Jennifer Holliday

Jennifer Holliday
Birth name Jennifer-Yvette Holliday
Born October 19, 1960 (1960-10-19) (age 50)
Origin Riverside, Texas, USA
Genres R&B, soul, pop, house, club/dance, gospel
Occupations Singer, actress
Instruments Vocals
Years active 1980–present
Labels Geffen (1982-1990), Arista (1990-1996)
Jennifer-Yvette Holliday (born October 19, 1960, Riverside, Texas) is an African-American singer and Tony Award-winning actress. She started her career on Broadway in musicals such as Dreamgirls, and later became a successful recording artist. She is best known for her debut single, the Dreamgirls showstopper and Grammy Award-winning R&B/Pop hit, «And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.
BiographyCareerBroadway actressJennifer landed her first big role on Broadway in 1979. At age 19, she landed a part the same day she auditioned for the Broadway production of Your Arms Too Short to Box with God.[1] Her performance in that musical earned her a 1981 Drama Desk nomination. Her next role, which she began to act out at 21, was the role for which she became best known: the role of Effie Melody White in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. Jennifer originated the role of Effie and remained with the show for nearly four years after its December 20, 1981 opening. Her performance in the role was widely acclaimed, particularly in her iconic performance of the musical number that ends Act I, «And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.»

Among the acclaim was Holliday’s sweep of awards in 1982, including the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, a Grammy award for her recorded version of the song, and Drama Desk and Theater World awards for her acting performance itself. Holliday also performed in the touring company of Sing, Mahalia, Sing in 1986. In 1998 Holliday was featured on the album «My Favorite Broadway Ladies» notice as one of «The Queens Of Broadway.»

Recording artistJennifer Holliday’s version of the song «And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going» made Holliday a star on Broadway. The version of the song was liked by many fans so much that Holliday was encouraged to transform the song into a hit on Billboard charts. In 1982, a pop version of the song was released as a single. The song became very successful, peaking at number-one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart, and number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. She continued to have success as a recording artist through the rest of the decade. Her follow-up song, «I Am Love», became another hit in 1983. Holliday’s later R&B hits included. «Hard Time For Lovers» (1985), «No Frills Love» (1985), «Heart on the Line» (1987), «I’m on Your Side» (1991) and «A Woman’s Got the Power» (2000). «A Woman’s Got the Power» charted at #7 in summer of 1999. However, it recharted the following year, peaking at #1. She continued to appear on the charts throughout the 1990s, but never had the same level of success she had in the 1980s. Holliday was a featured vocalist on the #1 single «I Want to Know What Love Is» by Foreigner in 1985. A number of her songs became hits on the US Dance charts as well. In fact, a dance version of «And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going» would peak at #6 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 2001.

Gospel singerOn October 30, 1986, Paul Simon hosted a Ken Ehrlich-Produced «Gospel Session» originally televised as part of a series of «Cinemax Sessions»[2] featuring Holiday, Luther Vandross, The Oak Ridge Boys, Andrae Crouch, The Edwin Hawkins Singers, and the Mighty Clouds of Joy. The show began with Holiday singing «His Eye Is On The Sparrow.» Later, she returned to collaborate with Simon and Vandross on «Still Waters Run Deep,» followed by an Aretha Franklin arrangement of «Bridge Over Troubled Water,» with the finale consisting of all the participants joining in «Gone At Last,» followed by «Amazing Grace.»
linda A reviewer, whose identity was not known by late February 2011, wrote:

“ Ms. Holliday’s performance and Simon’s long-term repertoire of gospel-influenced songbook («Bridge,» «Gone At Last,» Slip Sliding Away,» and «Loves Me Like A Rock» [not included here] is the glue that holds the show together. Visually intriguing is the role reversal of a larger-than-life Jennifer Holliday and a waif-thin Luther Vandross.[3] The music, however, is uniformly exciting, mesmerizing and sets the highest-of-high standard for gospel arrangements. You will seldom see a major gospel show without a musical reference to this concert’s arrangements.[4] ”

Holliday became popular with LGBT events and fundraisers, which she acknowledged on her gospel album On and On. Because of this, the Atlantic Entertainment Group’s Director of Live Talent, Scott Sherman, produced and promoted many Jennifer Holliday events for several years, acting as both Holliday’s de facto agent and road manager. Under Sherman’s aegis, Holliday went on a series of special tours and promotions, one-night-only performances, LGBT pride appearances and special fund raising events. Her fans commenced to wait patiently for her to release new singles, and perhaps even a full-length club/dance-style album, and to assume that this might happen once she was re-signed to another record label.

Health concerns and career renewalIn the 1990s, Holliday lost a substantial amount of weight and talked about her health struggles with depression during promotional interviews.[1] Initially, the weight loss was attained strictly by diet. Eventually, in an effort to avoid regaining the weight, Holliday had gastric bypass surgery. After the initial weight loss, she released an LP and video titled I’m On Your Side. The video, unlike most videos, was recorded live. In 1995, Holliday released the gospel album On & On. In a March 2008 interview, she revealed that she was in the studio working on a new album, to be released later that year.[5]

In April 2011, Holliday will release a Christian CD titled Goodness & Mercy on her own Euphonic Records label. She produced it in conjunction and cooperation with the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock.[6]

Television appearancesApart from her career in the music industry and on the stage, Holliday has also made appearances on primetime television. In addition to appearances on Touched By An Angel and Hang Time, she had a half dozen appearances in a recurring guest star role on Ally McBeal, where she acted out the role of choir director Lisa Knowles.

In 2001, she sang America The Beautiful on the first WWE pay-per-view to be held after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

On June 26, 2007, Holliday made a surprise appearance at the BET Awards, singing «And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going» in a duet with Jennifer Hudson, who had played Effie White in the 2006 film adaptation of Dreamgirls, and won an Oscar for her performance. Holliday had not been offered a cameo role in the film and, feeling snubbed, had repeatedly expressed displeasure with the movie in the media. (Another original Dreamgirls cast member, Loretta Devine, did have a cameo in the film.)[7] More recently, it became possible to see Holliday in a YouTube video, singing a duet with Hudson. The two actresses-singers performed their live duet at a concert Hudson gave on April 16, 2009. The YouTube video had been viewed over 700,000 times as of late February of 2011.

Personal lifeHolliday has been married twice. In March 1991, just two months after she met keyboardist Billy Meadows in a nightclub where she was singing, they married. «He had a great sense of humor and he made me laugh all the time,» Holliday says of her first husband. «I had been feeling bad for so long, I wanted to laugh.» But in December 1991, just nine months later, they divorced; the marriage, according to Holliday, «ran out of steam.» She explained of Meadows: «We just didn’t know each other well enough.»[8]

The second time around, she married a man much like her father. Her second marriage, which began on March 21, 1993 and ended in 1994, was to Rev. Andre Woods, a minister in Michigan. Jet magazine covered the marriage in one of its issues.[volume & issue needed] Though Woods was a charismatic Detroit preacher, she subsequently said that even so, he was a player who also ran through her money. Still, Holliday was devastated when, in 1994, that marriage, too, ended, just four months after her mother died of cancer. «It was like experiencing two deaths at the same time,» Jennifer remembered. «The grief was overwhelming.» [8] As of late February 2011, she was residing in Atlanta, Georgia.

Holliday received a Doctor of Music honoris causa from Berklee College of Music, Boston in 2000. In 2001 she was presenter for the tap dance show «21 Below» at Town Hall in NYC and also headlined Equity Cares/Broadway Fights Aids’ «Nothing Like a Dame» show at the St. James Theatre where she was accompanied by teenage tap dance sensation Michela Marino Lerman and Hannah Leah Dunn.

DiscographyAlbums1983 Feel My Soul #31 U.S. Billboard 200, #6 U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
1985 Say You Love Me #110 U.S., #34 U.S. R&B
1987 Get Close to My Love
1991 I’m On Your Side #184 U.S., #29 U.S. R&B
1995 On & On #10 U.S. Top Gospel Albums
1996 The Best of Jennifer Holliday #50 U.S.
2000 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Jennifer Holliday
2006 Duet with Najiyah - Through The Storm
2011 Goodness & Mercy
SinglesYear Single Peak chart positions Album
U.S. R&B U.S. Hot 100 U.S. Dance UK[9]
1982 «And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going» 1 22 — 32 Dreamgirls
«I Am Changing» 29 — — —
1983 «I Am Love» 2 49 — — Feel My Soul
«Just Let Me Wait» 23 — — —
1985 «Hard Time for Lovers» 17 69 26 — Say You Love Me
«No Frills Love» 29 87 1 —
1987 «Heart on the Line» 48 — — — Get Close to My Love
1991 «I’m on Your Side» 10 — — — I’m on Your Side
«Love Stories» 29 — — —
1996 «No Frills Love» — — 1 — The Best of Jennifer Holliday
2000 «A Woman’s Got the Power» — — 1 — Breaking Through
«Think It Over» — — 1 — Divine Divas
2001 «And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going» (Rosabel with Jennifer Holliday) — — 6 — —
2007 «And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going» (Jennifer Holliday with Rosabel) — — 10 —
«Givin’ Up» — — — — Why Did I Get Married? soundtrack
Awards and nominationsAwards
1982 Theatre Awards Outstanding Broadway Debut – Dreamgirls
1982 Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical – Dreamgirls
1982 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical – Dreamgirls
1983 Grammy Award Best Female Performance, Rhythm & Blues – «And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going» from Dreamgirls
1985 Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance, Gospel – «Come Sunday»
Nominations
1981 Drama Desk Award or Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical – Your Arms Too Short to Box with God
1983 Grammy Award Best New Artist