Jennifer Hudson teams up with John Legend for new album

Singer Jennifer Hudson is said to be teaming up with R ‘n’ B singer John Legend for her new album.

Hudson, 28, is writing and recording the new album, which is a follow-up to her self-titled 2008 debut, with Legend, 31, at a studio in Los Angeles.

Legend took to his Twitter.com page on February 2 to reveal he is there with Hudson as she works on her new music, but insists he is not going to appear on any of the songs.

“In the studio (with) the lovely Jennifer Hudson. I’m not singing. She’s recording a couple songs my team and I wrote for her. And she sounds beautiful,” the Daily Star quoted him as writing.

Jennifer Hudson Pregnancy Rumors updates

Jennifer Hudson Pregnancy Rumors updates: Jennifer Hudson Pregnancy Rumors , Jennifer Hudson has issued a statement in response to a new tabloid report claiming her recently vacated uterus already has a new occupant.
“Contrary to what has been falsely reported, Jennifer Hudson is not pregnant,” the star’s rep told PEOPLE today. “Jennifer leaves in April for South Africa where she will portray Winnie Mandela in the feature film, ‘Winnie’. It is a commitment she is excited about and takes very seriously. Jennifer is currently in the studio recording her second album and this is the only delivery she is looking forward to in 2010.”

Jennifer Hudson Christmas Special

Latest news updates about Jennifer Hudson Christmas Special : Jennifer Hudson, will be starring in an hour-long primetime Christmas special this holiday season. ABC has announced that Jennifer Hudson: I’ll Be Home For Christmas will air on Monday, December 14, 2009 at 8PM ET/PT.

Jennifer Hudson Christmas SpecialThe show will feature Hudson singing popular holiday songs such as “O Holy Night” and “Silent Night,” but will also follow her throughout her hometown of Chicago.  Hudson will take us to see places that evoke special childhood memories and locations that have influenced her musically.

The one-hour Jennifer Hudson Christmas Special, which will take place in Hudson’s hometown of Chicago, will follow the star as she “relives her childhood Christmases with musical performances shot on location at the small neighborhood church where she brought the congregation to its feet week after week; the music academy where she studied; and other Chicago sites,” ABC said in a press release.

Hudson will also visit with family and “childhood friends and others whose influences have been instrumental in her rise from humble beginnings to Hollywood stardom.”

“I am thrilled that Jennifer chose ABC to be the home for her very first holiday special,” said Vicki Dummer, senior vice president, Alternative Series, Specials and Late-Night, ABC Entertainment Group. “I can’t wait to hear her take on Christmas classics as we discover what she loves about her hometown of Chicago.”

Hudson to Play Nelson Mandela’s Ex-Wife

LOS ANGELES: Oscar-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson is to play the role of Winnie Mandela, the controversy-plagued ex-wife of South Africa’s first black president Nelson Mandela in a new movie called Winnie, Variety reported on Wednesday.

The film is based on the Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob biography, Winnie Mandela: A Life, according to Variety.

Production is scheduled to begin May 30 in the South African locations of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Transkei and Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela served 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment.

The movie is the second about the Mandelas this year, with Morgan Freeman set to star as the iconic president in the Clint Eastwood film Invictus, which is due in cinemas in December.

Hudson, who is expected to sing the film’s theme song, won the Oscar for her screen debut in Dreamgirls and followed with The Secret Life of Bees and Sex in the City.

“I was compelled and moved when I read the script,” Hudson said. “Winnie Mandela is a complex and extraordinary woman and I’m honoured to be the actress asked to portray her. This is a powerful part of history that should be told.”

Winnie Mandela was a fierce opponent to apartheid alongside her husband before the end of the racist regime. But she was tarnished by an association with a bodyguard who murdered a 14-year-old alleged informer in 1989. The Mandelas divorced in 1996 and she was convicted of fraud in 2003 for stealing from a funeral fund.

Winnie will be directed by Darrell J. Roodt, the veteran South African filmmaker whose 2006 film Yesterday was Africa’s Best Foreign Film nominee, and who also directed Cry, The Beloved Country and Sarafina!