From left: Bob Marovich, Judy Cheeks, Joseph Middleton
By Robert M. Marovich
When I heard earlier this year that Judy Cheeks’ health was in peril, I prayed she would overcome her illness.
It wasn’t to be. Judy passed away on November 26, 2025. She was 71.
Not only was she an internationally-known singer and a genuinely sweet, sweet spirit, but she was also a friend. Years ago, she and her husband braved a Houston cloudburst to attend the book signing that our mutual friend, Joseph Middleton, organized for me at the city’s River Oaks Bookstore (see photo at left).
Judy and I kept in touch online over the years. In testament to her commitment to privacy, she never shared anything about the illness she was battling. She just kept on being the wonderful person we all loved. To paraphrase one of her disco songs, she was “the Real Deal.”
Much has been written about Judy in the days since her passing. For my part, I thought I would present an interview I did with her in 2013, on the release of her CD True Love is Free.
Rest in peace, dear Judy. The angelic choir has a new member.
By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog
If you frequented European discotheques in the 1990s, chances are you cut some steps to the dance hits “Respect” or “Reach” by a vocalist named Judy Cheeks.
Cheeks…Cheeks…that name sounds familiar. No…it couldn’t be, could it?
The disco singing star who conquered Europe is indeed the daughter of the late Rev. Julius “June” Cheeks. Rev. Cheeks, an incendiary vocalist in his own right, sang with the Sensational Nightingales, the Soul Stirrers, and his own group, the Four Knights.
With her first contemporary gospel CD, True Love Is Free, Judy Cheeks is moving from the dance floor to the altar, though without losing the music propulsion that fueled her pop career.
Judy told TBGB that as a young girl, she grew up in the presence of gospel greats, such as the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Caravans, the Sensational Nightingales, and the Davis Sisters. “These people were like extended family to me,” she said. “When people say I sound like Mavis [Staples], it’s because being around gospel singers was like eating food and drinking water. I absorbed their beautiful gift.”
Growing up in Miami, young Judy also made friends with future soul songstress Betty Wright. “Even though we were all brought up in the church and committed to God,” she said, “we didn’t think there was anything wrong with singing pop. We were singing because we loved to sing.”
In addition to singing at home and in church, Judy sang for funerals, starting at the tender age of seven. Once, after finishing a funeral, Judy was approached by a woman who gushed, “I just love your singing! If I ever hear tell of you singing that rock and roll, I’m going to tell God to take your voice away!”
“I went crying to my mom,” Judy exclaimed, “and she said, ‘Whatever God gives to you, no one can ever take away.’”
Judy started her professional singing career at eighteen. One might expect June would have persuaded his daughter to sing gospel, but when Judy said she wanted to sing pop, he encouraged her to “just be real. His Christian walk was very honest. He instilled in me that you don’t have to be perfect, you just have to be real. He would say, ‘If you like it, I love it.’”
Moving to Los Angeles, Judy met Ike and Tina Turner. Ike thought Judy had a lot of soul and could sing blues. Her self-titled debut project, produced by Ike and Tina in 1972, was a blues album. “I wasn’t very proud of it,” Judy said, “because I was young, and I hadn’t lived the life.”
Still, the album enabled her to tour Europe with Ike & Tina, where she received offers from France and Germany to relocate. Ariola Records was particularly persistent, and so she picked Germany. “It was during the whole Donna Summer craze,” Judy said, “and people thought that any black girl who went to Germany was going to become the next Donna Summer.
“Maybe it was the blissfulness of youth or just insanity, but I went to Europe with $35 in my pocket!”
Pocket change notwithstanding, Judy’s fortune changed almost as soon as her feet struck German soil. Famed Austrian singer Udo Jergens wanted to record a duet with her. “Over there, he was like Andy Williams or Frank Sinatra,” Judy said. Their recording, “On the Day you Leave,” earned them an appearance on television’s The Rudi Carrell Show, and made twenty-something Cheeks an overnight success. Her 1978 single “Mellow Lovin’” was also a hit.
Judy Cheeks was a bona fide disco star in Europe. She remained in Germany and eked out a decent career, waxing several dance hits, notably the mid-90s anthems “Respect” and “Reach.” She even appeared in German films. She laughed, “I’ve never acted in English. All my acting has been in German!”
The preacher’s daughter sometimes considered returning to the U.S., “but I thought it could be a shock to my system. There are certain freedoms you enjoy in Europe and the lifestyle is totally different from here.” Nevertheless, she returned to the States about three years ago, though with the intention of retiring from singing. She had simply lost the love of it.
Judy wasn’t in retirement long. Fans and friends insisted she return to music, so she rekindled a friendship with Michael B. Sutton, who produced her newest album. This time, however, it was going to be different.
“I’m at this place in my life when there are more important things in my heart than ‘Oh, kiss me baby, I love you,’” Judy explained. “There are more important things I want to say. Though it has been personal, my walk with God has always been there, so I wanted my music to be gospel this time. It felt good singing gospel. It was so liberating singing from my heart.”
She continued, “When I sing ‘Happy’ [her current single], people assume I’m singing because I’m happy. I’m singing that you should be happy, too, because God loves you. God loves everyone. He didn’t die just for people who are perfect or who are dressed right. How dare you tell God’s children that He doesn’t love them if they don’t look the way you think they should look? You’re not God. You didn’t make them. God made them.”
The album title, True Love Is Free, summarizes Judy’s belief system. “My view of Christianity is of total acceptance. I wrote ‘Where Love Is’ in response to people who judge others based on their appearance or lifestyle. They think they are being Godly, but they’re not. Jesus accepted everyone, and I think that message is being lost in Christianity. If we get rid of the façade and the outside show and live love through our hearts, we can receive the truth God is trying to give us on a daily basis.”
Available now on iTunes, True Love is Free will release officially on October 8. “This album is very pure,” Judy said. “It is the sho’ ‘nuff’ truth. I’ve already been criticized a little bit, but I’m at a point in my life where the truth in me will not be comprised. I believe God put this album in me. That’s not chance or luck, that’s God.”
Judy attends Sensational Nightingales anniversaries and stays in touch with members JoJo Wallace and Howard Carroll. Love and Honor, a book about her father and his career in gospel quartet singing during gospel’s Golden Age, will be available soon.
“Imagine you are traveling, spreading the word of Jesus and love,” she said, “and there are people walking around with sheets on their heads, trying to kill you. The group actually saw bodies hanging along the road, but they kept going. A lot of celebrities revel in a world of luxury that people like my father helped them have, and yet they are not even aware of them.
“I go deep into my family history and expose my father in a way people have never seen. Nobody really knows what was in my father’s heart. Only a daughter can tell that story.”
True Love Is Free is available on iTunes and, as of October 8, CD Baby, Amazon.com, and the Judy Cheeks store on her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/officialjudycheeks.
Written by : Bob Marovich
Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. Founder of Journal of Gospel Music blog (formally The Black Gospel Blog) and producer of the Gospel Memories Radio Show.
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