Mikki was born Mikki Farrow in Detroit. She met and married a legendary saxophone player named Andrew “Mike” Terry in the mid-1960’s. In his Allmusic entry, Jason Ankeny writes: “The baritone saxophone of Andrew ‘Mike’ Terry remains an indelible component of the famed Motown sound. . . . Terry’s résumé reads like a roll call of soul’s greatest hits – his Motown track record alone spans chart smashes including the Four Tops’ ‘I Can’t Help Myself’, the Isley Brothers’ ‘This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)’, Kim Weston’s ‘Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)’, and Marvin Gaye’s ‘Baby Don’t You Do It’; and as a freelancer, he played on monsters like Jackie Wilson’s ‘Higher and Higher’, the Fascinations’ ‘Girls Are out to Get You’, and the Capitols’ ‘Cool Jerk’.”
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In 1966, Andrew “Mike” Terry arranged both sides of a single on Karate Records, “Could it Be” b/w “Set My Heart at Ease” for Mikki Farrow; he also co-write “Could it Be” with Jack Ashford. In 2013, “Set My Heart at Ease” was reissued on Pied Piper Records backed with a song by September Jones called “I’m Coming Home”.
Both songs are now recognized as classic “Northern Soul”. Northern Soul is a term for music and dance styles that actually grew out of the Mod movement in England, so the reference in this case is more to the recordings that originally led to this movement: obscure American soul music having the Motown influence that were typically not hit songs. On dustygroove.com is this comment about the Mikki Farrow song: “‘Set My Heart at Ease’ is an upbeat groove from Mikki Farrow – produced perfectly by the Pied Piper team, who build things wonderfully in a very short space – and really out-Motown Motown with the groove!”
“Could it Be” appears on a British compilation CD called Northern Soul Satisfaction that is subtitled “30 Tracks from Northern Soul’s Golden Era”. The song is also on a 2013 CD on Kent Records called Pied Piper Presents A New Concept In Detroit Soul. The website popsike.com lists numerous auctions of this Mikki Farrow 45 at prices as high as $1,111.
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Mikki Farrow moved to Philadelphia in 1968 to get involved in the soul music scene there. As noted on the Rare and Obscure Music post: “Mikki worked as a songwriter and background singer, working with artists such as Archie Bell and the Drells, Loleatta Holloway, Blue Magic, and the Trammps.”
Besides providing background singing for the classic Archie Bell and the Drells song “I Can’t Stop Dancing”, Mikki Farrow co-wrote “Green Power” with Mervin Steals and Melvin Steals; the song was on their third and final album for Atlantic Records, There’s Gonna be a Showdown (1969). The two Stealses (credited as Mystro & Lyric) later wrote “Could it Be I’m Falling in Love”, a huge hit for the Spinners.
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The highest profile time for Mikki Farrow in the music business was probably on several recordings that she worked on with Jerry Butler.
Mikki Farrow co-wrote one of the songs on The Ice Man Cometh, “(Strange) I Still Love You” with Jerry Butler and Norman Harris; she had previously participated in a songwriters’ workshop hosted by Jerry Butler in Chicago. According to the book A House on Fire: The Rise and Fall of Philadelphia Soul by John A. Jackson, the uncredited female vocals on the two Jerry Butler albums, The Ice Man Cometh and Ice on Ice were by Mikki Farrow, Jean Thomas and Tina Thomas. “(Strange) I Still Love You” was later included on Margie Joseph’s 1974 album, Sweet Surrender.
(July 2014)
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In the late 1960’s, Mikki Farrow was in a group called the Producers with Karl Chambers, Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, Roland Chambers, Thom Bell, and Win Wilford. They released one single on Huff Puff Records (named for Leon Huff, and having a simply adorable label), “Love is Amazing” b/w “Lady, Lady, Lady”. Mikki provides lead vocals and co-wrote “Love is Amazing” with Kenny Gamble and Thom Bell; while “Lady, Lady, Lady” is a gorgeous instrumental version of a Dee Dee Sharp song, “What Kind of Lady”.
Writing for funky16corners.com, Larry Grogan writes: “‘Love is Amazing’ is one of those records that has everything going for it, from top-shelf songwriting (Kenny Gamble, [Mikki] Farrow and Thom Bell), fantastic production (Gamble/Huff) and a fantastic lead vocal by Farrow (I suspect that Gamble is the supporting male vocalist). The record, matching superb melody and hooks with enough rhythmic heat for the dancers, ought to have been a hit, instead of the footnote that it is.”
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Apparently the only album made by Mikki Farrow is simply called Mikki; it has a brightly colored front cover and not much else. There are no songwriter, producer, arranger, or musician credits (only music publishing companies are given); the credits say only that the Dub Mix of “Itching for Love” was remixed by Sergio Munzibai and John Morales. (The 12-inch single shows the songwriters of “Itching for Love” as being Mikki Farrow, Norman Harris, and Eugene “Lambchops” Curry). Zak Master Funk, writing on a French-language blog (zakmasterfunk.blogspot.com) says that this “superb” album was produced by Mikki Farrow and Norman Harris (“The Harris Machine” is how he puts it), who also plays guitar; Jimmy Williams is the bassist.
My guess is that Mikki Farrow wrote or co-wrote all or most of the songs; regardless, Mikki’s singing is top drawer, the arrangements are fantastic, and all of the songs are winners.
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Mikki Farrow moved to Chicago in the late 1980’s; she began dating Billy Butler (the brother of her one-time mentor, Jerry Butler) and later married him. Long before they married, Mikki Farrow and Billy Butler wrote a song, “Ever Since I Can Remember” that appears on Jerry Butler’s 1973 album, The Love We Have, The Love We Had.
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Mikki Farrow started an evangelical ministry and pursued her love of gospel music. Apparently she never released any other recordings. She died on February 10, 2002 after she and Billy Butler had two daughters, Ebony and Dawn.
(July 2014)
