“Happy” – Judy Cheeks

“Happy”

Judy Cheeks

To an unrelenting funk backdrop, Judy Cheeks—daughter of quartet legend Rev. Julius Cheeks and goddaughter of Sam Cooke—sings about how happy she is that God loves her, especially given the state of the hate today.  

But she doesn’t stop there.  Summoning up her inner evangelist, Cheeks cries out to the whole world to “stop hatin’ others and give Him glory.”

Like her famous father, Judy can sing, but where his voice was gruff and edgy, hers is smooth and pointed, more Donna Summer than Dot Coates.  That makes sense.  Cheeks spent the last three decades of the twentieth century creating soulful dance music, such as “Mellow Lovin’,” “Respect,” and “As Long As You’re Good To Me.”  

While writing Love and Honor, a book on her father’s legacy, Cheeks was inspired to return to gospel music.  “In my research,” she said, “I realized all he had gone through in the timeline of his life alongside the history of America.  He was singing about God for people, yet he couldn’t drive through the South without fearing for his life.  Imagine how much faith he had to possess to follow that calling!

“Because of my Dad, I was surrounded by gospel and all of the great gospel singers.  Young kids would go to pop concerts.  I got my thrill going to see the Davis Sisters and the Dixie Hummingbirds.  That was my grounding.”

From Cheeks’s new album, True Love Is Free, “Happy” is both celebration and apocalyptic warning, a chance to stomp on the devil’s head while throwing some impressive shapes.