[1] She is the daughter of gospel singers Josephine Howard (January 26, 1936 – December 31, 1978)[2][3] of The Caravans and Clay Graham (1936–2018) of The Pilgrim Jubilees.

Among those who visited Howard's Los Angeles residence were Albertina Walker, Shirley Caesar, Billy Preston and Fats Domino.

Howard was also influenced by jazz greats, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Nancy Wilson.

As a teenager, she often visited Maverick's Flat, a popular night club in Los Angeles and a venue for music acts such as Rufus and Chaka Khan and Earth, Wind & Fire, who were influential in her pursuit of a professional singing career.

After the show, she met singer Augie Johnson,[6] leader and member of R&B group Side Effect,[7] who happened to be in the audience and began working with Howard on music.

As a member of Side Effect, the group's best remembered "I Can't Play" and a cover of Toto's "Georgy Porgy" were minor R&B hits in 1983/84.

In addition to singing with Side Effect, she did background vocals for Wayne Henderson, Roy Ayers, Stanley Turrentine, and several other artists.

LeMel Humes produced several tracks and became a close friend, working with Howard on future albums throughout her career.

In the fall of 1992, Miki decided to pay tribute to Billie by recording covers of her favorite classic songs by Holiday.

During recording, she also landed a role in John Singleton's 1993 film Poetic Justice starring pop singer Janet Jackson and hip-hop artist/actor Tupac Shakur.

Official singles were not released, only a radio promo of "Don't Explain" was played on R&B and jazz stations in the U.S. By 1997, Howard was no longer signed to Giant Records.

LeMel Humes produced most of the album, including a cover of the jazz standard "You Don't Know What Love Is" and "Sunshine" penned by singer Brenda Russell.

In June 2008, she released her ninth studio album, Private Collection[8] under her legally owned new independent label, Branicka Records.

Besides Booker, composers included on the album included Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer for "Skylark", Sammy Fain and Paul-Francis Webster for "Secret Love", Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for "Days of Wine and Roses", Elisse Boyd and Murray Grand for "Guess Who I Saw Today", and Irving Berlin for "Counting Your Blessings".

Howard released an EP, I Choose to Be Happy in 2015, which includes four new songs, also the new single "Panther" which features rapper Too Short and some of her greatest hits re-recorded live.

While recording, Howard has been touring throughout the U.S. and overseas, performing the album's first single, "Panther" as well as her classic hit songs.

The release features her performance of hits throughout her music career, and cover versions of "My Man", "Pillow Talk", "This Bitter Earth", and Marvin Gaye's "Soon I'll Be Loving You Again".