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Jennifer Hudson
Since 2002, when the televised singing contest
American Idol began airing on the Fox network, the winners of
the competition have gone on to varying degrees of success, with
some selling millions of albums and earning multiple music-industry
awards. Even the runners-up have achieved a considerable measure of
acclaim, perhaps none more so than Jennifer Hudson, who competed in
2004, during the third season of Fox's ratings juggernaut. Hudson,
whose gospel-tinged, five-octave performances made her a formidable
contender, finished the competition in a dismal seventh place,
sparking rumors of racism and vote tampering. She was vindicated,
however, when she earned a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild
Award, and an Academy Award for her portrayal of Effie White, a
talented but troubled singer in a 1960s-era Motown-style girl group,
in the long-awaited film version of Dreamgirls (2006). (The
stage version of Dreamgirls, starring Jennifer Holliday as
White, ran on Broadway in the early 1980s.) To get the role, Hudson
beat out almost 800 other women who had also auditioned, including,
ironically, Fantasia Barrino, the season-three American Idol
winner.
Jennifer Kate Hudson was born on September 12,
1981. Accounts of her youth vary, with some sources stating that she
was raised, along with her older brother, Jason, and her older
sister, Julia, by a single mother. It is unclear how long her
mother, Darnell Hudson, who worked as a secretary, remained single.
She eventually married Samuel Simpson, a bus driver, and some
sources make reference to Hudson's having either two stepsiblings or
two half-siblings.
Hudson grew up in Englewood, a predominately black
neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. She told Nick
Curtis for the London Evening Standard (January 25, 2007),
"It was a decent neighborhood. We were poor but we weren't that
poor. . . . We had everything we needed." Hudson modeled for a Sears
catalog as a five-year-old and, thanks to Darnell's belief that her
children should be exposed to enriching extracurricular activities,
also took ballet lessons as a child.
The family belonged to the Pleasant Gift
Missionary Baptist Church, and Hudson attended twice a week--on
Sundays for worship and Tuesdays to practice for the choir, which
she joined at age seven. "Church is where I'm from," she told Dave
Hoekstra for the Chicago Sun-Times (December 17, 2006). "It
will always be my favorite place to sing."
In her teens Hudson also began performing in such
secular venues as local talent shows, community musicals, and
wedding receptions. She attended Dunbar Vocational Career Academy,
which had previously produced such performers as Cleotha and Pervis
Staples of the Staple Singers and Lou Rawls. There, she impressed
the school's music faculty and was voted most talented female
musician by her peers. "She exuded confidence," her former choral
director, Richard Nunley, told Us Weekly (March 5, 2007).
"She always told me she'd be as successful as [the singer] Whitney
Houston."
Hudson's grandmother died in 1998, and the
following year, shortly after Hudson's graduation from Dunbar,
Samuel Simpson succumbed to cancer. While the deaths of two beloved
relatives in so short a period proved wrenching for Hudson, she took
great consolation in her faith. Determined to continue her
education, she briefly attended Langston University, in Langston,
Oklahoma, but was unhappy at being so far from her remaining family
members. She then transferred to Kennedy-King College, one of the
institutions in Chicago's City Colleges system. While studying music
at Kennedy-King, in 2001 Hudson earned a singing part in a local
production of Big River, a musical based on Mark Twain's 1884 novel
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. "Quite honestly I will
never forget Jennifer Hudson coming in and singing for us," Rick
Boynton, the show's artistic director, told Mark Caro for the
Chicago Tribune (December 18, 2006). "She just came into the
room and opened her mouth, and it was something I had never heard
[before]. It was incredible."
In the fall of 2002, after Big River
closed, Hudson, confident that she could earn a living by singing,
auditioned for the chance to perform on a Disney cruise ship. In
February 2003 she began appearing in the shipboard production
Hercules: The Musical as the head muse, Calliope. Despite her
attachment to her family and her hometown, she told Caro, "From the
moment I stepped on that ship, I was like, I will never be at home
for good ever again."
Although she was invited to renew her contract
with Disney, Hudson decided instead to audition for the third season
of American Idol, a show that had proven exceedingly popular
and that had launched the careers of its first two winners, Kelly
Clarkson and Ruben Studdard, as well as that of Studdard's close
season-two runner-up, Clay Aiken.
On the show the contestants' singing is
critiqued--sometimes harshly--by the judges: Simon Cowell, Paula
Abdul, and Randy Jackson. The judges are advised by a series of
celebrity guest judges, who included, during season three, the pop
stars Barry Manilow and Elton John. At the end of each weekly
telecast, viewers are invited to vote for their favorites by calling
in or sending text messages; the contestant with the fewest votes in
a given week is eliminated and does not compete the following week.
During the early rounds of the competition, Hudson sang such popular
numbers as "Baby I Love You," an Aretha Franklin number, and "I Have
Nothing," originally performed by Whitney Houston. She was sometimes
compared to those two stars by the judges, who generally praised
Hudson's vocal abilities--if not some of her more outlandish costume
choices. (One pink dress, made for her by a friend, an aspiring
designer, was widely described in the tabloid press as
"cringe-inducing.")
Hudson, while inarguably one of the most talented
competitors, was voted off the show in seventh place. Cowell, Abdul,
and Jackson expressed shock at that outcome--Jackson, for example,
described it as "insane," according to Sarah Rodman in an article
for the Boston Herald (April 27, 2004). Various theories
explaining her ouster were put forth by journalists, music-industry
figures, and distressed fans. A phone outage in Hudson's native
Chicago, which prevented many of her supporters from voting, was
blamed by some, while others suggested that because Hudson was so
good, many of her fans thought their votes would be superfluous.
Hudson's competitors on American Idol
included LaToya London and Fantasia Barrino, two black women with
gospel-inspired singing styles; Hudson, London, and Barrino were
often referred to collectively by the judges and the show's host,
Ryan Seacrest, as "the three divas." Some felt that the three
singers had ended up splitting the vote--to the detriment of each. (Barrino
and London were also in the bottom three the week Hudson was
eliminated.)
Elton John, who had been deeply impressed by
Hudson's rendition of his song "Circle of Life" when he served as a
celebrity judge, described the viewers' decision as racially
motivated. Many immediately disputed that conjecture, since Ruben
Studdard, the previous season's winner, was black, and George Huff,
a charismatic black competitor, had fared well that week. Later,
Barrino was named the season-three victor.
The Fox network received so many angry phone calls
and letters regarding Hudson's loss that the American Idol
producers released a statement confirming that the decision had been
based solely on viewer voting. Hudson expressed her view that fans
of the show ignored singing skill when deciding their favorites. "If
we're going to base [the contest] on talent, I know I was robbed,"
she told Janet Zimmerman for the Riverside (California) Press
Enterprise (April 27, 2004). "I think people need to reconsider
and think what this competition is supposed to be, rather than what
such-and-such is wearing." Otherwise, she responded philosophically
to being eliminated in what was then the closest vote in the show's
history. "It was meant to be and that's fine with me," she explained
to Zimmerman. "It was God's will." Similarly, she told Faridul Anwar
Farinordin for the Malaysia New Straits Times (December 11,
2004), "I'm thankful for being in the final round and I respect the
voters' choice. What's important is that the show has opened new
doors for me to pursue my career in music." Hudson also defended her
fellow contestant John Stevens, a young, white singer whom many
voters believed should have been dismissed instead of her.
"[Stevens] deserves to be there as much as me and anybody else,"
Hudson told Zimmerman. "He has fans just like we do and obviously
they're voting." (Stevens was voted off the show the week after
Hudson.)
After American Idol Hudson was inundated
with invitations to perform. Rather than jumping into an
ill-conceived project—a pitfall that she believed some of her
American Idol predecessors had encountered—Hudson carefully
considered her options. She was first obliged to participate in the
50-date American Idol: Season Three tour, in the summer of
2004, which featured the top 10 contestants of the show. Hudson
followed up that group tour by performing concerts around the
Midwest and singing at a charity event on Broadway, at which she was
introduced to theater executives who urged her to consider moving to
New York to pursue a stage career.
Hollywood, however, beckoned; Hudson, after a
grueling series of auditions, earned the part of Effie White in the
film Dreamgirls, which premiered on December 4, 2006 and was
released nationwide on Christmas Day of that year. "Effie is such a
hugely complex role," the director and writer Bill Condon told Susan
Wloszczyna for USA Today (November 17, 2005). "She is at once
exasperating and heartbreaking. Jennifer emerged as the person who
captured both sides."
The Dreamettes, the fictional singers featured in
Dreamgirls, were loosely patterned on the phenomenally
popular Motown trio known as the Supremes, and Effie was based in
part on the late Florence Ballard, who had been marginalized by the
thinner, lighter-skinned singer Diana Ross. "I've had a similar
journey as Effie," Hudson told Hoekstra. "Me being a part of Idol,
her being part of the group. I was kicked off the talent show. She
was [originally] the lead singer of the group and [was] kicked off
to the background. We both go through our journeys, trying to hold
on to our dream and achieve our goal. We have hardships but we
prevail at the end."
When the stage version of Dreamgirls
appeared on Broadway, playing the role of White made Jennifer
Holliday a star and earned her a Tony Award. Holliday's rendition of
the show-stopping song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" became
legendary among theater aficionados. Hudson, who had grown up
idolizing Holliday, described the part to Wloszczyna as "the
ultimate, the greatest role in theater history." The movie also
starred Beyoncé Knowles, Anika Noni Rose, Jamie Foxx, and Eddie
Murphy. At the start of Dreamgirls, Effie White is the
confident lead singer of an aspiring girl group. At a talent show
they impress an ambitious salesman, Curtis Taylor Jr., played by
Foxx, who becomes their manager (and White's boyfriend). The group
soon secures a spot singing back-up for James "Thunder" Early,
played by Murphy. In an effort to improve the group's appeal to
white audiences, Taylor makes the slimmer, lighter-skinned Deena
Jones (Knowles) the lead singer, sending Hudson's character into a
self-destructive tailspin. As she is forced from the group, White
sings the powerful anthem "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going."
Hudson had first heard the song as a 12-year-old and had
occasionally performed it at talent shows. She was initially
intimidated at the thought of following in Holliday's footsteps, but
she told Joey Guerra for the Houston Chronicle (December 21,
2006), "The first thing I had to do was just realize the character
is Effie White and not Jennifer Holliday. Just like [Holliday] put
her stamp on it and created her own Effie White, I have to put my
Jennifer Hudson mark on it and show why I'm here."
Hudson's work in the film was almost universally
acclaimed. It was reported that film audiences across the country
were on their feet screaming and applauding during the scene in
which Hudson sings "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." The Los
Angeles Times reporter Tom O'Neil wrote on his
newspaper-sponsored Web log that Hudson "not only owns the movie,
she rides it like a rocket to instant stardom." A. O. Scott wrote
for the New York Times (December 15, 2006, on-line), "The
dramatic and musical peak of Dreamgirls—the showstopper, the
main reason to see the movie—comes around midpoint, when Jennifer
Hudson, playing Effie White, sings 'And I Am Telling You I'm Not
Going.' That song has been this musical's calling card since the
first Broadway production 25 years ago, but to see Ms. Hudson tear
into it on screen nonetheless brings the goose-bumped thrill of
witnessing something new, even historic." Scott continued, "It's not
often you go to the movies and see a big-boned, sexually assertive,
self-confident black woman—not played for laughs or impersonated by
a male comedian in drag—holding the middle of the screen. And when
was the last time you saw a first-time film actress upstage an Oscar
winner [Foxx], a pop diva [Knowles] and a movie star [Murphy] of
long standing? Ms. Hudson is not going anywhere. She has arrived."
(Scott was alluding to the fact that Hudson, already more curvaceous
than the typical actress, had gained an additional 20 pounds to play
the role.) For Variety (November 30, 2006, on-line), David Rooney
wrote, "The emotional intensity [of the film] is immediately pushed
several notches higher with Hudson's raw, devastating delivery of
'And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going.' The anthem of proud
desperation is forever linked to Jennifer Holliday's defining
original interpretation but Hudson makes it her own, singing it on a
bare stage backed by mirrors. . . . An American Idol finalist
without prior screen experience, Hudson comes fully-formed to film."
For her work in Dreamgirls, Hudson earned
awards in the category of best supporting actress from the
African-American Film Critics Association and the Screen Actors
Guild. In addition, she took home both a Golden Globe and an Academy
Award for best supporting actress. At the Academy Awards ceremony,
Hudson joined her co-stars Knowles and Rose for a medley of songs
from the movie.
During the awards season, the press widely
reported on Hudson's fashion choices, and most observers agreed that
Hudson, who had accepted the help of several designers and stylists,
including André Leon Talley, an editor at large for the American
edition of Vogue, had the potential to become a style icon
and an inspiration for other full-figured women. Hudson appeared on
the cover of the March 2007 edition of Vogue, becoming one of only a
handful of African-American women whose images have graced the front
of that magazine. Anna Wintour, the magazine's famed editor, wrote
in her column that month, "[Hudson's] happiness in her own skin is
something we can draw strength from. The question of body image is a
current one, and I can't think of a more compelling and beautiful
argument for the proposition that great fashion looks great on women
of all sizes than the sight of Hudson in a Vera Wang [designer]
dress on the red carpet."
Despite such adulation, Hudson does have
detractors. She was widely quoted as referring to American Idol
as a "stepping stone," raising the ire of Simon Cowell, who
deemed her ungrateful for the opportunities the show had brought
her. Additionally, some journalists questioned what they saw as her
intolerance of homosexuality; after a flood of such criticism, she
wrote on her Web site, "In a recent interview, I was asked how I
reconciled being a Christian with performing at events for my gay
fans. I find it upsetting that some folks equate being a Christian
with being intolerant of gay people. That may, unfortunately, be
true for some, but it is not true for me. I have talked often of my
love and support of the gay community. I have said again and again
that it was the gay community that supported me long before and long
after American Idol, and kept me working and motivated. It is
the gay community that celebrated my voice and my size and my
personality long before Dreamgirls. Yes, I was raised
Baptist. Yes, I was taught that the Bible has certain views on
homosexuality. The Bible also teaches us not to judge."
Hudson recently signed a recording contract with
Arista Records. Her first album is due to be released later this
year. She has reportedly been approached to star in several films,
including one about the soul legend Aretha Franklin. Hudson, who
currently lives in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, has hinted
jokingly that if her film and music career does not work out, her
love of drawing may lead her to become a tattoo artist.
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