Jennifer Hudson Biography, Pictures Gallery

 Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981) is an American recording artist, actress and spokesperson. She came to prominence in 2004 as one of the finalists on the third season of American Idol coming in seventh place. She made her film debut in the 2006 film Dreamgirls which won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, an NAACP Image Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.She won a Grammy Award for her eponymous debut album, Jennifer Hudson, which was released in 2008 on Arista Records and was certified gold by the RIAA for selling over 700,000 copies in the US; sales exceeded 1 million copies worldwide. Additionally it spawned the hit single “Spotlight”.

In late 2008, after Hudson’s mother, brother and nephew were killed in a shooting, Hudson stepped out of the limelight for three months. Hudson resumed her public appearances in 2009, and has since performed at the Super Bowl XLIII, the Grammy Awards, American Idol, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Hudson has been described as a friend of President Barack Obama, who invited her to appear with him at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills in May 2009. She also performed at the White House at the “Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement” event.

She was born on September 12, 1981, in Chicago, Illinois. She is the third and youngest child of Darnell Donnerson (November 7, 1950 – October 24, 2008) and Samuel Simpson (died 1999). She was raised as a Baptist and attended Dunbar Vocational High School, from which she graduated in 1999. She cites Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Patti LaBelle as her overall biggest influences and inspiration. At the age of 7, she got her start in performing by singing with the church choir and doing community theater with the help of her late maternal grandmother, Julia.

Hudson auditioned for the third season of American Idol, in Atlanta. In her audition she commented that she had been singing on Disney Cruise Lines for the past few months (as one of the Muses from Hercules); and contestant judge Randy Jackson said, “We’re expecting more than a cruise ship performance from you.” Jennifer delivered and all the judges agreed it was the best voice they had heard so far in the competition. She was a member of the first group of semifinalists in the Semifinals. She was not voted through to the final round, although she was brought back on the wild card round and put through as a “Top 12″ finalist by Jackson.

Hudson struggled to gain popularity in the early stages of Idol’s live shows, receiving the second-lowest number of votes in two of the first three shows. However, after a change in song choices, she soon became a favorite to win, receiving the highest number of votes in the “Top 9″ after her performance of Elton John’s “Circle of Life,” on April 6, 2004. Among Hudson’s worthy performances on the show was her rendition of Whitney Houston’s, “I Have Nothing”. Judge Simon Cowell commented that Hudson, “finally proved why she was among the ‘Top 12,’” and referred to the performance a week later as, “sensational.” During the “Top 7″ show, Hudson performed Barry Manilow’s, “Weekend in New England,” which garnered praise from all three judges. Jackson called the song Hudson’s best performance to date; and Simon Cowell noted that Hudson’s presence made the third season a, “Battle of the Divas,” referencing other powerful vocalists Fantasia Barrino and LaToya London. Despite this praise, Hudson was eliminated during this week, which some blamed in part on a power outage in Hudson’s hometown of Chicago due to storms and tornadoes in the area. This also led to controversy since the “Battling Divas” were all in the Bottom 3. On April 21, 2004, Hudson became the sixth of the 12 finalists to be voted off the show, finishing the competition in seventh place.
In May 2010, the Los Angeles Times claimed Hudson to be the third greatest Idol contestant in the history of the show. She placed behind Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson and Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood.

Source: Wikipedia

TV Watch: American Idol

On September 4th, 2002, Justin Guarini and Kelly Clarkson stood on-stage for the announcement of the winner of the first-ever 'American Idol' television singing contest. 'Idol' was supposed to be a simple little summer 'replacement' series, something to fill the summer months when viewership and advertising revenues are lower due to the main network programs moving into reruns. The show proved a stunning success, and the finale drew over 50 million viewers for this final announcement.

The program's three recording industry judges: industry executive and manager Simon Cowell, producer and manager Randy Jackson, and former hit recording artist and choreographer Paula Abdul had selected the participants from a national casting call, but it was the public who voted via cellphone for the finalists. When their results were tabulated and announced on that early September evening, it was Kelly Clarkson who was crowned as the first-ever American Idol winner.

In the ensuing years, Clarkson has gone on to become a major pop star with nine Top-10 chart hits including 'A Moment Like This', 'Miss Independent' (for which she received a Grammy nomination), 'Breakaway', 'Never Again', and the Grammy-winning 'Since U Been Gone' among others. Her latest hit, 'My Life Would Suck Without You' is the #1 song in both the United States and Great Britain. Clarkson has proven to be a huge success story and beloved alumni for the show which is now in it's 8th season, but she is not the only one.

Season Four was dominated almost from it's first show by Carrie Underwood, who has gone on to become one of the most popular and award-winning 'country' artists in America. Underwood's songs have made her a hit on the Pop, Country, and Christian charts with variety that ranges from 'Jesus, Take the Wheel' to 'Before He Cheats'. That same season saw another finalist, Chris Daughtry, emerge with a strong rock following that has enabled him to enjoy sustained success on the Pop, Rock, and Christian radio airwaves with songs like 'It's Not Over', 'Home', and 'What About Now'.

Season Six winner Jordin Sparks dominated last year's charts with her hits 'One Step at a Time' and 'Tattoo', and last year's season Seven winner David Cook may prove to be one of the best Idols of all over time.

Some of the Idol finalists who didn't make it into the top five on the shows voting have gone on to successful film, stage, or recording careers as well. Season Three back in 2004 yielded a 6th runner-up in Jennifer Hudson who went on to win the Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG, and Grammy in 2007 for her work in the previous years' motion picture 'Dreamgirls'.

Will any of the remaining 2009 finalists reach these levels of success? It's hard to say, but a number of them have shown incredible talent already. My own list of favorites goes three deep and includes two of the males, Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey, as well as female Alexis Grace.

Every once in awhile the singers lay a dud with a performance, and it can get tiresome hearing Randy Jackson call someone 'Dog', watching Paula Abdul praise nearly everyone and struggle with criticism, and listen to Simon Cowell and host Ryan Seacrest act like they are involved in a feud. New fourth-wheel judge Kara DioGuardi brought a lot to the early rounds, but seems to have settled in to a 'you've got the pipes, you've got the chops, you picked the wrong song sweetie' level of repetitiveness here in the Finals. And the 'group song' choices are often so lame as to become boring and contrived.

But the fact is that the program is a juggernaut, one of the most popular programs in the history of American television with well over 30 million loyal viewers. This season has perhaps the deepest field of legitimate talent, and the final ten weeks of the competition should be extremely competitive and entertaining on the Fox television network's 'Death Star', a nickname that the program has been given by industry experts from other networks who want no parts of matching up with the media giant that 'American Idol' has become.