Jennifer Hudson never aspired to become an actress, which is rather remarkable, considering the 26-year-old is an Oscar winner.

Growing up in Chicago, Hudson sang gospel music in a local church choir. The big girl with a booming voice yearned to follow in the footsteps of Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston.

She was a finalist on the third season of “American Idol” but was eventually voted off. That might have spelled the end of her music career, but Hudson’s luck held, and she landed the coveted role of Effie in “Dreamgirls.” Her performance as the cast-aside star of a ’60s girl group earned numerous accolades, including an Academy Award.

During her 2007 acceptance speech, an obviously overwhelmed Hudson asked the audience to allow her take in the moment. Maybe she was thinking there was something to this acting thing after all. Or perhaps she was contemplating what to do for an encore.

Since her big night, Hudson has pursued acting and singing with equal zeal.

She is working on her first solo album, due Sept. 30. Her first single, “Spotlight,” arrives this month. She believes her new, more personal sound, will surprise fans.

“Everybody is so used to me sounding like Effie, but this is going to be very different,” she says. “This is me.”

Hudson has completed three more films, the first of which is a supporting role in the long-awaited screen version of the hit HBO series, “Sex and the City.” She plays Louise, a newly arrived transplant from St. Louis, who finds employment as the personal assistant to Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw.

Move over, Miley Cyrus. Stars like Jennifer Hudson, Mariska Hargitay and Angie Harmon all stripped down for Allure’s annual portfolio of naked stars. And Editor in Chief Linda Wells is dishing the dirt on the birthday-suit shoots.

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“Jennifer Hudson was really great,” Wells said. “But she had a moment where she was a little taken aback and she had to wrap her mind around it. And Angie Harmon was surprisingly nervous, but then she pulled it together. They know that we want a beautiful picture. But they still have to take that robe off – they’re still naked.”

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DREAMGIRLS star JENNIFER HUDSON has recruited INDIA.ARIE and ALICIA KEYS as mentors as she plans to embark on a pop career.

The Oscar winner and former American Idol favourite hopes to release her first album after her new film Sex & The City hits cinemas next month (Jun08) and she has turned to two peers for advice.
Hudson asked her Secret Life of Bees co-star Keys for help when she realised she had been working on her debut for a year.

She says, “I didn’t realise the process would be so long. I’m discovering it as I go along.
“Alicia Keys was one of the people who talked to me about it. I wanted to make sure it was OK because it’s taking so long.

“She told me it took her at least a year to record her album and that’s the process, so don’t worry about it.” And she turned to Arie when she needed a big hit on the album: “Greatest Creation, which Indie.Arie wrote, is where I see myself and where I’d like to see myself, in saying that my greatest creation is me.” Hudson will release the album in September (08), admitting “I haven’t named it yet.”