Never Knew Love Like This Before – Stephanie Mills | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#6), R&B (#12) and Dance (#5); 1980

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

Stephanie Mills started singing gospel music at Brooklyn’s Cornerstone Baptist Church. She was only nine when she made her Broadway debut in Maggie Flynn and 11 when she won first prize in the Apollo Theater’s infamous amateur talent contest.

Her victory led to an opening act spot with the Isley Brothers. Her big breakout day arrived on January 5th, 1975 when she opened at Manhattan’s Majestic Theater as Dorothy in The Wiz. During the play’s four year run, Dorothy released three albums, of which only the last generated any real excitement.

Unfortunately, most of the heat happened on the dance floor. Although being branded a disco diva didn’t suit Stephanie, the album did connect her with James Mtume and Reggie Lucas.

The two penned and produced her first R&B Top 10’s, What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin’ and Sweet Sensation, as well as her pop breakthrough, Never Knew Love Like This Before.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

• James Mtume
• Reggie Lucas

Lyrics Written by:

• James Mtume
• Reggie Lucas

Awards:

• “Never Knew Love Like This Before” won Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 23rd Annual Grammy Awards in 1981