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DAN OLSON: Tonia Hughes met David, the man who would become her husband, nine years ago when both were members of the Minneapolis Gospel Sound.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

David Hughes was the lead vocalist on several of the tunes on the group's first CD, including the song "These are the Last Days."

[ENSEMBLE SINGING]

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 age 32.

Tonia and David had been married five years and had three children. Tonia Hughes says her life changed overnight.

TONIA HUGHES: We sang together as a family. He was a wonderful composer, writer, singer. He was just my world.

(SINGING) I can't explain how I feel

And your love is real

My heart has been fulfilled

It's a very special love

DAN OLSON: There was little time to grieve. Tonia and David had three children. She needed to make a living to support her family. She returned to singing.

Tonia Hughes is a gospel praise and worship vocalist. She sings with renewed fervor, she says, as thanks to God. She credits God with helping see the family through the crisis. She says this tune, accompanied by pianist Sam Reeves, is a love song to God.

TONIA HUGHES: (SINGING) Away

I'm so glad your love will stay

'Cause I love you

(SPEAKING) We didn't have any insurance. He allowed me to maintain everything that I have. And he's still giving me food on my table, clothes on my back. I'm taking care of my kids by myself.

And so when I think about his faithfulness to me and my family, he's worthy of everything that I sing about, every praise, all the praise, because he is just that good to me and my family.

(SINGING) That's why my heart is filled with praise

DAN OLSON: These days, Tonia Hughes is singing gospel music with a new partner, her 14-year-old son Cameron.

TONIA AND CAMERON: (SINGING) Go tell it on the mountain

Over the hills and everywhere

Go tell it on the mountain

That Jesus Christ is born

DAN OLSON: Tonia Hughes was born and raised in Saint Louis in a house filled with music. She says she was shy but recalls being told by her mother she would sing.

Cameron's singing ability, she says, was evident early on.

TONIA HUGHES: (SINGING) Down in a lowly manger

The humble Christ he was born

To bring us our salvation

That blessed Christmas morn

Whoa

Go

(SPEAKING) When I started singing, I was about two or three, and mom would make me sing at churches and everything. Cameron just came out the womb almost singing.

DAN OLSON: 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.

TONIA AND CAMERON: (SINGING) Go tell it on the mountain

Over the hills and everywhere

Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born

DAN OLSON: 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.

CAMERON HUGHES: 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.

ENSEMBLE: (SINGING) The Lord has been so good to me

The Lord has been so good to me

He has supplied my every need

He has supplied my every need

God is my refuge and my strength

He is my refuge and my strength

DAN OLSON: One of Cameron Hughes's big breaks came with help from his mother. He's a featured vocalist on the Minneapolis Gospel Sound's latest CD.

[ENSEMBLE SINGING]

CAMERON HUGHES: (SINGING) My very present

ENSEMBLE: (SINGING) My very present help in the time of trouble

I can always count on him

He'll be there to answer my prayer

DAN OLSON: Although his father passed away, Cameron Hughes 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 the Black Nativity at the Penumbra Theater which Rambo co-directed. He's happy Cameron's attention is focused on singing.

T. MYCHAEL RAMBO: So many young men his age question whether or not they'll reach adulthood, question whether there'll be a job, or the potential for graduation from high school.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CAMERON HUGHES: (SINGING) But most of all I want to thank you

For victory victory

You thought you had me but I got away

DAN OLSON: Rambo says it's also heartening 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 beckons so many aspiring singers.

Rambo says the praise and worship style gospel, the mother and son team sing is straightforward. There is little use of metaphor or allusion to deliver the message.

T. MYCHAEL RAMBO: It says, Jesus is a mighty God. He's washed my sins away. He made me whole, made me who I am as opposed to, what a flower he wrapped my soul in the colors of a cloth that says that I am one. 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.

ENSEMBLE: (SINGING) In the name of Jesus

I have victory

And I want to thank you

For my liberty my liberty

DAN OLSON: T. Mychael Rambo says gospel's popularity is serving as a bridge. It helps white audiences hear music from the Black experience. And gospel is giving Tonia Hughes and a new generation of Black performers a way to explore their heritage.

T. MYCHAEL RAMBO: It is quite interesting that African-Americans, who seem to be blurred in our own self-perception and how the world and how Americans see us, sing the art form that has defined us globally. But yet she's able to do it in a way that reminds us of the great richness and the great wealth that we, as a culture, 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 intact and whole enough to sing with such sound sweetness.

ENSEMBLE: (SINGING) I got the victory

I got the victory

Well well well well well

Well well ooh whoa

Got the victory

DAN OLSON: Tonia Hughes says she's not over the loss of her husband David three years ago. However, she says her religious beliefs are helping her move on in life.

TONIA HUGHES: We've changed a lot, and I've adjusted. It took some time, and it's still taking time. But God has been with us. And hopefully, I'll find somebody special, although Cameron doesn't want me to, pretty soon here. But as far as feeling like I have a void, I don't. I feel like God is taking care of me.

DAN OLSON: Tonia Hughes and her son Cameron sing at churches and public events. Their schedule gets busy this time of year with Martin Luther King Day performances. Black History Month in February brings appearances at numerous schools.

Dan Olson, Minnesota Public Radio.

[TONIA HUGHES, "WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD"] I see trees of green

Red roses too

I see them bloom

For me and for you

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

Ooh

I see skies of blue

And clouds of white

The bright blessed day

The dark sacred night

And I'll think to myself

What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow

So pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces

Of people going by

I see friends shaking hands

Saying how do you do

And what they're really saying

Is I love you

I hear babies crying

I watched them grow

They'll learn much more

Than I'll ever know

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

World

World

And I'll think to myself

What a wonderful world

(SPEAKING) What a wonderful world.