Ever since she rose to fame on the talent competition show American Idol, Jennifer Hudson’s career as a music artist had catapulted her into an international success. Born Jennifer Kate Hudson in Chicago on September 12, 1981, she first honed her singing skills in the church choir at the age of seven in addition to enrolling in the community theater, which would later manifest in her acting career. As an artist, she has worked with the likes of Juicy J, Iggy Azalea, rapper/actor T.I., Ludacris, and R&B legend Neyo. And as a Hollywood actress, she has starred alongside Forest Whitaker, renowned comedian Marlon Wayans, Tyrese Gibson, Nick Cannon, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kim Cattrall. Here’s a closer look inside the making of Jennifer Hudson’s $30 million.
A Born Entertainer
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As aforementioned, Hudson, also known as J. Hud, found her passion for singing and theatre acting at an early age. Inspired by music icons such as the vocalist Mariah Carey, she signed her first record deal with an independent record label out of Chicago named Righteous Records in 2002. However, she was released from the five-year contact in 2004 to appear as a competitor on American Idol, which would end up being the platform for the biggest breakthrough in her music career. Although she did not win the contest, she was hailed as one of the show’s greatest contestants. The popular music channel MTV even labeled her the sixth greatest American Idol with the most shocking exit ever.
A Shining Music Career
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Following her departure from American Idol in 2004, she signed to Arista records in 2006 where she worked with Ryan Tedder and famed beat-maker Timbaland on her debut album titled Jennifer Hudson. Her debut single from the album, Spotlight, peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 2008. The album itself debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, while her second studio album, I Remember Me, was released in March 2011 and also peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, selling 165,000 copies in the first week!
The album’s lead single, Where You At?, was written and produced by the controversial R&B singer R. Kelly and peaked at No. 10 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. A few other music artists who collaborated as writer/producers include the talented Alicia Keys, Rich Harrison, and Swizz Beatz.
In 2017, Hudson released her single Remember Me after signing to Epic Records and another song titled Burden Down shortly after. According to Screen Rant, J-Hud has sold an estimated 1.5 million albums over the course of her music career. As a testament to her star power vocal talent, she was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 2009 Grammy Awards and won an award for Best R&B Album for her album, Jennifer Hudson. However, her success was bitter-sweet as she would lose three of her family members to a brutal murder in 2008 in the midst of her ascent as an aspiring actress and music artist.
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Actress In The “Spotlight”
Her more successful films included a Christmas musical drama titled Black Nativity which placed her beside the talented Forest Whitaker and Angela Bassett as well as R&B singer Tyrese Gibson to a box office success of $17.5 million. Hudson also had a part in director Spike Lee’s musical crime comedy Chi-Raq; the computer-animated comedy Sing, which grossed $634.2 million; Sandy Wexler starring Adam Sandler, the eccentric comedian Rob Schneider, and Terry Crews, and most recently, the 2021 biographical musical drama based on the life of Aretha Franklin titled Respect, featuring Marlon Wayans and Mary J. Blige.
Real Estate Investments
According to Celebrity Net Worth, the prolific actress purchased a 12,000 square-foot property in the suburb of Burr Ridge in her hometown of Chicago. Built in 2007, the majestic castle-like mansion boasts six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a spiral floating staircase, a game room, and an indoor theater that was originally priced at over $4 million, but The Voice television series coach used her star power to negotiate a $1 million discount!
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Sources: Deadline, Celebrity Net Worth, Screen Rant
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