Reviewed by Rob Andrews

With a year as a lead in the Broadway musical Rent, Myiia 'Sunny' Hawkins has penned original songs recently recorded by Aretha Franklin and Patti LaBelle, and there is a long list of famous names for whom she has sung background vocals. Sunny, the daughter-in-law of gospel greats Walter and Tramaine Hawkins, now emerges with her first recording as a solo artist. The album's style is rooted in a mix of jazzy R&B ("Where Would I Be") and pop ("What A Man"), Sunny also extends her ample talents into edgy hip-hop ("Daddy's Got You Now") and even a more rocky number ("What A Man"). Highlights include "Crazy", where Sunny's soaring vocals rest on a bed of acoustic rhythm guitars in a musical love letter to her Top 40 hit-making husband Jamie Hawkins, and "It's Like Air" on which Sunny delicately sings, over a smooth groove, of needing God's unconditional love. Co-written and well produced by Sunny and her husband, she describes her sound as "urban inspirational" and this seems as good a description as any for this wide ranging but truly effective collection. But then, with her CV you'd expect nothing less.

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