Song:And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going
Album:20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best Of Jennifer Holliday
Jennifer Holliday seemed headed for stardom when she appeared in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls and tore the house down with And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going. It also topped the R & B charts. She never achieved that stardom but she has had a long and diverse career. She was born Oct. 19, 1960 in Riverside, TX and grew up singing in church. Jennifer's big break was starring in the 1979 Broadway musical Your Arms Too Short To Box With God. This led to her casting as Effie Melody White in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. She won a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. She signed with Geffen Records. David Geffen financed Dreamgirls and released the Broadway cast album. They decided to produce a studio recording of And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going and it topped the R & B Singles chart and reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100. Jennifer's 1983 debut album Feel My Soul was produced by Earth, Wind & Fire leader Maurice White. It did well and I Am Love reached #2 on the R & B Singles chart. Jennifer continued to perform in Dreamgirls. And when that ended, she starred in the 1985 touring production of Sing, Mahalia, Sing. She left Geffen after recording three albums and recorded an album for Arista in the 90s. You can get all her Geffen hits on this budget CD. Her 1995 gospel CD On & On did well in that market. Jennifer got some attention for a recurring role in the TV series Ally McBeal. Jennifer lives in Atlanta and released the gospel CD Goodness and Mercy last year. So she's still around but she was never as big a star as was hoped back in the 80s. Here's Jennifer Holliday and the cast of Dreamgirls performing It's All Over and And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going on the 1982 Tony Awards broadcast.
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