Jennifer Yvette Holliday (born October 19, 1960) is an American singer and actress. Her performance in that musical earned her a 1981 Drama Desk Award nomination. Her next role, which she began to act at age 21, was the role for which she became best known: the role of Effie Melody White in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls.
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, 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.
Holliday became popular with LGBT events and fundraisers, which she acknowledged on her gospel album On & 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 as her 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 fundraising events.
Health concerns and career renewal
In the 1990s, Holliday lost a substantial amount of weight and talked about her health struggles with depression during promotional interviews.
In April 2011, Holliday released a Christian CD titled Goodness and Mercy on her own Euphonic Records label. She produced it in conjunction and cooperation with the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock,
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 acted out the role of choir director Lisa Knowles, often singing popular ballads.
In 2001, Holliday opened Unforgiven by singing "America the Beautiful", which was 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.)
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 has been viewed more than 1.3 million times as of July 2021.
On October 17, 2011, Holliday appeared on The Wendy Williams Show where, following a sit-down interview, Holliday performed "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" and received a standing ovation from the studio audience.
On May 23, 2012, Holliday performed "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" alongside American Idol finalist Jessica Sanchez during the American Idol Season 11 finale.
On October 2, 2018, Holliday surprised the seven year old viral singing sensation, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja on GMA Day, and they performed a duet of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going".
On July 30, 2020, Jennifer Holliday sang “Only What You Do for Christ Will Last” as well as "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" at the funeral of civil rights icon and congressman John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
In 2022, Holliday competed in season seven of The Masked Singer as "Miss Teddy" of Team Cuddly. She was unmasked on April 13 alongside Duane Chapman as "Armadillo" of Team Good.
Personal life
Holliday 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."
Her second marriage, which began on March 21, 1993, and ended in 1994, was to Rev. Andre Woods, a minister in Detroit. Jet magazine covered the marriage in their April 19, 1993 issue. 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," she remembered. "The grief was overwhelming." She later 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 the Town Hall in New York, and also appeared in the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' Nothing Like a Dame show at the St. James Theatre in 2002.
As of late February 2011, Holliday was residing in Atlanta, Georgia.
Health
Holliday has clinical depression, and has spoken out about her struggle with the disorder. On her 30th birthday, Holliday attempted suicide by overdosing on pills;
Discography
Studio albums
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|-
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:15em;"| Title
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:20em;"| Album details
! scope="col" colspan="4"| Peak chart positions
!
|-
! scope="col" | US<br />Pop<br />
! scope="col" | US<br />R&B<br />
|-
! scope="row"| Feel My Soul
|
- Released: October 3, 1983
- Label: Geffen
- Formats: LP, cassette
| 31
| 6
| —
| —
|24
|-
! scope="row"| Say You Love Me
|
- Released: August 19, 1985
- Label: Geffen
- Formats: LP, cassette
| 110
| 34
| —
| —
|—
|-
! scope="row"| Get Close to My Love
|
- Released: August 18, 1987
- Label: Geffen
- Formats: CD, LP, cassette
| —
| —
| —
| —
|26
|-
! scope="row"| I'm on Your Side
|
- Released: July 23, 1991
- Label: Arista
- Formats: CD, LP, cassette
| 184
| 29
| —
| —
|41
|-
! scope="row"| On & On...
|
- Released: November 8, 1994
- Label: Intersound
- Formats: CD
| —
| —
| 10
| —
|—
|-
! scope="row"| Goodness & Mercy
|
- Released: April 19, 2011
- Label: Euphonic / New Day Christian
- Formats: CD, digital download
| —
| —
| —
| —
|—
|-
! scope="row"| The Song Is You
|
- Released: January 21, 2014
- Label: Shanachie
- Formats: CD, digital download
| —
| 27
| —
| 46
|—
|-
|}
Compilation albums
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|-
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:15em;"| Title
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:15em;"| Album details
! scope="col" colspan="4"| Peak chart positions
|-
! scope="col" | US<br />R&B<br />
|-
! scope="row"| "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"
| rowspan="2"| 1982
| 22 || 1 || — || 32
| rowspan="2"|Dreamgirls - OBC
|-
! scope="row"| "I Am Changing"
| — || 29 || — || —
|-
! scope="row"| "I Am Love"
| rowspan="2"| 1983
| 49 || 2 || — || —
| rowspan="2"|Feel My Soul
|-
! scope="row"| "Just Let Me Wait"
| — || 24 || 43 || —
|-
! scope="row"| "Hard Time for Lovers"
| rowspan="2"| 1985
| 69 || 17 || 26 || 82
| rowspan="2"|Say You Love Me
|-
! scope="row"| "No Frills Love"
| 87 || 29 || 1 || —
|-
! scope="row"| "Heart on the Line"
| rowspan="1"| 1987
| — || 48 || — || —
| rowspan="1"|Get Close to My Love
|-
! scope="row"| "I'm on Your Side"
| rowspan="2"| 1991
| — || 10 || — || —
| rowspan="2"|I'm on Your Side
|-
! scope="row"| "Love Stories"
| — || 29 || — || —
|-
! scope="row"| "On & On (Stronger)"
| rowspan="2"|1994
| — || — || — || —
| rowspan="3"|On & On...
|-
! scope="row"| "To Teach Me"
| — || — || — || —
|-
! scope="row"| "Let Jesus Love You"
| rowspan="1"|1995
| — || — || — || —
|-
! scope="row"| "No Frills Love (Remix)"
| rowspan="1"| 1996
| — || — || 1 || —
| rowspan="1"|The Best of Jennifer Holliday
|-
! scope="row"| "A Woman's Got the Power"
| rowspan="1"| 1999
| — || — || 7 || —
|rowspan="4"
|-
! scope="row"| "Think It Over"
| 2000
| — || — || 1 || —
|-
! scope="row"| "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"<br /><small>(Rosabel with Jennifer Holliday)</small>
| rowspan="1"| 2001
| — || — || 6 || —
|-
! scope="row"| "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"<br /><small>(Jennifer Holliday with Rosabel)</small>
| rowspan="2"| 2007
| — || — || 10 || —
|-
! scope="row"| "Givin' Up"
| — || — || — || —
| rowspan="1"|Why Did I Get Married? - OST
|-
! scope="row"| "God Is Faithful"
| rowspan="2"| 2011
| — || — || — || —
| rowspan="2"|Goodness and Mercy
|-
! scope="row"| "Get Up, Get Ready"
| — || — || — || —
|-
! scope="row"| "Hold On"
| rowspan="1"| 2012
| — || — || — || —
| rowspan="1"|Lysistrata Jones - OST
|-
! scope="row"| "Touch"
| rowspan="1"| 2014
| — || — || — || —
| rowspan="1"|The Song Is You
|-
! scope="row"| "Baby, Tonite"
| 2019
| — || — || — || —
| rowspan="1"
|-
| colspan="7" style="font-size:85%"| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
|}
Theatre credits
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year(s)
! Production
! Role
! Location
! Category
|-
| 1980
| Your Arms Too Short to Box with God
|
| Ambassador Theatre & Belasco Theatre
| Broadway
|-
| 1981–1983
| Dreamgirls
| Effie Melody White
| Imperial Theatre
| Broadway
|-
| 1995
| Grease
| Teen Angel
| Eugene O'Neill Theatre
| Broadway
|-
| 2001; 2022
| Chicago
| Matron Mama Morton
| Shubert Theatre & Ambassador Theatre
| Broadway
|-
| 2003
| Like Jazz
|
| Mark Taper Forum
| Los Angeles/Regional
|-
| 2014
| The Color Purple
| Sophia
| Various
| Mini-Tour
|-
| 2016–2017
| The Color Purple
| Shug Avery
| Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
| Broadway
|-
|}
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
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable"| Notes
|-
| 2002
| The Rising Place
| Sadie
|
|-
| 2010
| Change in the Wind
| Hattie McDaniel
| Voice role
|-
| 2022
| The Road to Galena
| Florrie
|
|-
| TBA
| Fairy Tale Forest
| Ava
| Voice role
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable"| Notes
|-
| 1986
| The Love Boat
| Dr. Charlene Thomas
| Episode: "The Shipshape Cruise"
|-
| 1996
| Ellen
| Herself (uncredited)
| Episode: "Fleas Navidad"
|-
| 1997
| Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
| The Dream Diva (voice)
| Episode: "King Midas and the Golden Touch"
|-
| 1997–2001
| Ally McBeal
| Lisa Knowles
| Recurring role; 6 episodes
|-
| 1999
| Touched by an Angel
| Norma
| Episode: "Then Sings My Soul"
|-
| 2000
| Hang Time
| Charlotte Hayes
| Episode: "The Gospel According to Silk"
|-
| 2009
| Musical Theatre of Hope
| Singer
| Television film
|-
| 2011
| Happily Divorced
| Herself
| Episode: "Vegas Baby"
|-
| 2022
| The Masked Singer
| Herself/"Miss Teddy"
|Three episodes
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Year
! Award
! Category
! Nominated work
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| 1988
| CableACE Awards
| Performance in a Music Special
| Cinemax Sessions
|
| align="center"|
|-
| 1981
| rowspan="2"| Drama Desk Awards
| Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
| Your Arms Too Short to Box with God
|
| align="center"|
|-
| 1982
| Outstanding Actress in a Musical
| Dreamgirls
|
| align="center"|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1982
| rowspan="4"| Grammy Awards
| Best New Artist
|
|
| align="center" rowspan="4"|
|-
| rowspan="2"| Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female
| "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"
|
|-
| 1983
| Feel My Soul
|
|-
| 1985
| Best Inspirational Performance
| "Come Sunday"
|
|-
| 2001
| NAACP Image Awards
| Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
| Ally McBeal
|
| align="center"|
|-
| 1982
| Theatre World Awards
|
| rowspan="2"| Dreamgirls
|
| align="center"|
|-
| 1982
| Tony Awards
| Best Leading Actress in a Musical
|
| align="center"|
|}
See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
References
External links
- Discogs - Jennifer Holliday