ENTITY · PERSON (ARTIST, SELECTOR, PRODUCER…)
Millie Small
Well supported
Millie Small (Millicent Dolly May Small CD, 6 October 1947 - 5 May 2020), born in Clarendon, was, in the words of the reference works, "the Caribbean's first international recording star and its most successful female performer". Her "My Boy Lollipop", released in early 1964 when she was sixteen, reached number two in both the UK and the US — held off the top by the Four Pennies' "Juliet" and the Beach Boys' "I Get Around" respectively — and has since sold more than seven million copies.
It was the record that launched Island Records into mainstream pop, although Chris Blackwell licensed it to Fontana rather than overextend Island's then-meagre resources, and it appeared on Mercury's Smash subsidiary in the US. It is also cited as the first hit recorded in the bluebeat style, a direct ancestor of reggae.
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- Well supported
- Sources
- Wikipedia; BBC News and The Guardian obituaries; Jamaica Observer/Gleaner coverage; MusicBrainz/Wikidata.
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