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Biography (courtesy of M2-O Records)

Cheri Keaggy Biography - God Loves You

It seems such a simple statement - at once profound, magnificent, unbelievable. For Dove award-winning singer/songwriter, Cheri Keaggy, it is simply the truth. The compelling, uncomplicated, urgent truth.

"I went to Israel for the first time this past year," Cheri explains. "I came away with a sense of God's urgency. It increased my intentionalism about getting the message out. I don't know what that is going to look like in my ministry, because I mostly sing at churches and I feel like that is where I need to be. But I have to believe that God will prepare the hearts of those to come to my concerts, so if they receive the truth through song, that seed would fall on good soil."

It is that sense of urgency that permeates every song on Let's Fly. Set against soundscapes that are decidedly edgier than her earlier recordings, Cheri explores themes of eternal vs. temporal success (Let's Fly), communion with God (Flooding), and faithfulness (Come What May). Cheri's first pop recording in nearly four years, Let's Fly crackles with unbridled joy. "I am itching to get these songs out," Cheri exclaims. "Musically, it is indicative of music that I listen to. It has that really accessible pop sound but with a little bit of grit to it, a little bit of edginess.

The album, like its author, is a delightful blend of wit and whimsy, plain-spokenness and poetry, grace and grit. And if the songs on Let's Fly seem to be an uncanny combination of the earthy and the ethereal, it is because Cheri is an artist who has learned the secret of keeping both feet planted firmly on the ground while her mind is on heaven. "I like to think of myself as someone who writes when inspiration hits instead of waiting until there is a record on the schedule," she says. "And that inspiration comes in a variety of ways: from nature walks or quiet talks with my husband. Often it comes through a book that I've read which has influenced my thinking. There is a line in Save Me A Place that came from a book. Peace is not a feeling, but a knowing of You. I have ultimate peace because I know God. I know where I am going, and that is all I need to know."

Let's Fly bounces through the delightfully juicy pop numbers I Like, Definitely, and Posies. Cheri wraps her trademark blue-velvet vocals around the emotion-laden ballads Flooding and Come What May. She explores the paradox of faith and grace, of the gently wooing yet boldly compelling Spirit of God, of the absurd, incomprehensible reality of Christ living in us. "Some things are loved because they are worthy," she quotes a favorite author. "And some things are worthy because they are loved. That is us in Christ. We are worthy because of His love."

With Let's Fly Cheri truly comes into her own, expressing her unique musical ideas in her own distinctive style. But for Cheri Keaggy, life doesn't begin and end with a record. "I am wife, a mother, and a Christian," she says. "And the Lord lets me do music. I give this record as my offering for this time in my life, and I know that God has something more afterwards."