Jennifer Holliday

Jennifer Holliday (born October 19 1960 in Riverside Texas) is a R&B and dance music singer and actress who gained fame when she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Effie White in the Broadway

Jennifer Holliday (born October 19 1960 in Riverside Texas) is a R&B and dance music singer and actress who gained fame when she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Effie White in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. Her song from that musical, "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going," climbed to #22 on the Hot 100 in 1982, and she has also hit #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart three times, twice with the same song. "No Frills Love" hit the top spot in 1986 and then hit #1 again ten years later when the track was remixed. She then hit #1 again in 2000 with "Think It Over." A dance version of her debut single "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" hit #6 on the dance chart in 2001. Holliday posessed an enormous,dark contralto of great power and range, which she deployed with devastating force. Her gospel album "Hallelujah, Amen!" lays the roots of her style bare, and her rendition of the old hymn "It is well" is perhaps, after, "I am telling you" one of her greatest performances.