A few months ago, during the middle of Mary J. Blige’s amazing benefit for her foundation, FFAWN, I went backstage to see Jennifer Hudson. She had just stepped off the stage after an incredible performance. I asked her if she would be willing to perform at our benefit, Art For Life, and she immediately said yes. No asking her manager or agent, she agreed on the spot. I was so excited as this would be the first year that we would have a live performance, and there couldn’t be anyone better than Jennifer.
As I sat at my table on Saturday night, with my daughter, Ming, on my lap, watching Jennifer perform, I couldn’t believe it. Here is a woman, who has experienced so much struggle, but never allowed her struggle to stop her from giving the greatest gift of all, her art. In the yoga sutras, this is called tapas, what is sort of an inner-fire to do your very best at your practice. It is about breathing deeper when the pose gets tough, appreciating stillness, an internal discipline to never give up. This is exactly what Jennifer exudes. What a beautiful, beautiful woman. From pressure, she has created diamonds.
Her performance on Saturday night was magnificent. It made the event. After all is said and done with the silent auction, we will have raised over $2 Million to fund arts education for the young people of NYC … our best year ever! From the bottom of my heart, I thank Jennifer and all of the other honorees this year. It was an amazing night!
-Russell
p.s. On Sunday morning, I received an email from Jennifer thanking me for inviting her to perform. Wowowowowow … what a lady, what a remarkable, classy lady. I greatly appreciated the email, but the truth is, I should be on my knees thanking her…
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Jennifer Hudson’s latest album, I Remember Me debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts when it was released in March.
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Jennifer Hudson stars as Winnie Mandela, in the upcoming film, Winnie.
