
Our Thoughts are with her family and friends at this time," the label wrote. She was a true legend and an incredible human, She will be dearly missed. Millie Small: Jamaican singer who brought ska to a worldwide audience. "We are incredibly saddened to learn of the passing of Millie Small. Island Records paid tribute to Small in a tweet Wednesday. She started recording music as a teenager and was discovered by Blackwell, who became her manager.īlackwell took Small to London, where the singer gained fame with her 1964 recording of Barbie Gaye's song "My Boy Lollipop." She released three albums during her career: My Boy Lollipop (1964), Sings Fats Domino (1965) and Time Will Tell (1970). Small, the daughter of a sugar plantation overseer, was born in Jamaica in 1946. "She was such a really sweet person, very funny, great sense of humor. "It became a hit pretty much everywhere in the world." The daughter of a sugar plantation overseer, she started to take an interest in music at the age of nine, and at twelve. Often known as ‘Little Millie Small’, she is remembered as the singer of the 1964 hit ‘My Boy Lollipop’. "Millie opened the door for Jamaican music to the world," Island Records founder Chris Blackwell said in a statement. Millie, pop singer, was born Millicent Dolly May Small in Clarendon, Jamaica. There is a video of Millie's live performance at the 1970 Wembley Reggae Festival on .Īccording to a 2006 article by the Jamaican Gleaner newspaper, Millie is planning a 2008 comeback with a new release, and has been writing songs and laying down some new tracks.Island Records said Small died "after having been taken ill" over the weekend. This was a "music genre" that had recently emerged from Jamaica, and came to be known as ska, is the direct ancestor of reggae. Her recording was the first major smash for Island Records (although it was actually released via Fontana Records because Blackwell did not want to overextend Island's then-meager resources), and Millie was the first artist to have a hit that was recorded in the so-called "bluebeat" style. Millie was the first Jamaican artist to have a major hit in the U.K and the U.S. Boy, Hey Girl and a cover of the Ikettes Im Blue on which Ms. "My Boy Lollipop" was doubly significant in British music. MILLIE - My Boy Lollipop: The Bes - Music.
Little millie small my boy lollipop tv#
She also performed on the British TV Show "Ready, Steady, Go" (These can be seen on ), the ABC-TV Show "Shindig", and had a starring role in a BBC-TV dramatic presentation. Then hosting her own TV special on Finnish National Television. charts, and later went on to become one of the top-selling ska hits of all time. "Lollipop" turned Millie into an instant international star, performing with the Beatles on the Fab Four's BBC-TV special. Millie Small was a Jamaican singer who stunned the music business in 1964, when her wildly catchy breakout single, 'My Boy Lollipop,' reached number two on both the U.S. Including singles sales, album usage and compilation inclusions, the song has since sold more than seven million copies worldwide.

Released in March 1964, Small's cover was a massive hit, reaching number two both in the UK Singles Chart and in the U.S.

In late 1963 she was taken to London by Chris Blackwell to make her fourth recording, an Ernest Ranglin rearrangement of "My Boy Lollipop", which had originally been recorded and released by white R&B singer Barbie Gaye in late 1956, becoming a minor hit in the New York area. They had a minor local hit with "We'll Meet." In her teens, she was part of a duo called "Roy and Millie" (with Roy Panton) and was recording for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One record label. Millie was the daughter of a sugar plantation overseer. Millie (born Millicent Dolly May Small, 6 October 1946, in Clarendon, Jamaica) - often known as "Little Millie Small" - is best known as the singer of the 1964 hit, My Boy Lollipop.
