In September 2006, Hudson performed the song, "Over It," live on Fox Chicago Morning News. In one of her first appearances on a record, Hudson is featured in a duet, "The Future Ain't What It Used to Be", on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.
In May 2010, the Los Angeles Times claimed Hudson to be the third greatest Idol contestant in the history of the show, placing behind season one winner Kelly Clarkson and season four winner Carrie Underwood respectively. After commenting that she had been singing on Disney Cruise Lines (aboard the Disney Wonder) for the past few months as one of the Muses from Hercules, judge Randy Jackson told her, "We're expecting more than a cruise ship performance from you." Hudson received the highest number of votes in the "Top 9" after her performance of Elton John's " Circle of Life" on April 6, 2004, but two weeks later, she was eliminated during the "Top 7" show after performing Barry Manilow's, "Weekend in New England." In May 2009, MTV listed Hudson as the sixth greatest contestant in American Idol history and noted her exit was the most shocking of all time. Hudson auditioned for the third season of American Idol in Atlanta. She was released from her five-year contract with Righteous Records so that she could appear on American Idol in 2004. In January 2002, Hudson signed her first recording contract with Righteous Records, a Chicago-based independent record label. She enrolled at Langston University but she left after a semester due to homesickness and unhappiness with the weather, and registered at Kennedy–King College.
She has also credited Mariah Carey as being one of her musical "heroes." At age 7 she got her start in performing by singing with the church choir and doing community theater with the help of her late maternal grandmother, Julia. She cites Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Patti LaBelle as her overall biggest influences and inspiration. She is the third and youngest child of Darnell Donerson and Samuel Simpson She was raised as a Baptist in Englewood and attended Dunbar Vocational High School, from which she graduated in 1999. Hudson was born on Septemin Chicago, Illinois.
Her subsequent studio albums, I Remember Me (2011) and JHUD (2014), saw continued commercial success with the former also being certified gold in the United States. Following these successes, Hudson was signed to Arista Records and released her self-titled debut studio album in 2008, which was certified gold in the United States, sold over a million copies worldwide, and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. She made her film debut as Effie White in the musical Dreamgirls (2006), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the youngest African-American to win in a competitive acting category.
Hudson rose to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of American Idol, placing seventh. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020. Throughout her career, Hudson has received various accolades for both her music and acting, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Daytime Emmy Award, and two Grammy Awards. Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer and actress.