AN IMITATION OF LOVE

AN IMITATION OF LOVE

First Ever Expanded Edition 6 Bonus Tracks Re-mastered From Master Tapes Liner Notes by Alex Henderson When Jive Records released Millie Jackson s An Imitation of Love in 1986, Millie Jackson knew that the R&B landscape had changed considerably since the 1960s and 1970s. The Georgia-born singer had made a name for herself performing bluesy, gutsy rugged southern soul of the 1960s/1970s variety, drawing on influences that included Etta James, Koko Taylor, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin and Carla Thomas, among others. And that type of R&B still had an audience in 1986, but it was an audience that on the blues circuit or in the A&R departments of small independent labels like Malaco Records and Alligator Records not at commercial urban contemporary radio stations. So Jackson, who turned 42 in 1986, decided to record an album that balanced classic soul considerations and urban contemporary considerations; that approach paid off handsomely, resulting in the most successful album she recorded during the 1980s. Working with producers who included Timmy Allen and Wayne Braithwaite, Jackson demonstrated that she could be relevant to the urban contemporary scene of 1986 and still be faithful to her soul roots. The Millie Jackson story began on July 15, 1944, when she was born in Thomson, Georgia. Jackson, however, spent much of her upbringing in New York City and nearby Newark, New Jersey and it was around 1964 that she started performing live in and around the Big Apple.