Jennifer Hudson is a cinematic delight and sonic wonder but prior to 2006 one of the greatest songs of our age was the sole property of one artist. Sure, hundreds have sung the role in revivals, reviews, at clubs and amateur productions. Yes, it has been recorded by others but only one woman in history has the definitive, the undeniable, the ultimate rendering.

That woman is Jennifer Holliday.

I remember hearing the record for the first time early in 1982 at the request of a friend who was an inveterate music buyer. He bought everything and he raved about everything. Having heard his admonitions in the past I figured the record was probably okay but I distinctly remember being staggered the first time I heard Jennifer Holliday singing And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going. You remember things about your life and your situation when you hear your favourite music. Holliday set me in an era the first time I heard the song. I knew this was probably the most powerful performance I had heard on record to that point in my life. I liked Ms. Ross, I had heard Billie Holliday, Mahalia Jackson, Aretha, dozens of others. It was an era of anthemic singers; Grace Jones, Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer, Cheryl Lynn, etc., etc. etc. Holliday, with one song -- a single recording -- set a new bar.

Content in this post originates from www.bradfordgibson.net.

What must have the first renderings of Holliday's interpretation sounded like? Jennifer Hudson has said that Henry Krieger taught her the song one on one at the piano "just like he did with Jennifer Holliday". Aside from the terror of knowing that for Hudson, just imagine how those first few run-throughs must have developed. In the late '70's and early '80's Krieger and Bennet had something in mind for the song -- and while Nell Carter was an early candidate for Effie -- they knew they needed Holliday to do it; she walked out on work-shops at least twice and they kept bringing her back. Performance rarely gets a perfect combination of lyric, melody, tutelage and interpretation. Who's idea was it that Holliday's interpretation would literally span the entire performance genre of American music in 4 minutes? It's almost preposterous to think they would have tried and yet it's there; devotional, soul, rock, swing, jazz, blues. Check out how Holliday is able change gears at the 2:07 mark in the original cast recording to go from blues to a blistering soul as she emotes "Tear down the mountains, Yell, scream and shout." The song begins with three symbolic bell-like tolls and cascades to a tumultuous torrent with Holliday's plaintive repeat of the title phrase at the 2:27 mark -- it is a spine tingling moment of the most raw and dynamic energy ever laid down on a track.

Holliday is literally living the song and we believe her every time we hear it.