Jennifer Yvette Holliday (born October 19, 1960) is an American singer and actress.
Holliday landed her first big role on Broadway in 1979 at age 19, the same day she auditioned for the Broadway production of Your Arms Too Short to Box with God. Her performance in that musical earned her a 1981 Drama Desk nomination.
Her next role, which she began to act at 21, was the role for which she became best known: the role of Effie Melody White in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. Holliday originated the role of Effie and remained with the show for nearly four years after its December 20, 1981 opening. Her performance in the role was widely acclaimed, particularly in her iconic performance of the musical number that ends Act I, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", for which she won a Grammy in 1983. She also won a 1982 Tony Award for Dreamgirls and a Drama Desk and Theater World awards for her acting performance.
Holliday also performed in the touring company of Sing, Mahalia, Sing in 1985. In 1998, Holliday was featured on the album, My Favorite Broadway Ladies as one of "The Queens of Broadway."
Holliday's version of the song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" made her a star on Broadway and catapulted her to national stardom. In 1982, a pop version of the song was released as a single. The song became successful, peaking at number-one on the Billboard R&B chart, and number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Holliday attended Texas Southern University. 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.
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, she sang America The Beautiful on 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.
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