Judy Cheeks, Miami Soul Singer Who Found Global Fame in Europe’s Disco Era, Dies at 71

Judy Cheeks, the Miami-born soul and dance-music singer who was discovered by Ike & Tina Turner and rose to international fame with “Mellow Lovin’” before returning to her gospel roots, died Nov. 26, 2025, at age 71. (Photo Courtesy judycheeksmusic.com)

Judy Cheeks, the Miami-born soul and dance-music powerhouse whose gospel-trained voice carried from Southern sanctuaries to international dance floors, died the day before Thanksgiving after a long fight with autoimmune illness. She was 71.

The daughter of gospel legend Rev. Julius “June” Cheeks — whose fiery vocals with the Sensational Nightingales and the Soul Stirrers helped define gospel’s golden age — Judy grew up surrounded by voices that blurred the line between spirit and song. Mavis Staples, Sam Cooke, and members of the Caravans were family friends who dropped by the house. “When people say I sound like Mavis, it’s because being around gospel singers was like eating food and drinking water,” she told The Black Gospel Blog in 2013.

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By seven, she was leading hymns at church. By eighteen, she was discovered by Ike & Tina Turner, who produced her self-titled 1973 debut, “Judy Cheeks.” Touring as an Ikette gave her a stage presence and grit that set her apart from the smoother soul stylists of the era.

In 1977, she took a bold leap, moving to Germany with only $35 and a belief in her gift. A televised duet with Austrian crooner Udo Jürgens on “The Rudi Carrell Show” catapulted her to stardom in Europe, and her 1978 disco single “Mellow Lovin’” broke through internationally — hitting No. 10 on Billboard’s Dance Club chart.

 

Through the 1980s she recorded and toured across Europe, lending her unmistakable tone to artists including Donna Summer, Stevie Wonder, Boney M and Amanda Lear. But it was the 1990s that cemented her second act. “Respect” and “As Long As You’re Good to Me” both reached No. 1 on the U.S. Dance chart in 1995, proving her voice could ride any era’s rhythm without losing its soul. Later singles — “Reach,” “So in Love (The Real Deal)” and “You’re the Story of My Life” — made her a club-culture favorite and earned her crossover respect from house DJs and gospel purists alike.

 

In her later years, Cheeks turned back to her spiritual foundation. Albums like “True Love Is Free” (2013), “Danger Zone” (2018), “A Deeper Love” (2019) and “Love Dancin’” (2020) blended testimony with groove. “There are more important things I want to say,” she told The Black Gospel Blog. “Though my walk with God has always been there, I wanted my music to be gospel this time. It felt good singing from my heart.”

A GoFundMe campaign launched earlier this year revealed her battle with a rare autoimmune disorder that required months of intensive care. Even as her health declined, friends said her faith and warmth never wavered. “She was the real deal,” one longtime friend wrote, echoing the title of her 1990s anthem.

Steve Cropper, Guitarist Who Defined the Stax Records Sound, Dies at 84

Steve Cropper, second from right, with Booker T. & the M.G.’s in 1967. The integrated Stax Records house band helped shape the sound of Southern soul and backed artists including Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and Wilson Pickett. 

Steve Cropper, the guitarist and songwriter whose clean, deliberate touch helped define the sound of Southern soul, died Thursday in Nashville at 84. His family confirmed the news, saying he passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones.

Cropper’s name might not ring as loud as the singers he backed, but his guitar did. As a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.’s — the integrated house band for Stax Records — he played on and co-wrote a catalog that became the backbone of American R&B. His rhythm lines cut through songs like “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” “Soul Man” and “Knock on Wood,” records that carried the sound of Memphis across the world.

Unlike the guitar heroes of his era, Cropper’s approach wasn’t flash or volume — it was precision. He understood space. His riffs were short, economical, built to leave room for Otis Redding’s rasp, Wilson Pickett’s howl, or Sam & Dave’s shouted harmonies. “I’m not listening to just me,” he once said in an interview. “I make sure I’m sounding OK before we start the session.”

 

At Stax, Cropper’s sound helped set the label apart from Motown’s polish. The Memphis sessions were grittier — bass up front, horns pushing, drums dry and close — and Cropper was the glue between rhythm and melody. When Sam Moore yelled “Play it, Steve!” on “Soul Man,” it wasn’t ego. It was acknowledgment.

Through the 1960s and early ’70s, Cropper quietly built one of the most durable resumes in popular music. He co-wrote “In the Midnight Hour” with Pickett, co-produced “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” with Redding — finishing the song after Redding’s death — and helped shape dozens of sessions for artists including Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd and Rufus Thomas. He rarely sought the spotlight, but he was rarely far from a hit.

His work carried into later decades through The Blues Brothers, where he and bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn brought Stax’s feel to a new generation. That exposure turned him into a cult figure — a sideman suddenly seen.

 

Cropper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, though he often brushed off accolades with the same ease he brushed off solos.

Even in later years, his reach extended further than many fans realized. Hip-hop producers and soul revivalists sampled the grooves he helped shape; his rhythm lines became part of the DNA of American popular music. He didn’t chase influence — it found him.

“Every note he played, every song he wrote, and every artist he inspired ensures that his spirit will continue to move people for generations,” his family wrote in a statement. He is survived by his wife, Angel Cropper, his children Andrea, Cameron, Stevie and Ashley, and generations of musicians who learned that sometimes the most powerful sound is restraint.

Chance the Rapper, 50 Cent and Mariah Carey Lead Culture-Shifting 'Rockin’ Eve'

Chance the Rapper, co-host of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2026,” will lead the show’s first-ever live Central Time Zone countdown from his hometown of Chicago, joining 50 Cent, Mariah Carey and Coco Jones in a lineup that blends hip-hop, R&B and pop across four time zones. (Courtesy ABC / Dick Clark Productions)

The clock still drops in Times Square, but this year the sound belongs to us. For the first time in its half-century run, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve feels less like a network broadcast and more like a playlist — one where hip-hop, R&B and pop collide in real time instead of being boxed off by genre.

The 2026 lineup is its most ambitious yet: 50 Cent, Chance the Rapper, Ciara, Coco Jones, Busta Rhymes, Wyclef Jean and T.I. share space with Mariah Carey, Charlie Puth, Post Malone, and country star Maren Morris, while newcomers like Chappell Roan, LE SSERAFIM, and BigXthaPlug stretch the sound across generations and continents. Over 80 performances will air across four time zones and eight hours of live television — the show’s longest broadcast in its history.

Chance the Rapper hosting the first-ever Central Time countdown from Chicago hits different. For a city that’s given the world everyone from Common and Kanye to Chief Keef and Noname, seeing Chance lead a national celebration from home feels like a long time coming. Out east, 50 Cent returns as New York royalty — not the provocateur he once was, but a fixture of the same culture that built Times Square’s pulse.

And in a moment that says everything about R&B’s quiet resurgence, Coco Jones takes center stage with the same voice that made “ICU” one of the genre’s defining songs of the decade. Then there’s Mariah Carey — timeless, theatrical and inevitable — the connective tissue between every generation the show’s ever tried to serve.

But the real cultural moment comes when DJ Cassidy’s “Pass the Mic Live!” unites Busta Rhymes, Wyclef Jean, and T.I. for a run that’s part cipher, part celebration — the kind of thing that never used to make it to network TV. For a show built on pop polish, this year’s lineup finally looks like the culture it’s been chasing for decades: messy, electric, and unapologetically Black at its core.

Sure, pop and rock names like Goo Goo Dolls, OneRepublic, and New Kids on the Block will keep the nostalgia crowd covered. But what gives Rockin’ Eve 2026 its spark is the mix — a reflection of how people really listen now: crossfade to crossfade, mood to mood, vibe to vibe.

It’s not that the show suddenly belongs to hip-hop or R&B. It’s that television finally understands it can’t ring in a new year without them. Because when midnight hits, it won’t be the confetti that gets remembered — it’ll be the bassline that carried us into the next one.

For more information on the show and to view the full lineup click here.