In 2011, decades after her retirement from music, Small was made a Commander in the Order of Distinction in Jamaica, for her role in the country’s music industry. A response to Enoch Powell’s notorious “Rivers of Blood” speech, the track became an anti-racist anthem and spearheaded her 1970 LP Time Will Tell. She left the label in 1970 and released a cover of Nick Drake’s “Mayfair,” but it was the B-side, “Enoch Power,” that took off. She signed with Island, then a fledgling label specializing in Jamaican music, and released “My Boy Lollipop” to international success in 1964. She was 72, according to a press release from Island Records.īorn in south Jamaica, Small launched her recording career in Kingston before moving to London in 1963. “My daughter and I are very close and I’m proud of her achievements as a writer, singer and musician it would be nice for us to sing together one day as mother and child.Millie Small, the Jamaican singer behind ska classic “My Boy Lollipop,” has died after suffering a stroke, the BBC and The Jamaica Observer report. And I still play My Boy Lollipop because it’s a lovely record. “I love music – reggae, hip-hop, anything that’s got rhythm. I enjoyed it while it lasted and it represented a time of pure happiness but I look to the future now that I’m older and wiser. I’ve got five beautiful cats, too,” she went on. “I enjoy cooking – anything with chicken, pork and fish with rice – and watching documentaries. “I’ve been happy living a quiet life, sleeping and dreaming and meditating”. What helped was that I had a good manager in Chris, who looked after me like a father wherever I went.” “My life seemed very normal to me – even though I was only 17, I took fame in its stride. I never had singing lessons, my voice was just something I was born with.” “I made a few songs, which didn’t go anywhere, and then I recorded My Boy Lollipop in 1964, which got to number two over here and number one in many parts of the world. “I arrived in London in 1963, and it felt like I was coming home, that this was where I was meant to be. I missed my parents and my brother, but they encouraged me to follow my dream. “Chris Blackwell, the boss of Island Records, heard my music and he brought me over to England to develop my singing career. “I joined Roy Panton to form a duo and we recorded our first song called We’ll Meet. I won the second prize of 30 shillings and it was the beginning of my new life as a singer.” “I don’t remember what I sang, but most of it was with my eyes shut because I was so shy.
“I was 12 years old when I entered a posh talent contest called The Vere John’s Opportunity Hour at the Palladium in Montego Bay on Jamaica’s north coast, where I sang in front of 2,000 people. “I was born Millicent Small to parents who worked on a sugar plantation and, although we didn’t know anyone in the entertainment profession, I loved singing,” she told the Daily Express. Speaking about her journey into the world of music in 2016, Millie said: Her song “My Boy Lollipop” was an enormous hit in 1964 and even featured in the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. Millie found international fame in the 1960s but retired from singing in 1970 as it “felt like the end of the dream” It also featured a little-known Rod Stewart playing the harmonica in the backing track – something Millie said showed how big a star he was going to become. Not only that she is credited for having one of the top three greatest all-time hit singles of 1964, falling just behind the Beatles and Rolling Stones. The singer was praised for bringing the sound of ska to the UK. The late Millie was most famous for her hit single My Boy Lollipop, which was Jamaica’s first million-selling single. She was really special,” he added to the Jamaica Observer. “She was such a sweet person, really a sweet person.
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I went with her around the world because each of the territories wanted her to turn up and do TV shows and such, and it was just incredible how she handled it. “It became a hit pretty much everywhere in the world. “I would say she’s the person who took ska international because it was her first hit record. Speaking about Millie whom he says he last saw 12 years ago, Blackwell said:
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