RIP Millie Small: My Boy Lollipop singer dies aged 73

[editor]

RIP Millie.

Jamaican singer Millie Small has died at the age of 73 after suffering a stroke.

The star was most famous for her hit single My Boy Lollipop, which reached number two in both the US and the UK in 1964.

It remains one of the biggest-selling ska songs of all time, with more than seven million sales.

Island Records founder Chris Blackwell announced her death and remembered her as "a sweet person... really special".

It was Blackwell who brought Small to London in 1963 and produced her version of My Boy Lollipop, showcasing her childlike, high-pitched vocals.

"I would say she's the person who took ska international because it was her first hit record," he told the Jamaica Observer.

 

[fishfinger]

RIP Millie

 

[blossie33]

Oh very sorry to hear that.
RIP Millie

 

[weltweit]

So, she was no 2 in the year of my birth, I can remember that song very clearly! though probably from some years later RIP Millie

 

[Detroit City]

rip

 

[peterkro]

Bye Millie. Lollipop was a revelation to 14 year old me.

 

[BCBlues]

One of the first records I owned, not bought,it came with a few other singles and a second hand Dansette record player my Dad picked up for us. I treasured it, I was about 5 or 6 and loved it, still do.
RIP Milly.

 

[planetgeli]

 

[Fedayn]

My boy Lollipop, Trojan's first ever million selling single, loved that song, part of what made me get my head shaved and get into the old Trojan, as opposed to sticking with the two tone.
Sad news...

 

[Sprocket.]

RIP

 

[Epona]

Very sad news!

I love that song, my dad used to call me Lollipop and would sing that to me as "my girl Lollipop" - I'm still "Lol" to this day to people close to me.
One of the things that got me into ska of course.

RIP

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Oh no. She had a great voice. I was surprised to find out last year she was still alive, and for a short while was convinced she might be my neighbour.
Millie did one of my favorite Christmas songs too. Would be my favorite, but it flips flops between Millies 'Fallen in love with a snowman and the Waitresses 'Christmas Wrapping'.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I don't rate 'Lollypop', find it a bit annoying.
But Millie recorded loads of great stuff.

 

[Fedayn]

I don't rate 'Lollypop', find it a bit annoying.
But Millie recorded loads of great stuff.

Agreed not her best track, a little bit 'pop reggae'. However, it was ground breaking in terms of sales and it's impact upon a wider audience. Trojans first million seller is certainly a badge she wore with pride and rightly so.

 

[Shirl]

I went to see her at Burnley Mechanics in the mid sixties. I think she was the first artist I ever went to see live.
R.I.P.Millie

 

[Knotted]

My Boy Lollilpop was my mum's favourite song when she was a teenager.

 

[Lurdan]

Sad news. Liked Lollipop a lot when it was released, and also Sweet William.

Released in March 1964, Small's version [of My Boy Lollipop] was a massive hit, reaching number two both in the UK Singles Chart and in the US Billboard Hot 100, and number three in Canada. It also topped the chart in Australia. Initially it sold over 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom. Including singles sales, album usage and compilation inclusions, the song has since sold more than seven million copies worldwide.

When it was re-released as a single in 1987 Millie was interviewed by Thames Television. She made light of the difficulties after her musical career ended, at one point sleeping rough.




The same year as that interview Island Records artist Robert Palmer moved from his home in Nassau. He said that the Bahamas had become unsafe because of drugs and gang violence. In his new home in Switzerland he built himself a studio. When he died in 2003 his estate was estimated to be worth 30 million pounds.

Two years after that television interview Island Records was sold to Polygram for a reported three hundred million pounds.

In her only extensive interview in 2016 Millie confirmed she had never received any royalties for her hits.

Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who became Millie's legal guardian, brought her to the UK and produced My Boy Lollipop, is now the millionaire owner of a number of businesses including elite resorts. Interviewed today for the Jamaica Observer he said :

She was such a sweet person, really a sweet person. Very funny, great sense of humour. She was really special.

Lee Perry also got to build a studio in Switzerland. And he paid tribute to the man who had done so much to popularise Jamaican music worldwide starting with that first big hit.

 

[William of Walworth]

Sad news
RIP Millie!