Jennifer Hudson Sidelined by Throat Condition

Jennifer Hudson Sidelined by Throat Condition

Jennifer Hudson is taking a break this week from her national tour with Robin Thicke. Doctors are said to be treating her for a throat condition related to her singing.

Last night’s stop in Oakland, Calif., was postponed until May 19. This week’s concerts in Dallas and Houston have also been rescheduled for later dates, according to Thicke’s rep.

Hudson last performed on Saturday at L.A.’s Nokia Theatre. I was there, and she proved to be a real superstar because she didn’t show any signs that something may have been wrong.

So just how well did Ms. Hudson do?

Throughout her hour-long set, she was hitting all of those very high and very powerful notes that she’s become so famous for. Her best numbers were “You Pulled Me Through” and “If This Isn’t Love.” No surprise, but her one encore was “And I Am Telling You (I’m Not Going)” from Dreamgirls.

Thicke started the night off with a set that left his fans swooning, screaming and very hot and bothered. The man can move. More than once, he dropped to his knees to gyrate while serenading several lucky women in the front row.

Among the notables in the audience were Dreamgirls director Bill Condon and producer Larry Mark and Gina Prince-Bythewood, who directed her in last year’s The Secret Life of Bees. Chaka Khan popped onstage to join Hudson for her cover of “Sweet Thing.”

Now, what about that rumored pregnancy? Ms. Hudson made no mention of expecting—or not expecting, for that matter—her first child with fiancé David Otunga. However, her all-black ensemble was unable to hide what appeared to be a baby bump. Sounds like the spotlight may be back on.

Jennifer Hudson - If This Isn’t Love - Stonebridge Radio Edit

Jennifer Hudson - If This Isn’t Love - Stonebridge Radio Edit - Obviously a tough song to make into a dance floor track, but it’s done well here. 8/10

Click below to listen (not the original video)

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Jennifer Hudson Returning to the American Idol Stage?

Jennifer Hudson Returning to the American Idol Stage?

The already lucky few (hundred) who have tickets to this Thursday’s American Idol taping may get even luckier.

Although Fox isn’t confirming anything, MJsBigBlog.com (a regular read for the Idol-obsessed) reports that Jennifer Hudson, one of the competition’s most successful alumni, is secretly taping a performance this week, to air sometime later in the season.

If that’s true, this would mark Hudson’s first Idol visit since the October 2008 murders of her mother, brother and nephew. Hudson’s very first public performance following that family tragedy came at this year’s Super Bowl, where she served up the National Anthem.

Officially set to perform on Idol’s next results show — which this week airs on Thursday, due to President Obama’s Tuesday-night press conference — are Season 2 champ Ruben Studdard and Smokey Robinson, the guest mentor for this week’s Motown theme. According to MJs, once the cameras stop rolling at 9 pm/ET, Hudson will tape her performance of a song off her Grammy-winning, self-titled debut album.

Robin Thicke on Jennifer Hudson: Touring Will Be Cathartic

Robin Thicke on Jennifer Hudson: Touring Will Be Cathartic

Teaming up for a nationwide tour with Jennifer Hudson was a no-brainer for Robin Thicke.

They first collaborated on “Giving Myself,” a beautiful track from her self-titled debut album.

“Luckily, her voice is ready to go at all times,” Thicke told me earlier today. “She showed up, I had this great little song in the spirit of Whitney Houston, and she sat down next to me and I started singing it for her, and she loved it right off the bat. We got her behind the microphone and she Jennifer Hudson-ed it.”

The two kick off their coheadlining six-week tour on March 31 in Albany, N.Y.

Thicke predicts the tour will be “very cathartic” for Hudson. “I think it’s going to be the perfect thing for her to do, to get out there and get outside her head and feel the love she’s been getting,” he said. “She’s a special lady.”

Hudson began her return to the spotlight last month by singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl. It was her first performance—and public appearance, for that matter—since her mother, brother and nephew were murdered in the fall.

Thicke says there’s a good chance he and Hudson will perform together during the tour. “Normally, by the time I leave the stage, I like to leave the stage,” he said. “But I don’t know. I might come back and play piano and sing backup.”

But before the tour begins, Thicke will continue working on his new album. After we spoke, he was off to a studio session with über-producer Pharrell.

A self-described workaholic, Thicke said he and his wife of four years, actress Paula Patton, always make sure to find time for just the two of them. “She’s also a very busy lady, which is why we try to schedule as much vacation and together time when we’re both not working,” he said. “But I pretty much work all the time, so that’s why we have to take four or five days to go to Napa Valley or something like that.”

With acting all around him (there’s his wife, plus his dad is Growing Pains actor Alan Thicke and mom is soap opera star Gloria Loring), it sounds like Thicke is itching to get into the movies.

“It’s in the blood,” he said. “I wasn’t very good at it when I was a kid because it didn’t come naturally to me, but after being in a house with an artiste like my wife…it’s like being around an acting coach. I wouldn’t do anything just for the celebrity of it, but I would love to be involved with some great project.”

He then laughed, “Watch, now you’ll see me doing a horror movie with Paris Hilton.”

Jennifer Hudson: Performing is ‘like therapy’

Jennifer Hudson: Performing is ‘like therapy’

Jennifer Hudson says she’s found getting back to work to be a healing force in her life.

“I’m just glad to be back and be back to work again. Just doing what I love to do is like therapy,” Hudson said on a live episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” broadcast Friday. “I’m in a very good place.”

In a brief interview, the Oscar- and Grammy-winning performer made no direct reference to the October slayings in Chicago of her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew.

She performed her latest single, “If This Isn’t Love,” and promoted an upcoming tour with Robin Thicke, beginning March 31.

Hudson said Whitney Houston awarding her the Grammy for best R&B album for her self-titled debut CD “almost surpassed winning.”

“As soon as she stepped out on the stage, I lost it. That’s when I got emotional,” Hudson said of Houston. Hudson said she used to create duets with Houston’s records and dream about winning a Grammy.

Hudson, 27, said her fiance, David Otunga, is “working and making plans for us,” and she showed a snapshot of her three dogs, named Oscar, Grammy and Dreamgirl. The former “American Idol” finalist’s Oscar came for her role in the movie “Dreamgirls.”

Was she nervous about singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl? Not Hudson, who said there “was too much going on for me to take it in” or to get nervous about her first public performance after the slayings.

Even the difficult final phrases of the national anthem didn’t throw her.

“To me, the biggest notes and the longest notes are the easiest notes,” she said. “It’s just like I’m glad that I made it to the end of the song. That’s how I am. OK, I got this now, I’m home. I’m going home now.”

William Balfour, the estranged husband of Hudson’s sister Julia, is accused in the triple homicide of Hudson’s relatives. Balfour has pleaded not guilty.

The bodies of Hudson’s mother, Darnell Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were discovered Oct. 24 at their South Side home. Seven-year-old Julian King’s body was found days later. All three had been shot to death.

Jennifer Hudson - If This Isn’t Love

Powerful vocals are exceptional lyrics will propel this track far. 9/10

Click below to listen (not the original video)

Jennifer Hudson Returns To Performance At Super Bowl

Jennifer Hudson returned to the spotlight tonight (Feb. 1) with a flawless performance of the national anthem before the Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla. Wearing a flowing white top with black pants and a cropped black jacket, the 27-year-old singer/actress took a deep breath before launching into the anthem.

Hudson used the Super Bowl’s massive television audience for her first public appearance since the October slayings in Chicago of her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew. Her estranged brother-in-law has been charged in the killings.  She has yet to speak publicly about the incident.

Hudson, who clocked in at 2 minutes, 13 seconds, looked relieved when she was through. (For Billboard.com’s Super Bowl microsite, including a game live blog, click here.)

Singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl is considered a prestigious invitation, with all artists trying to match or better Whitney Houston’s 1991 version, performed in Tampa during the first Iraq war.

But Hudson’s performance was more personal than patriotic. Faith Hill, who sang “America the Beautiful” moments before Hudson’s anthem, praised the former American Idol contestant for choosing the Super Bowl as her return.
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“She is a strong girl, a girl of faith,” Hill said during an NFL news conference earlier this week to introduce the entertainment. “I believe to come and perform the national anthem, which is this country’s favorite song, at a time that our country is stepping up and moving forward for future generations. I think it’s just the perfect choice.”

Hudson’s now expected to resume her active work schedule. The singer/actress, who won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in “Dreamgirls,” is scheduled to perform at next week’s Grammy Awards. And her new video for “If This Isn’t Love” is set to debut the week of Feb. 9.

Jennifer Hudson - If This Isn’t Love - Stonebridge Remix

Stonebridge Remix – I didn’t even have the original on my radar, but I’m gonna have to peep it. The remix is pretty slick, so I’ve got a feeling the original is gonna be a smash. 8/10

Man pleads not guilty to Jennifer Hudson’s family killings

Jennifer Hudson’s brother-in-law pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges he shot to death the Oscar-winning actress’s mother and brother and the 7-year-old son of his estranged wife.

William Balfour, 27, entered not guilty pleas to first-degree murder and home invasion charges after nodding to members of his family gathered in the last of three Cook County courtrooms he appeared in Tuesday.

Balfour is married to Jennifer Hudson’s sister, Julia Hudson. He is charged in the October deaths of the sisters’ mother, Darnell Donerson, their brother, Jason Hudson, and Julia Hudson’s 7-year-old son, Julian King.

Prosecutors allege Balfour shot the three in a jealous rage because he was upset Julia Hudson had been dating another man.

Prosecutors first asked that the case be reassigned to another judge, though they did not give a reason. Presiding Judge Paul P. Biebel Jr. then reassigned the case and Balfour entered his plea in the final courtroom.

Defense attorney Joshua Kutnick said he plans to ask at Balfour’s next court appearance, set for Jan. 27, that Balfour be moved from a state prison in Joliet to Cook County Jail to make it easier to meet with him.

The bodies of Donerson and Jason Hudson were discovered Oct. 24 at the family’s South Side home. King’s body was found three days later in an SUV on the city’s West Side.

Balfour was arrested shortly after the killings and held in Chicago police custody for 48 hours — the longest a person can be held without charges — before his transfer to state custody on what authorities said was a parole violation. He was charged with murder last month.

A publicist for Jennifer Hudson declined to comment Tuesday. She was a finalist in the 2004 season of “American Idol” and won her Oscar in 2007 for her supporting role in “Dreamgirls.”

The 27-year-old singer and actress released her self-titled debut album in the fall but hasn’t made public appearances since the killings.

Hudson is expected to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl on Feb. 1, and she is nominated for four awards at the Feb. 8 Grammy Awards.

Faith Hill, Jennifer Hudson To Sing At Super Bowl XLIII

The voices of Faith Hill and Jennifer Hudson will ring out loud and clear at Super Bowl XLIII on Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla. Hill will sing “America the Beautiful” as part of the pre-game festivities, while Hudson will perform the National Anthem.

Hill, who sang the National Anthem at Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta, joins a select group of Vicki Carr, Ray Charles and Alicia Keys as the only artists to perform “America the Beautiful” at the big game.

As previously announced, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will headline the Super Bowl halftime show.

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