Artist Guide

Ms. Monique

#115 ranked Southern Soul Artist

"Mr. Do Right (Remix) feat. Millie Jackson"

Ms. Monique

July 4, 2015: New Artist Guide Alert!

Appreciating "Mr. Do Right"

DBN notes: Ms. Monique is an accomplished vocalist in the Syleena Johnson mode. She has not been heard from professionally since 2013, but her signature song (and especially the remix with Millie Jackson) has stood the test of time as one of southern soul's bona fide classics.

Listen to Ms. Monique featuring Millie Jackson singing "Mr. Do Right" on ReverbNation.

From Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to Millie Jackson: August 2012 (Revised)

The phone rings. A young woman (Ms. Monique) answers with the soft, expectant tone of someone awaiting a lover's call. Suddenly, the jeering laughter of an older woman fills the phone. It morphs into frenzied cackles.

"Ohhh," the caller says. "You thought that was him, didn't ya? Uh-uh. This is Millie J."

See Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to Millie Jackson.

"What is your problem?" the older woman spits out in a voice as fast and brash as Muhammad Ali. "You young girls gotta understand. There ain't gonna be no such thing as a 'do-right' man. I don't even know what Aretha was thinking about when she made the song. She couldn't have wrote it."

Listen to Aretha Franklin singing "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" (the inspiration for "Mr. Do Right") on YouTube.

Orginally recorded for her debut CD Soul Sessions: Chapter 1 (Soul Entertainment), Ms. Monique's "Mr. Do Right" was already a fixture of chitlin' circuit radio in 2006. The song had a pleasing melody and an arrangement long on silky sophistication.

The subsequent Millie Jackson remix added an entirely new dimension: a slap in the face both to the song's romanticism and its musical slickness.

"Don't be talking about 'Gimme, gimme, gimme,' the trash-talking older woman continues. "And 'Can I have? Can I have? My nails and my hair?' If you can't fix your own hair, and do your own nails, you ain't gonna get no do-right man. I'll tell you how to find your Mr. Do Right. Get you some 'do-right' money. Take care of your 'do-right' self."

Words don't do justice to the near-rage (comic rage) with which Millie Jackson delivers this rant. The passage sounds as real and unscripted as grits and collard greens. Indeed, it's hard to believe that someone could ever have read this diatribe off a piece of paper in a recording studio.

The body of the song unfurls in all its amatory charm, with its by-now-familiar (to chitlin' circuit devotees) chorus--

"Tell me. Are you Mr. Do Right?
The kind of man I've been waiting for?"

--And as the song ends, the remix takes a final twist. The phone rings quietly in the background. We hear MJ herself say, "H-h-h-hold on." Her frustration is still peaking. "Would you hold on?" Millie scolds. "I got another call. You ain't the only person to call me."

A teddy-bear-deep masculine voice at the other end of the line intones, "Heyyy, baby."

"Ohhh. . . . Hi."

And in those two little words, separated by the tiniest of pauses, MJ's attitude is transformed. Millie's tone becomes so soft and feminine you could cut it like hot butter.

"Can you talk?" says the deep voice.

"Yeah. . . Uh-huh." It's Millie changing into the sexy, pliable female she was only a moment ago criticizing.

Your Daddy B. Nice has heard this Ms. Monique/Millie Jackson collaboration countless times, never failing to surrender a big smile, chuckles, and--depending on the situation--laughter. It's the perfect juxtaposition of the caustic and the affectionate.

--Daddy B. Nice

DBN Notes: I had to take down the old "Do Right Remix" links to YouTube. I see no reason why Monique and Millie shouldn't reinstate the "Mr. Do Right" Remix" on You Tube. Since the song isn't available commercially, no good is achieved, and thousands of would-be listeners are lost. At the least, the spot would bring in some advertising revenue.

Sample or Buy Ms. Monique's Soul Sessions: Chapter 1

Sample or Buy Ms. Monique's Southern Soul Favorites

Listen to Ms. Monique singing "Mr. Do Right" on YouTube.

Listen to Ms. Monique and Millie Jackson singing "Mr. Do Right (Remix)" on ReverbNation.

Ms. Monique on iTunes

--Daddy B. Nice

About Ms. Monique

Originally from Boynton Beach (north Miami), Florida, Ms. Monique relocated to Atlanta in 2003 after receiving a record deal with the UK based label Serious Records, a subsidiary of Universal Records. In 2004, she met Tony R. Taylor of Soul Entertainment through a mutual friend, and the two developed an instant rapport. The culmination of their collaboration was the 2005 album, Soul Sessions: Chapter 1. Ms. Monique wrote all of the songs on album, and co-produced it with Atlanta producer Frank McKinney. “Soul Sessions Chapter I” received critical acclaim and accolades, garnering attention from both media and fans, and winning several awards.

2006 JUS BLUES AWARDS NEW ARTIST
2006 AUDITION RADIO WINNER FOR "MR. DO RIGHT"
2005 BLUES CRITIC BEST NEW ARTIST
2005 #1 INDI ALBUM (BLUES & SOUL MAGAZINE)

The single from the album, "Mr. Do Right," became a huge success (134,000 views on YouTube), and a remix of "Mr. Do Right" featuring X-rated Texas R&B legend Millie Jackson followed (although never distributed commercially). The song began with the older diva preaching a shrill sermon of male abstinence and ended with the same older diva collapsing upon receiving a call from an enamored.

Ms. Monique, also the leader and vocalist of the group Mo Sol, began performing nationwide extensively. In 2007, she began writing songs for an upcoming album, She Motions.

In the meantime Ms. Monique's Southern Soul Favorites, a reissue of her best-known songs from SOUL SESSIONS, was published through CD Baby in 2010. Tony R. Taylor of Soul Entertainment finally announced the release of Ms. Monique’s sophomore album She Motions in late 2012. A couple of singles were released in 2013, but neither gained the notice or notoriety of "Mr. Do Right."