I Am Love
Just a few hours ago I was watching an episode of Soul Train circa 1983 where I saw "I Am Love" being sung. I thought it might be Jennifer Holliday but I was not sure. I Googled the lyrics to the song to find that it was indeed Jennifer. I loved that long back in the day but I don't believe I ever knew that it was Jennifer Holliday that sang it.
After finding out this was in fact Jennifer Holliday, that sent me into a web search to find out what she was up to now and how she lost all the weight. It's disappointing to hear that "I Am Telling You" was her only hit song and that it was all that people wanted her to sing. I was saddened by her battle with depression and her suicide attempt (which reminded me of Phyllis Hyman). It's a shame that these talented ladies get essentially stuck in a rut that they feel they can't get out of except by committing suicide.
I'm glad that she has found something in life that makes her happy. But it was really crazy that she wasn't contacted at all regarding the Dreamgirls movie. (I know this is old news but I don't watch Entertainment Tonight types of shows so I didn't know that anyone had even talked to her about the movie.)
It's interesting how Hollywood and the recording industry just cast talented people aside when the don't fit a particular image. The Dreamgirls movie got her all kinds of appearances last year but her MySpace page doesn't seem to be updated often to see what she's doing now. I do see that someone is logging in to add friends but the page itself seems pretty static. I hope she's doing something new, maybe recording a Gospel album.