Jennifer Hudson

With a voice that cuts across generations, Jennifer Hudson delivers powerful performances whether tackling fresh compositions or reinterpreting standards drawn from gospel services, Broadway stages, Hollywood screens, and mainstream pop playlists. Emerging from Chicago, she joined the 2004 cast of American Idol and quickly rose as one of the reality series’ most accomplished participants. Her turn as Effie White in the 2006 screen adaptation of Dreamgirls brought an Academy Award, while her first proper studio album, Jennifer Hudson, earned a Grammy for Best R&B Album in 2008. The following Top Ten releases I Remember Me and JHUD arrived in 2011 and 2014, aligning with screen appearances in Winnie Mandela, Chi-Raq, and a Broadway staging of The Color Purple whose cast album secured her second Grammy. Balancing further acting and producing duties with her talk show The Jennifer Hudson Show and occasional recordings, she led the 2021 Aretha Franklin biopic Respect; as co-producer she collected an Emmy for Baba Yaga and a Tony for A Strange Loop, becoming the youngest woman and only the third African-American to complete EGOT status. A decade after her previous collection she issued the holiday set Gift of Love in 2024.

Born in Chicago in 1981, Hudson began singing in her local church as a child and later entered talent contests and school productions before landing a part in a regional staging of Big River. Prior to American Idol she performed aboard the Disney Wonder cruise ship as one of the muses in Hercules. Selected for the third season of the competition in 2004 alongside future champion Fantasia Barrino, she placed seventh despite early popularity. Her career accelerated when she was chosen to portray Effie White in Dreamgirls; propelled by the show-stopping “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” she earned both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

As her profile grew she recorded her debut album with contributions from Stargate, Ne-Yo, and Missy Elliott plus featured appearances by Ludacris, T-Pain, and Fantasia. The lead single “Spotlight” helped Jennifer Hudson (Arista/J Records) open at number two on the Billboard 200 upon its September 2008 release. While promoting the project she endured the tragic loss of her mother, brother, and nephew at the hands of her brother-in-law. Returning to the spotlight the next year she accepted the Grammy for Best R&B Album, performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl, and toured with Robin Thicke.

March 2011 brought her second album I Remember Me, an energetic set featuring the singles “Where You At” and “No One Gonna Love You.” It also debuted at number two and carried production from Swizz Beatz, Alicia Keys, Ryan Tedder, and Ne-Yo. Hudson simultaneously maintained an active film schedule that included Sex & the City, The Secret Life of Bees, Winnie Mandela, The Three Stooges, and Lullaby. Three years therefore elapsed before her third album, the rhythm-oriented JHUD (RCA), surfaced in September 2014. Reaching number ten, it offered the Grammy-nominated “It’s Your World” for Best R&B Performance.

She maintained her screen presence with notable parts in Chi-Raq, the Broadway revival of The Color Purple, the 2016 television presentation Hairspray Live!, and the animated feature Sing; the Color Purple cast recording later won a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. In 2017 she served as a coach on the sixth season of The Voice UK and issued her first two Epic singles. The following year she joined the American edition of The Voice with fellow Idol alumna Kelly Clarkson. After playing Grizabella in the 2019 film version of Cats she embodied Aretha Franklin in the 2021 biopic Respect, whose accompanying Grammy-nominated soundtrack showcased her readings of gospel and soul classics associated with Franklin together with a fresh Carole King composition.

Over the ensuing years she expanded her reach still further. As co-producer she shared in the Emmy for Outstanding Interactive Media for a Daytime Program awarded to Baba Yaga and the Tony for Best Musical given to A Strange Loop. She launched her syndicated daytime program The Jennifer Hudson Show in 2022 and contributed “All I Need” to The Color Purple [Music from and Inspired By], the soundtrack for the 2023 motion picture. Although she had already released a third Epic single—an updated take on Ashford & Simpson’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” long identified with Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell—she moved to Interscope in 2024. Her first project for the label, The Gift of Love, presented holiday standards including “Winter Wonderland,” “Little Drummer Boy,” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain” with assistance from David Foster, Kirk Franklin, and Ryan Tedder; on “Almost Christmas” she collaborated with Common, who in turn featured her on his Pete Rock joint project The Auditorium, Vol. 1.