Judy Cheeks is an American singer and actress, who has worked with other musical artists as well having her own solo career in the 1970s and 1980s as a soul and R&B singer, before returning in the 1990s, when she released more dance-orientated music.
Her first recording was a blues album entitled Judy Cheeks, produced by Ike Turner and recorded at his Bolic Sound studio in 1973. A tour with Ike & Tina Turner followed, she also performed as an Ikette. Cheeks moved to Germany in 1977 and recorded a duet with Austrian singer Udo Jürgens. Their performance on The Rudi Carrell Show made Cheeks an overnight success in Europe. In 1978 she recorded "Mellow Lovin'" which became an international hit and reached No. 10 on the Hot Dance Club Playchart. Her 1978 album Mellow Lovin' was produced by Anthony Monn in Giorgio Moroder's Musicland Studios in Munich. Cheeks appears as a backing vocalist for Stevie Wonder's The Woman In Red 1984 soundtrack album, Donna Summer's Once upon a Time and Rumor Has It albums, Thelma Houston and Jerry Butler's Just Thelma & Jerry 1977 album, on Amanda Lear's 1979 album Never Trust a Pretty Face and on Boney M.'s Ten Thousand Lightyears. In 1986, Cheeks worked as a studio musician on Alphaville's album Afternoons in Utopia. Cheeks wrote for Jobette Music - Motown. The Jackson 5 recorded one of her songs on their last Motown LP. She did a lot of session work for several major artist while sharpening her song writing skills. She co-wrote and produced her solo album No Outsiders, released by Polydor in 1987. In the same year, Cheeks appeared with Austrian band, Opus, on their self-titled album being co-vocalist on the song, "Givin' a Gift." Cheeks had a career resurgence in the 1990s, when she re-emerged with a string of dance chart hits, including two No. 1s, "Respect" and "As Long As You're Good to Me", released on EMI's imprint Brilliant! in 1995. Her single "Reach" appeared on the Summer Hitmix 94CD released by ZYX Records in Germany. A solo album, also titled Respect, was released in 1996. In 2013, Cheeks wrote and co produced her own solo album, True Love is Free. In 2018, she released her single and remixes of "Crying In The Rain"; a song she had written and first recorded by Randy Crawford as "When The Evening Comes". This was followed by the album, Danger Zone. In February 2019, Cheeks released a further album of original material, A Deeper Love. At the beginning of 2020 Cheeks released a new album of original material "Love Dancin'" the title track was co-written with Stevie Wonder the album also includes a composition by Cheeks longtime friend Betty Wright "Safe In Your Arms".
Other work
Cheeks acted in various movies and TV shows: She starred in her first movie Caribbean Rhapsody with Rossano Brazzi, filmed in Haiti. 1980 La playa del amor, 1984 SOKO 5113, and starred in one episode of the TV series Salzburger Nockerln in 1992. Cheeks is the author of Love and Honor about her late father Reverend Julius Cheeks. She is the founder of School of Miracles.
