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For Immediate Release

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Contact Information

Inside Edition Publicity
Juli Nader
212-817-5422 (o)
917-770-3820 (c)
jnadler@KingWorld.com

(BPRW) EXCLUSIVE: JENNIFER HOLLIDAY SAYS SHE CREATED ROLE IN DREAMGIRLS AND DOESN’T WANT TO BE FORGOTTEN

“What the public doesn't understand is that I actually created my role. I wasn't a girl-for-hire where someone said, ‘Here’s the script and here's the songs--your job starts tomorrow. “Airdate: Wednesday November 22, 2006

(BLACK PR WIRE) New York, NY – November 21, 2006 – Jennifer Holliday, the original Dreamgirl, who created the breakout role of Effie White twenty five years ago on Broadway, says she’s very disappointed at her lack of involvement in the soon-to-be-released film version of Dreamgirls.

“I’m not going to lie--I did have hopes that I would reprise the role for the screen. What I wasn't prepared for was not to even be asked to do a cameo of some sort,” Holliday tells Inside Edition’s Deborah Norville.

In an exclusive interview, airing Wednesday, November 22nd, Holliday says the filmmakers use her voice for the hit song, And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going, to market the movie.

“For six months they used my voice on the trailer,” Holliday tells Norville, explaining she doesn’t want people to think she’s angry, but admits the resurgence of interest in the Dreamgirls story is extremely bittersweet for her.

“What the public doesn't understand is that I actually created my role. I wasn't a girl-for-hire where someone said, ‘Here’s the script and here's the songs--your job starts tomorrow. I actually created that role,” Holliday says.

She continues, “Everything from the song And I Am Telling You to the end of the second act, I created. Effie was not in the second act at all. I fought for her to be there. I fought for her to come back strong. I fought for her to have more songs.”

Holliday was 21 years-old and an unknown talent when Dreamgirls opened on Broadway and was an immediate hit. She went on to win a Tony Award for Best Actress (Musical) for “Dreamgirls,” and two Grammy Awards. Shortly thereafter, she was dropped by her record company, she says, because she didn’t have the right look.
She tells Norville, “I had ballooned up to 340lbs. I had been dropped from my record company, not because of flagging sales, but because of my weight. The record company said, ‘You have a great voice, but it’s about image.’”

At one point, Holliday says, she was so despondent over her lack of a recording career coupled with her weight gain, that she attempted suicide.

“I took an overdose of sleeping pills and, just to show you how bad my career was, I tried to take my life, and nobody even wrote about it. It was like, ‘Okay, I didn't even get in the paper.’ They didn’t even know who I was,” she says.

Holliday says she’s coming forward now because she feels more optimistic and in control for the first time in years.

“I have suffered with clinical depression so, to some people, I’m a bit of a recluse but I do still sing. It’s just that I’m more comfortable with working and singing than I am just out with people,” she tells Norville.

She continues, “I was only a voice for so many years, not a person. But I do feel, for the first time, that I am a person and that I am more than a voice and somehow I do want to move forward. I’ve chosen life, although it's still quite difficult for me day-to-day, but I do want to live.”

“I want people to know that there is hope. I want people to choose life because I lost a beautiful friend. Phyllis Hyman, who was a beautiful jazz singer, took her life in 1995. Then, in 2000, Susannah McCorkle, a great jazz singer, took her life and I also tried to take mine when I was 30 years old.”

Holliday says she thinks it’s ironic, that the performer who has the role of Effie in the film version, Jennifer Hudson, has the same first name and the same initials as Holliday. But, she says, someone recently told her that her performance on the 1982 Tony Awards, is on a popular video website and she was thrilled.

“I’m glad about YouTube showing my Tony performance because that way the public can see that I did it first and that this is being copied.”

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