Jennifer Holliday facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jennifer Holliday
Holliday in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Jennifer Yvette Holliday
Born	(1960-10-19) October 19, 1960 (age 64)
Origin	Houston, Texas, U.S.
Genres	R&B soul pop jazz gospel dance
Occupation(s)	Singer actress
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Geffen Arista Intersound Records
Associated acts	Whitney Houston Maurice White David Foster Ashford & Simpson Tony Franklin Al Green Marvin Gaye Jennifer Hudson Patti LaBelle Marc Patrius Mallare Mervyn Warren Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

Jennifer Yvette Holliday (born October 19, 1960) is a famous American singer and actress. She became well-known for her amazing voice and powerful performances. Jennifer started her career on Broadway, starring in popular musicals like Dreamgirls and Your Arms Too Short to Box with God. She is especially famous for her song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls. This song helped her win a Grammy Award in 1983 and a Tony Award in 1982 for her role in Dreamgirls.

Jennifer Holliday's Career

Becoming a Broadway Star

Jennifer Holliday got her first big role on Broadway in 1979. She was just 18 years old. This happened on the very same day she tried out for the musical Your Arms Too Short to Box with God. Her performance in this show earned her a nomination for a Drama Desk Award in 1981.

Her next role made her truly famous. At age 21, she played Effie Melody White in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. Jennifer was the first person to play Effie. She stayed with the show for almost four years after it opened on December 20, 1981. Everyone loved her performance, especially when she sang the powerful song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going". This song became a huge hit.

In 1982, Jennifer won many awards for her role in Dreamgirls. These included the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. She also won a Grammy Award for the recorded version of her song. She received a Drama Desk Award and a Theatre World Award for her acting. In 1985, Jennifer also performed in the touring show Sing, Mahalia, Sing. Later, in 1998, she was featured on an album called My Favorite Broadway Ladies. She was known as one of "The Queens of Broadway."

Singing on the Charts

Jennifer Holliday's song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" made her a huge star. In 1982, a pop version of the song was released. It became a massive success. The song reached number one on the Billboard R&B music chart. It also reached number 22 on the main Billboard Hot 100 chart.

She continued to have success as a singer throughout the 1980s. Her next song, "I Am Love", was another hit in 1983. Other popular R&B songs by Jennifer included "Hard Time For Lovers" (1985) and "No Frills Love" (1985). Later hits were "I'm On Your Side" (1991) and "A Woman's Got the Power" (2000). "A Woman's Got the Power" reached number 7 in 1999 and then number 1 the next year. She kept appearing on the music charts in the 1990s. However, she didn't have the same level of success as she did in the 1980s. In 1985, Jennifer was also a featured singer on the number one song "I Want to Know What Love Is" by the band Foreigner. Many of her songs also became popular on the US Dance charts. A dance version of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" reached number 6 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 2001.

Becoming a Gospel Singer

On October 30, 1986, Paul Simon hosted a special "Gospel Session" for TV. Jennifer Holliday performed alongside other famous artists like Luther Vandross and Andrae Crouch. The show started with Jennifer singing "His Eye Is On The Sparrow". She later sang with Paul Simon and Luther Vandross. The show ended with everyone singing "Gone at Last" and "Amazing Grace".

Jennifer Holliday became very popular at LGBT events and fundraisers. She even mentioned this on her gospel album On & On. Because of this, she went on special tours and performed at many LGBT pride events. She also sang at special fundraising concerts.

Health and Career Comeback

In the 1990s, Jennifer Holliday lost a lot of weight. She also openly talked about her struggles with feeling down during interviews. She first lost weight by changing her diet. To help keep the weight off, she later had a special surgery called gastric bypass. After losing weight, she released a music album and video called I’m On Your Side. This video was recorded live, which was unusual for music videos at the time.

In 1995, Jennifer released her gospel album On & On. In 2008, she shared that she was working on a new album. In April 2011, she released a Christian CD called Goodness and Mercy. She released it on her own record label, Euphonic Records. She worked with Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, who later became a United States Senator.

In July 2012, Jennifer Holliday played Effie White again in Dreamgirls at the St. Louis Muny. She has said that she does not plan to play this role again in the future.

TV Appearances

Besides her singing and stage career, Jennifer Holliday has also appeared on primetime television. She was on shows like Touched by an Angel and Hang Time. She also had a recurring role on Ally McBeal. On that show, she played a choir director named Lisa Knowles and often sang popular songs.

In 2001, Jennifer sang "America the Beautiful" at the start of Unforgiven. This was a WWE event. It was the first pay-per-view event after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

On June 26, 2007, Jennifer made a surprise appearance at the BET Awards. She sang "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" as a duet with Jennifer Hudson. Jennifer Hudson had played Effie White in the 2006 movie Dreamgirls. She even won an Oscar for her role. Jennifer Holliday had not been asked to be in the movie. She felt left out and had often shared her unhappiness about the film in the media.

More recently, you can find a YouTube video of Jennifer Holliday singing a duet with Jennifer Hudson. They performed live at a concert on April 16, 2009. This video has been watched over 1.3 million times.

On October 17, 2011, Jennifer Holliday appeared on The Wendy Williams Show. After an interview, she performed "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going". The audience gave her a standing ovation. On May 23, 2012, she performed the same song with American Idol finalist Jessica Sanchez during the American Idol Season 11 finale.

On October 2, 2018, Jennifer Holliday surprised a seven-year-old singing star named Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja on GMA Day. They sang "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" together.

On July 30, 2020, Jennifer Holliday sang at the funeral of civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis. She sang “Only What You Do for Christ Will Last” and "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

In 2022, Jennifer Holliday was a contestant on The Masked Singer in season seven. She was known as "Miss Teddy" from Team Cuddly. She was revealed on April 13.

Jennifer Holliday's Life

Jennifer Holliday has been married two times. In March 1991, she married keyboardist Billy Meadows. They had met only two months before in a nightclub where she was singing. Jennifer said about her first husband, "He had a great sense of humor and he made me laugh all the time." She added, "I had been feeling bad for so long, I wanted to laugh." But they divorced in December 1991, just nine months later. Jennifer explained that "We just didn't know each other well enough."

Her second marriage started on March 21, 1993, to Rev. Andre Woods, a minister in Detroit. This marriage ended in 1994. Jennifer was very sad when this marriage ended, especially because it happened just four months after her mother passed away from cancer. She remembered, "It was like experiencing two deaths at the same time. The grief was overwhelming."

Jennifer Holliday went to Texas Southern University. In 2000, she received a special Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 2001, she presented a tap dance show in New York. She also appeared in a benefit show for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS in 2002. As of early 2011, Jennifer Holliday was living in Atlanta, Georgia.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Theatre Credits

Additional credits

• Sing, Mahalia, Sing (1985)
• The Gospel Truth (1986)
• Harlem Suite (1988)
• Angela Lansbury: A Celebration (1996) (benefit concert)
• Downhearted Blues: The Life and Music of Bessie Smith (2001)
• Black Nativity (2002)

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Jennifer Holliday para niños

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