Jennifer Holliday "And I Am Telling You" 

EVERY night for TWO YEARS straight .. Except Sundays. On Sundays she performed it twice.

I've had many people tell me that they thought she overacted. When you are on a live stage, you play to the back row. That is fundamental. She was PERFECT!

People forget that she was only 22-23 when she did this, so young and so full of maturity in voice and emotions!

The fact she did this live is WILD

This shit should be in the Smithsonian. In HD, preserved for the ages. Never again will we see this in our lifetimes.

Can't NOBODY sing this song like Jennifer Holiday.

She made you feel the pain of this break up.

You can’t replicate this, she is the blueprint for this song. She is UNIQUE.

How in HELL is anyone still in their seat after THAT performance ?? I'd have jumped up applauding halfway through and never sit down again !

Imagine her doing this EIGHT TIMES A WEEK during the run of the show. Astounding. She left it on the floor Every. Single. Time. I saw her at the Paradise Garage in 1984 and she blew off the damn roof.

She really understood how Effie deserved to be portrayed.

Still here in 2024 and still losing my mind over this performance...

Maybe her vocal chords are made of steel. Damn, what a range and stamina she has singing this extra monstrous song!

8 shows a week doing this on Broadway. Folks don't acknowledge that you have to bring this EVERY PERFORMANCE!!! Nor do folks remember how this phenomenon created a legend. You don't do this by Instagram.

We saw this on opening night on Broadway in NYC.... She stopped the show.... It was electric....the audience was stunned and went crazy....nothing we ever witnessed in the theatre before or since matched that magic moment

This right here is why she won the Tony and why, no matter who sings it, this is her song!!!! #Legendary

So many people also forget Broadway was dying around this time DreamGirls saved it no one had ever seen a show like this moving sets incredible cast and costumes

This is actually painful to watch, on so many levels. How did she not bust a gut, or a vocal chord or two during these performances?! Incredible. No one has ever surpassed her, not even JHud.

Blown away from a computer with cheap speakers. Can y'al imagine what it was like seeing and hearing this live? She is truly otherworldly!

I had the pleasure of seeing Ms. Holliday performance when the show moved to Los Angeles. I can remember thinking that I was having a heart attack. My hands were shaking, I was sobbing. I felt like the air had been sucked out of the theater. There was about 2 seconds of stunned silence, followed by a thunderous ovation that should have blown the roof of the the theater. I will never forget it.

Jennifer Holiday gives "And I am Telling You" that desperation that other singers forget about.

I Was There....!!!!!!!!!!!!!....She LITERALLY BLEW THE ROOF OFF THE BUILDING...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....DAMN.....!!!!!!!!....THANKS LADY...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I saw this on Broadway when I was 13 or 14...over 30 years ago.. it was insane. When she sang this song the whole theater exploded. I'll never forget it.

The physical manifestation of her inner pain was breathtaking! Until you have loved someone so deeply that it devastates you whether they leave or stay- you would not get why she sang or acted this way.

Other singers have mastered the notes BUT her performance is deep and her interpretation makes her delivery Masterful -The ABSOLUTE TEMPLATE the message and emotions are so raw!!!

You can actually here the Pain in her voice. The way she sings in all of her songs as if someone who is fed up.

The most ferocious performance I have ever seen. She dared them not to give her the Tony. Which of course they did. I watched Dreamgirls the movie today - loved it but no one can touch Jennifer Holliday in her incredible voice, talent, courage and rawness. The last 5 seconds alone will take your breath away. Bravo Jennifer Holliday!!!

I don’t think a performance this powerful will occur ever again. It’s otherworldly.

I feel bad for her understudy. How could you possibly fill those shoes?

That performance by Jennifer Holliday was like a nuclear bomb, it laid waste to anyone else ever trying to inhabit that song. She decimated any other pretenders who tried it after her. Her vocals are nothing short of amazing.

In terms of Tony Performances, this is simply one of, if not, THE best performance ever.

The way she gasps before hitting that last note is the cherry on top. Just pure visceral talent, they don’t do it like this anymore.

21 years old and did this every night for two years. Dear God lmao that is unnatural talent.

Never give no man this kind of power over you ladies.

This should be in Guiness book of world record. Greatest vocal of all time!!

STUNNING PERFORMANCE BY JENNIFER HOLLIDAY. THE SONG IS BRILLIANTLY BEAUTIFUL. I HAVE CHILLS.

So many artists (both new and old) did their own rendition of this song, but nobody come close to Jennifer Holliday's version. The emotion in her every growl is unmatched!

They should retire this song cause no one will ever sing this as good💥

The laugh at 5:18 is what gets me. The anger, the desperation, and the absolute disbelief is fantastic. God level vocals, but fantastic acting as well.

I saw this opening night in Boston prior to it moving to Broadway and you're right! Everyone jumped up from their seats and gave a standing ovation for at least ten minutes. I know I held my breathe in the last few bars of the song and jumped up even before the song ended as did many others in that electrically charged theater. I'd never experience another night in musical theater again such as that night.

I wish the Tony's would go into their archives and restore this cause it's an absolute classic

She made you feel Effie's fear and hurt. She really didn't want to lose him especially in this important time in her life with the baby coming. She conveyed her panic and inner turmoil. You'll very rarely see true desperation in a performance executed this beautifully. Bravo, GORGEOUSLY DONE 😍😍😍

it blows me away that this was live. this shit was LIVE! the emotion behind her voice and her vocals are just incredible. what's crazy is that nobody was singing like this at that time.. they don't even sing that way now because it's not easy!

Still one of the best performances in Broadway history. ❤❤❤

My edges might never grow back again and I'm perfectly fine with that...they were snatched for a great cause

“IM NOT WAKING UP TOMORROW MORNING, HA! HA!” Did it for me. 😩🙌🏽

"I'M NOT WAKING UP TOMORROW MORNING.. HAHAA!!! " Fave part

Music already has a powerful effect on me, physically and emotionally. I'm one of those people who get chills down their spine for certain songs/notes... it's a neat feeling and is very satisfying. It feels like a dopamine release. But this song. Oh my god. It started as a chill but it just kept going and I just started bawling. This performance is one of the greatest things I have ever seen.

I saw "Dreamgirls" on broadway with friends back in 1982...she just blew us right out of the water with her vocal talent!!!!!!! We met her at the stage entrance back door after the ow and got her autograph!! One of the best nights of my young life!!!!!!

How did she not receive a standing ovation, whistles, screams, or have some shoes thrown at her? Indescribable performance, once in a lifetime, and they say it live!

Never in the history of anything has someone sung their anguish with such complete abandon and physicality, so well, with such vocal power and skill. She sings this song like she's literally being stabbed in the gut. Brilliant. Unmatchable.

There is NO WAY even our best singers today could do this!!!! I am blown AWAY! ... tears gushing down my face! Ms. Holiday, your voice is the stuff divinity is made of!

No matter who comes after, no one will ever do this song better than her.

A few years back, I had a roommate who was a theater fan. One night, she told me about this performance. I had just gotten a computer - she refused to use one, lol - so I went looking, and found this clip. My friend wasn't kidding when she said this was the best performance ever on a televised awards show - it gave me goosebumps then, and still does now. I played this almost every day, and my friend would stop whatever she was doing to come and listen. Sadly, I lost her to cancer just a few years later - nothing fills that empty place her passing left, but I always think of her each time I hear this song :)

She gave ever ounce of herself in that performance.... unmatched.

She left her soul on that stage floor. Every. Single. Night.

This was one of the greatest performances in theater history . Some 40yrs. later and they still talk about it !

No one can hold a torch to Jennifer Holiday

Omg if you didn't feel this you need to look for your soul. Holiday will always wear the crown. Amber Riley and Jennifer Hudson shook me when they sang it, but I had to call FEMA for Holiday cause she destroyed me.

This rendition still gives me chills. No one can match the power and force of this song, in life period. exclamation point!

I feel sorry for anyone who wasn't born, or was around and didn't get to see this live. Still the greatest live performance I've ever seen, and that was in 1983.

Okok..so I thought Jennifer Hudson was remarkable . Which of course she is ...but um, I can't even talk after this performance ...oh my gosh!! Oh my gosh!

This is a great song, it's a shame it was filmed on a calculator.

Usually you are not allowed to clap or shout midway of a musical performance, not to mention most of the attendees here are professionals in the Theater industry. This shows that this section of Dreamgirls will always be a part of history as a sensation, a showstopper and a standard for musicals especially when it is revived (especially this song).

The range of her voice is amazing...

What we are witnessing here is a performer giving NO consideration to how "Beautiful" or "Pretty" she looks whilst performing, Just giving EVERYTHING she has at that moment and hen some! Keep your controlled, beautiful, pretty performers, I'll take the raw, leave it all out there performances Ms Holliday gives here every time.

I was 18 years old when I witnessed this history-making performance in my room on TV. Needless to say, after she ended this song, I went absolutely berserk. I was screaming and broke out in a cold sweat and I cried. Later that year, I read everything I could about this vocal beast because I was obsessed with her talent. I read that she was supposed to die at the end of this act, but they rewrote the musical to bring her back. All I could remember feeling is that she killed me and resurrected my soul when she hit that glass-shattering note and raised her hands to the sky and I could feel all the pain of my ancestors resonate through her fingertips as her face and hands ascended toward the heavens. I remember wondering why the cameraman did not pan the audience to see their reaction but I realized the cameraman must have been too much in a state of shock to realize what he was doing and I said to myself with a sly smile that "if you were not moved by this performance, you were already dead!"

HOLY SH**! Oh my god. This was my first time seeing Jennifer Holliday’s performance. Hairs on the back of my neck literally stood. Nobody can touch this! She literally gave them no choice but to give her a Tony!

she sung that LIVE! YASSSS.

The performance that spawned a million drag queens.

What did I just witness? The strength in her voice and the control is unmatched anywhere. This is what you call a soul singing, a soul weeping and bearing itself! That was more than just a voice. That was her entire being! When God made her he lined her lungs with pure gold. He ordained this child for something greater than just this Broadway performance. That's just too great for just a record deal or stage performance! May The Most High cover you Jennifer and guide your steps to even greater stage for songs of freedom for his chosen people!

Jennifer doesn’t get the credit she deserves! She’s such a powerhouse singer…and it proves she still has it because she snapped on her new song called “so in love”

I have heard so many people sing this song well. But this performance changes the meaning of this song for me. She EMBODIED the song. She became it.

Call me ignorant but Ive never heard Jennifer Holiday singing, I didnt think she was this incomparable. This is the first ever video and song I watched of her. Wow all other singers just do not get to this level. Whoever had the chance to be seeing this live in person is so blessed man

ONE OF THE GREATEST PERFORMANCES BROADWAY HAS EVER SEEN...BAR NONE!!! REMEMBER SHE SANG THIS 8 TIMES A WEEK..WHAT STAMINA!

How does someone can sing like that and never break their voice??? AMAZING!!

I truly believe this will never be topped. There are a lot of VERY talented people who have been brave enough to cover this and a lot of them have done a good job. But none of them and no one is Jennifer Holliday. Not even close.

I think what makes Miss Holliday's version so special is she puts heart and emotion in it. She understands the song.

I saw Jennifer Holiday in Dreamgirls in New York and as the NYTIMES (1981) critic Frank Rich said: "If the curtain didn't fall, the audience would probably cheer Jennifer Holliday until dawn."

NOTHING comes close to this iconic performance - not now, not ever. Still gives me chills each time i see it - forty years after my first time!

With all due respect to Jennifer Hudson THIS is the Best Version,hands down!!!

As others have said-nothing and no one will EVER top Ms. Holliday in this role. Other singers after her have done a fine job, and are, from a strictly technical (as in “hitting the right notes,” “following the meter,” etc.) perspective, more accurate. But none of them can hold a candle to the emotion and pain that BURST from Jennifer Holliday as she sings. The going over the line, adding extra syllables/riffs, and occasional lapses in the tempo aren’t mistakes-they’re the raw, unfettered reactions of a character falling apart as she sings. And as other commenters added, she did this EIGHT TIMES A WEEK for TWO YEARS-no retakes, no dubbing, no “not really feeling it today.” This is one of, if not THE, greatest vocal performances that has ever graced the Broadway stage, and we’re all richer for seeing it. Thank you, Ms. Holliday. Thank you.

Every version is good....brilliant in fact. But this is just raw and uncut!

Just other worldly. An unbelievable performance that will never ever be topped!

The deep inhale at the end!?? The cherry on top of the cake! You hear me!?! CROWD. CON. TROL!

We are all so lucky to have this live performance captured on tape. Almost 40 years later and I still can't find anything to compare it to. She is a gift to the world, to history.

Rip chichi devayne.

Her and Martha Wash are hands down the best singers I've ever heard. The only reason they aren't on like a Whitney Houston level was because of their size.

The single greatest live performance of all time

You couldn't fit more soul in one woman's body if you tried

I saw this live, having no idea that this was in the show... I was 18 years old on my first nowhere trip to New York, I had seen Cats, The Phantom, 42nd Street and My and my Girl, all on Broadway and I did not even know who was Jennifer Holiday but when she first sang... And I am telling you notes, my toes just curled up under my heels and I could not believe I was going to live this moment and I enjoyed every single notes of it... even till this day, I am now 49 years old and I don't think I will ever forget this... Jean-François le Montréalais.

Man I hope they paid her real good money because this was a lifetime performance over and over again! Whew I’m just sitting here shaking my head in awe!!! Jennifer absolutely obliterated this into the stratosphere.

It’s 2020 and this continues to be the most extraordinary vocal performance ever recorded.

Thank you Jennifer Holliday for giving me one of the most memorable nights of my life! We saw you in New York on our 10th wedding anniversary....We are now in our 48th year of marriage, you were the best anniversary gift ever❤️👏👏👏👏👏👏❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Wow ...look at young Loretta!

I love how authentically 80s this is. In my household one sibling would have been holding up the TV antenna to at least keep the audio, another on the floor holding down the record button. Youngsters nowadays don’t know the struggle 🤣

Jennifer Hudson did a marvelous job in the movie, and I am sure subsequent on-stage performers did a wonderful job too, but this right here was beyond exceptional. Not only does Jennifer Holliday have the range and the vocal ability, but she made you feel the pain Effie was going thru. I would have loved to have seen this live back in the day.

I can FEEL the pain. She's singing with her whole soul and body and just.... This is just...beyond words.

Crazy that she was in her late teens to early 20's. When she was apart of this classic initial Broadway performance.

What she did on this stage with that song and acting performance, will NEVER be done again!!!!! I mean it, this was beyond talent this was something from her soul that cannot be duplicated. Jennifer Hudson was good, but this silenced all my organs for 5 minutes, then a rush of blood re-entered them 30 seconds after she finished. What in the world. Master piece!!!