R&B singer Miki Howard is getting a biopic on TV One. The Miki Howard Story cast includes Teyonah Parris (Chi-raq) as Howard, Darius McCrary as Gerald Levert, LisaRaye is Sylvia Rhone and Vanessa Bell Calloway as Josephine Howard.
Indiewire’s Shadow and Act reports that the film will follow 30 years of Howard’s life and career, keying in on her professional and personal relationship with R&B legend Gerald Levert. The film is co-written and directed by Christine Swanson, a 2015 NAACP Award nominee for Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture for Television for the film, For the Love of Ruth.
“I first met Miki Howard when I was hired to direct the film,” Swanson said of Howard. “As I approached the rewrite for the film, I spent over 50 hours with Miki to get a sense of her and her story. I knew then that what we were embarking upon was going to be epic in terms of storytelling, nuance and passion. Like myself, Miki Howard is a passionate individual who has a love for life. [Her] music was the backdrop to my youth and now I get to translate her story on screen.”
Born in Chicago to gospel singing parents, Howard found quick success after moving out to Los Angeles. While still in her late teens, she became a member of the R&B group, Side Effect, before embarking on a successful solo career. At her peak during the late 1980s/early 1990s, she released several Top Ten R&B songs including, “Baby, Be Mine,” “Come Share My Love,” “Ain’t Nobody Like You,” “Ain’t Nuthin’ in the World,” and her signature song, “Love Under New Management.”
Gerald Levert was an indelible stalwart in her life, acting as a producer and writer on several of Howard’s songs such as “Crazy” and their hit duet, “That’s What Love Is.” She also appeared in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X as Billie Holiday, performing “I Cover The Waterfront.” This inspired her to record Miki Sings Billie: A Tribute to Billie Holiday.
TV One previously visited Miki Howard’s story on their hit series, Unsung. The Miki Howard story will debut on the network in June 2016.
