Lots of people are asking who the Asian singer was at the Michael Jackson Memorial service. The singer looks to be Judith Hill, who is part Japanese and part African American. Here’s some information about Judith Hill on her site.
Judith was born in Los Angeles and raised in a family of musicians. Her mother is an immigrant from Japan who met her father in a funk band in the 1970s. She laughs about her bi-racial experience, “I was a skinny mixed kid with a lot of hair that I didn’t know what to do with (and still don’t know what to do with it). And my mom could not help me with it!” She lived in a Christian home and embraced Jesus Christ at an early age. She comments, “I had a pretty good life in my childhood. Me and God were friends since the beginning. That helped a lot. But, it didn’t save me from walking a path of pain and asking the deep questions of life. I was a philosopher as a kid, and in school you could find me in the library.” She admits that she never “fit in”. Depending on the social circle, she was labeled “too quiet”, “too loud”, “too black”, “too asian”, or too something. Judith expresses, “I was a traveler, kind of a drifter. But, looking back I see how all of those experiences, friends, and cultures made me who I am today.”
You can learn more about Judith Hill on her website here.
Judith Hill performing Heal the World at Michael Jackson Memorial
Judith Hill singing, “One Love Forever” last year
Update:
Judith Hill talks about her performance on Entertainment Tonight (ET)