Jennifer Holliday

Infobox musical artist
Name = Jennifer Holliday

---

Img_capt = Jennifer Holliday promotional photo
Img_size = 180
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Jennifer-Yvette Holliday
Born = Birth date and age|1960|10|19|mf=y
Origin = Riverside, Texas, USA
Instrument = Vocals
Genre = R&B, soul, pop, house, club/dance, gospel
Occupation = Singer, actor
Years_active = 1980-present
Label = Geffen (1982-1990), Arista (1990-1996)Infobox actor
name = Jennifer Holliday
grammyawards = Best Female Performance - R&B
1983 "And I Am Telling You..."
Best Inspirational Performance
1985 "Come Sunday"
tonyawards = Best Leading Actress in a Musical
1982 "Dreamgirls"
awards = Theatre World Award
1982 "Dreamgirls"
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical
1982 "Dreamgirls"

Jennifer-Yvette Holliday (born October 19, 1960, Riverside, Texas) is a two-time Grammy Award-winning American singer and 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."

Biography

Career

Broadway actress

Jennifer Holliday 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". [ [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n1_v47/ai_11413566 A dream shape for the 'Dreamgirl.' - singer Jennifer Holliday | Ebony | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ] Her performance in that musical earned her a 1981 Drama Desk nomination. Her next role was the role for which she is best known: the role of Effie Melody White in the Broadway musical "Dreamgirls". Holliday 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 the performance. Holliday also performed in the touring company of "Sing, Mahalia, Sing" in 1986.

Recording artist

Jennifer 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.

Popular with LGBT events and fundraisers, acknowleged on her album On and On, the Atlantic Entertainment Groups Director of live Talent Scott Sherman produced and promoted many Jennifer Holliday events for several years acting as both Agent and Road Manager, Holliday went on a series of special tours and promotions, one night only performances, LGBT pride appearances and special fund raising events. Her fans are patiently waiting for her to release new singles, perhaps a full length Club/Dance style album once she gets resigned to another label.

In the 1990s, Holliday lost a substantial amount of weight and talked about her health struggles with depression during promotional interviews. [ [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n1_v47/ai_11413566 A dream shape for the 'Dreamgirl.' - singer Jennifer Holliday | Ebony | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ] 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 the "I’m On Your Side" LP and video. The video, unlike most videos, was recorded live. In 1995, Holliday released a gospel album entitled "On & On". In a March 2008 interview she revealed that she was in the studio working on a new album to be released later this year. [Echeverria Jr., Steve (March 28, 2008). (The Herald Tribune) " [http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080327/FEATURES/803270609/1376 Nightlife: The original Dreamgirl] ." Retrieved on April 23, 2008.]

Television appearances

Apart 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 played 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 she 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 portrayed Effie White in a 2006 film adaptation of "Dreamgirls". Holliday had repeatedly expressed her displeasure with the film version of "Dreamgirls" in the media, also noting she was not offered a cameo role in the film (one of the other original "Dreamgirls" cast members, Loretta Devine, was given a cameo in the film version). [Nader, Juli (November 21, 2006). (Black Public Relations Wire) " [http://www.blackprwire.com/display-news.asp?id=2803 Exclusive: Jennifer Holliday Says She Created Role in "Dreamgirls" and Doesn’t Want to Be Forgotten] ." Retrieved on November 27, 2006.]

Personal

Holliday married twice. In March 1991, just 2 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." In December 1991, just nine months later, they divorced: the marriage, according to Holliday, "ran out of steam" :"We just didn't know each other well enough". [ [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_2_30/ai_54831757/pg_4 Find Articles 404 File not found ] ]

The second time around, she married a man much like her father. Her second marriage was to Rev. Andre Woods (21 March 1993 - 1995), a minister in Michigan, which was covered by "Jet" magazine. This husband was a charismatic Detroit preacher who, she says, 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 remembers. "The grief was overwhelming." [ [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_2_30/ai_54831757/pg_4 Find Articles 404 File not found ] ] She currently resides in Manhattan, New York.

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.

Discography

Albums

* 1983 "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 ""

ingles

Awards and nominations

;Awards
* 1982 Theatre Awards Outstanding Broadway Debut – "Dreamgirls"
* 1982 Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical – "Dreamgirls"
* 1982 Drama Desk Award for Best Lead 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

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title=Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical
years=1981-1982
for "Dreamgirls"
before=Lena Horne
in "Lena Horne, The Lady and Her Music"
after=Natalia Makarova
in "On Your Toes"

ee also

*List of number-one dance hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/thejenniferholliday - Jennifer's Official Myspace]
*
*
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC_u_q-iND0 Performance of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from the 1982 Tony Awards]
*Reference 1: [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_2_30/ai_54831757/pg_4 Essence June 1999: Jennifer Holliday On Her 2 Failed Marriages]
*Reference 2: [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n1_v47/ai_11413566 Nov 1991 Ebony Magazine: Jennifer Holliday About Her Weight Loss]
*Reference 3: [http://www.newsalerts.com/news/article/holliday-not-sing-no-no-no-no-way-.html:life19:915541 USA Today February 22, 2007: Jennifer Holliday On the "Dreamgirls" Movie and Jennifer Hudson]
* [http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/interactive/video/index.html#h TonyAwards.com Interview with Jennifer Holiday]
* [http://www.jenniferhollidaythedreamgirl.com]