) is an African-American singer and actress who had a string of top ten hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The daughter of gospel singer Josephine Howard of the legendary group The Caravans,and Clay Graham of Pilgrim Jubilees, Howard was discovered by R & B group Side Effect at age 16. About 1985, Howard decided she was ready to begin a solo career. A demo in the right hands landed a recording contract at Atlantic Records.
Her first hit for Atlantic was the Billboard R&B top ten single “Come Share My Love”. She followed that with a remake of Glenn Miller’s 1940 tune “Imagination”. Her success continued with two more top ten singles, “Baby Be Mine” and “That’s What Love Is”. The latter was a duet with hit-making R&B crooner Gerald Levert, and was the result of the creative union Howard formed with Levert. The pair later became romantically involved, and that romance spawned one of Howard’s biggest hits, “Love Under New Management”. The song was written during their brief love affair, but was released after their romance had dissolved.
In 1992 Howard portrayed Billie Holiday in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X , followed by a featured role in John Singleton’s Poetic Justice with pop icon Janet Jackson. |
