What you need to know
Jennifer Hudson is on track to win another Grammy.
The talented singer’s holiday album, The Gift of Love, was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards. This is Hudson’s ninth Grammy nomination, and her first in the pop album category.
Hudson, 44, spoke about Friday’s Grammy nomination in the press room at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 8.
“I’m still living the dream. It’s blessing me,” Hudson said. “I’m a holiday fanatic, so to be recognized as such with this album…it’s so dear to my heart and beyond my wildest dreams.”
“And it was also my late mother’s birthday, which made it even more special,” she added.
Hudson’s mother, Darnell Donerson, was killed in a mass shooting in Chicago in October 2008. At the time, Hudson’s brother-in-law, William Balfour, was the gunman who killed Hudson’s mother, her brother Jason Hudson, and her 7-year-old nephew Julian, the son of his estranged wife and the son of Hudson’s sister Julia. Balfour is serving a life sentence for murder.
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Mr Hudson said Gift of Love was “a project made from the heart”. The album, due out in October 2024, will be the singer’s first holiday album and her first record in 10 years.
Hudson has won two Grammy Awards throughout his career. In 2017, Hudson won the award for Best Musical Theater Album with the original cast of the Broadway revival of The Color Purple. Hudson made her Broadway debut starring as the charismatic Shug Avery.
At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in 2009, Hudson won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album for his self-titled debut album.
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At Saturday’s event, Hudson also spoke about attending the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony to perform.
“It’s always an honor to come out here and sing and pay homage to all the greats and legends,” Hudson said. “My life feels like a dream to be able to do that.”
Hudson, along with legends Stevie Wonder, Questlove, Maxwell, Beck, Flea and fellow 2026 Grammy nominee Leon Thomas, paid tribute to Sly Stone, who passed away in June at the age of 82. The star-studded cast performed a medley of Sly and the Family Stone songs on stage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
This year’s inductees include Cyndi Lauper, The White Stripes, Outkast, Soundgarden, Bad Company, Chubby Checker and Joe Cocker. Warren Zevon and Salt-N-Pepa won the Musical Influence Award.
