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January 16, 2005
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| Gospel singer Tonia Hughes says her faith in God has helped her recover from the death of her husband David (MPR photo/Dan Olson) |
Minneapolis, Minn. — Tonia Hughes met David, the man who would become her husband, nine years ago when both were members of the Minneapolis Gospel Sound.
David Hughes had a day job reading meters for a Minneapolis utility company. One day he felt a pain in his chest. Doctors found a rare heart ailment. He died not long after at 32 years of age. Tonia and David had been married five years and had three children.
Tonia Hughes life changed overnight.
"We sang together as a family. He was a wonderful composer, writer, singer. He was my world," she says.
There was little time to grieve. She needed to make a living to support her family and returned to singing.
Hughes sings with renewed fervor, she says, as thanks to God. She credits God with helping see the family through the crisis.
"We didn't have any insurance," Hughes says. "He's still giving me food on my table, clothes on my back, taking care of my kids by myself. So, when I think about his faithfulness to me and my family he's worthy of every praise because he's been good to me and my family".
These days Hughes is singing gospel music with a new partner, her 14-year old son Cameron.
Tonia Hughes was born and raised in St. Louis in a house filled with music. She says she was shy but recalls being told by her mother she could sing. Her son Cameron's singing ability, she says, was evident early on.
"When I started singing I was about two or three, and mom would make me sing at churches and everything," she says. "Cameron came out of the womb singing."
Tonia remembers even as a toddler Cameron pretended he was holding a microphone and singing into it.
Side by side the two could pass for brother and sister. Their hand motions are the same. Their voices blend into melody and harmony.
Cameron's star is rising as fast as his mother's. He's performed on a national television program. He's in demand as a solo performer. He balances his budding vocal career with classes as a student at Minneapolis North High School.
"Sometimes I do have to do a lot of gigs and miss out on school, and homework is hard, but I keep up with my work," he says.
Although his father passed away, Cameron has no shortage of male role models in his life.
One is Twin Cities actor, stage director and vocalist T. Mychael Rambo whose resume' includes roles at Penumbra Theater and the Guthrie, among other stages.
Both Cameron and his mother Tonia appeared in this season's production of, "Black Nativity," at the Penumbra Theater which Rambo co-directed.
He's happy Cameron's attention is focused on his singing.
"So many young men his age question whether they'll reach adulthood, question whether there'll be a job, or the potential for graduation from high school," Rambo says.
Rambo says it's also refreshing to know a youngster who has enough self confidence to stand by his mother's side and sing gospel music in a culture where rap and hip-hop beckon so many aspiring singers.
Rambo says the praise and worship style gospel the mother and son team sing is straightforward. There's little use of metaphor or allusion to deliver the message.
"It says, 'Jesus is a mighty God, he's washed my sins away, made me whole, made me who I am,' as opposed to, 'What a flower he wrapped my soul in the colors of cloth that says I am one.' You know, it is truly speaking with earnest heart and fullness of song and melody to what God has done in the life of the person singing it," he says.
Rambo says gospel's popularity serves as a bridge. It helps white audiences hear music from the black experience. Gospel is giving Tonia Hughes and a new generation of black performers a way to explore their heritage.
"It's quite interesting that African Americans who seem to be blurred in our own self perception in how the world and how Americans see us sing in an art form that has defined us globally," Rambo says. "But yet she's (Hughes) able to do it in a way that reminds us of the great richness and great wealth that we African Americans have brought and the wealth and the richness that a group of people through adversity have been able to come through with their spirits in tact and whole enough to sing with such sound sweetness."
Tonia Hughes says she's not over the loss of her husband. However she says her religious beliefs are helping her move on in life.
"We've changed a lot, and I've adjusted, and it took some time, and it's still taking time, but God has been with us...Hopefully I'll find, we'll find somebody special although Cameron doesn't want me to, pretty soon here, but as far is filling a void...I feel like God is taking care of me."
Tonia Hughes and her son Cameron sing at churches and events. Their schedule gets busy this time of year with Martin Luther King day performances. Black history month in February brings appearances at schools.
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