From Idol To Icon: The Rise Of Jennifer Hudson

American recording artist and actress Jennifer Hudson will release her third studio album on 22 September, entitled JHUD. With an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Grammy to her name, it’s easy to imagine that Jennifer Hudson has been an unstoppable singing and acting icon for all of her career. But everyone has to start somewhere and it was as an idol, on the singing competition show, American Idol, that Hudson burst into the public’s consciousness.

From that moment, Hudson was on fire starring in a number of films including Sex and the City, The Secret Life of Bees, and as the lead character in the biopic of South African activist and politician, Winnie Mandela.

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Hudson released her debut studio album, Jennifer Hudson, in 2008 which included hit singles such as Spotlight and If This Isn’t Love.

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However, life has not been without its turmoil for this singing sensation and in October 2008, Hudson received the devastating news that her mother, Darnell, and brother, Jason, had been shot and murdered at home. Her seven-year-old nephew, Julian, was also missing. His body was found three days later in the back of a stolen pick-up truck. Her former brother-in-law, William Balfour, was convicted of the three murders in 2012.

Of the horrifying experience, she told The Guardian’s Observer magazine she still struggles to talk about it. "I have definitely seen the highest of the highs and the lowest of the low. You don’t really know how strong you are until you are placed in that kind of moment.

"I don’t really know what else to say."

Hudson returned to the stage following her family’s tragedy in February 2009 when she sang the Star-Spangled Banner at the Superbowl XLIII.

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Her second studio album, I Remember Me, was released in 2011 and included the hit singles Where You At and No One Gonna Love You.

Hudson’s latest offering, JHUD, is said to be a more upbeat album and something she feels really proud of. The singer told magazine, Angelino: "What we’re doing feels so right that I never want to go home (from the studio)."

Coming from a young church choir singer that tried her hand at a televised singing competition, the transformation to superstar is evident for all to see.