Stephanie Mills Refuses to Do TV One's 'Unsung'

Despite the wild success of TV One’s Unsung series, highlighting many of music’s most treasured voices from Tina Marie to Teddy Pendergrass and Minnie Ripperton, Stephanie Mills refuses to do the show.

The ESSENCE Music Festival performer says she doesn’t like the show. “They have approached me quite a few times, but I [won’t] do that show,” she tells the Huffington Post. “I’ve always been very private, and at 55 I don’t want to open up my life to that.”

Three times married and a single mom of a child with special needs, Mills is adamant about keeping things private. “I don’t want to get on these shows and open up my life; I don’t think it’s anyone’s business.”

Admittedly, many of the show’s highlighted artists have passed on or have had limited success for various reasons. But Mills says, that’s not her story. “I don’t feel unsung. I feel like I’ve had a wonderful career. I’ve done wonderful things and met so many wonderful people. So I don’t feel like I’m unsung at all.”

The iconic singer even refuses to participate in the Unsung episodes of her friends. “They’ve done Angela Winbush and they even wanted me to say something about her on that show, and I love Angela, we’re sisters. But I had to tell her, ‘I don’t want to do that.’ I’m not that girl.”

This upcoming season will feature stories of Angela Bofill, Kool Moe Dee, The Marvelettes and the late Gerald Levert.

Catch Stephanie Mills live this summer at the 2012 ESSENCE Music Festival in New Orleans.