Jennifer Holliday

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jennifer Holliday (2007)

Jennifer Yvette Holliday (born October 19, 1960 in Riverside , Texas ) is an American musical and R&B singer and occasional actress, who became famous primarily through the Broadway musical Dreamgirls . She received a Tony at the height of her success and a Grammy for the best female singer R&B vocal performance for the musical hit And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going . In the following years she established herself in the R&B and dance market, but was never really able to build on the success of Dreamgirls .

Career

Jennifer Holliday sang in church as a young child. Her Broadway career began in 1980 in the play Your Arms Too Short to Box With God , the success of which finally made the makers of the musical Dreamgirls aware of the singer. Her portrayal of Effie White made Holliday a star overnight. In 1982 she received numerous important prizes for her performance, including the Tony, the Drama Desk Award and the Theater Award. As the best R&B singer of the year, she was also able to receive a Grammy in 1983 for the song And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going and assert herself against long-time superstars such as Aretha Franklin , Diana Ross and Donna Summer . As a single, And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going made it to number 22 in the pop and top spot on the R&B charts in the United States. With I Am Changing , the musical's second great ballad was also released as a single, but it was only successful in the R&B charts (number 29). Holliday appeared in Dreamgirls until 1984 , after which she tried to make a record career away from the musical stage.

Holliday got a solo contract with Geffen Records , the record company that had already released the Dreamgirls recordings. Her debut album Feel My Soul was released in 1983 and was produced by Maurice White ( Earth, Wind & Fire ). With the decoupled ballad I Am Love, Holliday followed up on the previous singles with powerful voices, but only reached number 49 in the United States. In the R&B charts, however, it celebrated another great success at number 2. Feel My Soul also includes This Day , a composition by gospel musician Edwin Hawkins . For the follow-up work Say You Love Me (1985), Holliday worked with a number of different producers, she herself acted as executive producer. The opening song You're the One was from Michael Jackson is responsible as a composer and producer. Arthur Baker , on the other hand, produced the first two singles, Hard Times for Lovers and No Frills Love , both successfully in the R&B charts, but again modestly in the pop hit lists. No Frills Love, however, brought Holliday the first number one on the dance charts in the United States. A notable conclusion to the album Say You Love Me was a version of the Duke Ellington classic Come Sunday produced by Tommy LiPuma , which demonstrated Holliday's versatility and earned her another Grammy. In 1985 the singer also appeared in the musical Sing, Mahalia, Sing as Mahalia Jackson . The role had previously been offered to Aretha Franklin.

Various producers were also responsible for the 1987 album Get Close to my Love , with Holliday again taking on the executive role. The opening song New at It was written by Ashford & Simpson , Michael McDonald and David Pack ( Ambrosia ) contributed He Ain't Special (He's Just the One I Love) and Tommy LiPuma produced four songs. The first single Heart on the Line failed, however, at the top 40 of the R&B charts and Holliday lost her record deal as a result. In 1991 she returned with a new record deal with Arista and the CD I'm on Your Side . At number 10, the title track was Holliday's last top 10 hit on the R&B charts.

With the album On & On (1994) Holliday turned to gospel music. Insignificantly later, her career took off again, among other things through a collection of her greatest hits ( The Best of Jennifer Holliday ), a remix of No Frills Love (1996) and the singles A Woman's Got the Power (1999) and Think It Over ( 2000), a remake of an old disco hit by Cissy Houston . All songs were great successes on the dance market, No Frills Love and Think It Over even made it to number one on the respective charts. Holliday also appeared as an actress: Between 1997 and 2001, she could be seen as Lisa Knowles in several episodes of the series Ally McBeal . Roles in the series A Touch of Heaven and Hang Time as well as the film The Rising Place followed. In 2000 she also received an honorary doctorate in music from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 2001 she returned to Broadway and appeared in the musical Chicago as Mama Morton.

In 2006 a film version of Dreamgirls was released , starring Beyoncé and Jennifer Hudson , among others , who cast the role with which Holliday had once become famous. Holliday herself did not get a role in the film, a fact that the singer said she was very disappointed. In 2011 she released a new gospel album.

Private

Jennifer Holliday was married twice. The marriage to Billy Meadows failed in 1991 after just a few months. At the same time, the singer, who was overweight from a young age, made headlines with a diet in which she lost around 55 kilograms. In early 1993 Holliday married the pastor and gospel musician Andre Woods, and the couple separated after barely two years.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK US US
1983 Feel my soul - US31 (22 weeks)
US
First published: October 1983
1985 Say you love me - US110 (14 weeks)
US
First published: August 1985
1991 I'm on your side - US184 (1 week)
US
First published: July 1991

More publishments:

  • 1987: Get Close to My Love
  • 1994: On & On ...
  • 1996: The Best of
  • 2000: The Millennium Collection: The Best of
  • 2011: Goodness & Mercy
  • 2014: The Song Is You

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK US US
1982 And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going
Dreamgirls: Original Broadway Cast Album 		UK32 (6 weeks)
UK 		US22 (14 weeks)
US
First published: June 1982
1983 I Am Love
Feel My Soul 		- US49 (11 weeks)
US
First published: October 1983
1985 Hard Time for Lovers
Say You Love Me 		UK82 (5 weeks)
UK 		US69 (7 weeks)
US
First published: September 1985
1986 No Frills Love
Say You Love Me 		- US87 (3 weeks)
US
First published: January 1986

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Out of the picture Jennifer Holliday, who starred onstage in 'Dreamgirls,' feels swept aside as a film nears , Los Angeles Times, December 12, 2006, accessed June 29, 2011
  2. ↑ International Broadway Database , ibdb.com, accessed July 28, 2011
  3. ^ Awards Insider , Los Angeles Times, accessed July 28, 2011
  4. ↑ A dream shape for a dreamgirl , Ebony Magazine, November 1991, accessed July 30
  5. ^ Aretha Franklin set to play Mahalia Jackson on stage , Jet Magazine, June 18, 1984, accessed July 30, 2011
  6. ↑ Steve Vai and Jennifer Holliday Honored at Fall 2000 Convocation , berklee.edu, accessed July 28, 2011
  7. ^ Biography , imdb.com, accessed July 28, 2011
  8. ↑ Jennifer Holliday reveals how she lost 124 pounds for a new husband , Jet Magazine, August 12, 1991, accessed July 28, 2011
  9. ↑ Jennifer Holliday weds again, vows 'This is the one' , Jet Magazine, April 19, 1993, accessed July 28, 2011
  10. ↑ a b Chart sources: UK US
personal data
SURNAME Holliday, Jennifer
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holliday, Jennifer Yvette (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Riverside , Texas , United States