"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" (also known in short as just "And I Am Telling You") is a torch song from the Broadway musicalDreamgirls, with lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger. In the context of the musical, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" is sung by the character Effie White, a singer with the girl group The Dreams, to her manager, Curtis Taylor Jr., whose romantic and professional relationship with Effie is ending. The lyrics to "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", often considered the show's signature tune, describe Effie's love for Curtis, both strongly devoted and defiant. She refuses to let Curtis leave her behind, and boldly proclaims to him, "I'm staying and you ... you're gonna love me."
In 1982, Jennifer Holliday, the actress who portrayed Effie in the original Broadway production, released the song as a single. It was her first single release and it met with great success, topping the Billboard R&B charts and attaining top forty positions on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. In 1983, Holliday won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female for the single.
"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" was designed as the closing number of Dreamgirls' first act. Holliday's performance of the song, in a style owing much to gospel music singing traditions, was regularly staged to thunderous applause; it was hailed as the highlight of the show in several printed reviews of the musical.[2] In his review of Dreamgirls, The New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich referred to Holliday's "And I Am Telling You" as "one of the most powerful theatrical coups to be found in a Broadway musical since Ethel Merman sang 'Everything's Coming Up Roses' at the end of Act I of Gypsy"[3] "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" remains Holliday's signature song.
In 2006, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" was recorded by Jennifer Hudson for her film debut, as Effie White in the DreamWorks/Paramount motion picture adaptation of Dreamgirls. Her recording of the song peaked at number 60 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number 14 on the R&B chart.
Hudson's version received widespread praise from film and music critics as well as the audiences, which highlighted her strength as both a vocalist and an actress. The New York Observer described Hudson's performance as "five mellifluous, molto vibrato minutes...."[10]Newsweek said that when moviegoers hear Hudson sing the song, she "is going to raise goose bumps across the land."[11]Variety wrote that Hudson's performance "calls to mind debuts like Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl or Bette Midler in The Rose, with a voice like the young Aretha."[12] For her performance, Hudson won a multitude of accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The song also appeared in Hudson's eponymous debut album (2008).
On June 26, 2007, the 7th Annual BET Awards opened with Jennifer Holliday and Jennifer Hudson performing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" live in their first duet together.
Although it in essence is Hudson's first single release, it became her fourth top 75 hit in the United Kingdom after a performance on The X Factor in 2009 after being sung by Danyl Johnson.[13] Hudson performed the song again at the 85th Academy Awards, as part of the Dreamgirls section in the tribute to movie musicals.
A club remix was created for this single, engineered by Richie Jones and Eric Kupper, and appears as a bonus track on the "Deluxe Edition" of the Dreamgirls soundtrack album. This version of Hudson's "And I Am Telling You" was a chart success, reaching the top of the BillboardHot Dance Club Play chart in early 2007. A shortened edit of the full remix appeared on a Columbia Records promotional-only CD accompanying the Jones & Kupper remix of another Dreamgirls song, the Beyoncé Knowles/Anika Noni Rose/Sharon Leal/Jennifer Hudson rendition of "One Night Only". Also included were the Freemasons remixes of Beyoncé's singles "Déjà Vu" and "Ring the Alarm".
In 1994, Donna Giles scored a minor club hit in the US and UK with her rendition of the song. The track remained a sleeper club hit in the UK throughout 1995, prompting a spate of re-releases and remixes, including Stonebridge, culminating in a major release on Ore Records in 1996. This last release would finally take the track to number 27 on the UK Singles Chart in February of that year. On November 20, 2007, the original master, Produced by critically acclaimed Eve Nelson, was released digitally by Breaking Records and is available on all major download sites.
In an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will (Will Smith) serenades Uncle Phil to the song by lip-syncing it when trying to win his forgiveness but only ends up annoying him.
In an episode of Martin, Gina (Tisha Campbell) performs the song while interrupting Pam's performance of the song "Home" (from The Wiz) on Martin's talk show "Word on the Street". As both are auditioning for Biggie Smalls, they attempt to out-sing each other, ultimately resulting in embarrassing Martin.
In 1998, Jim Carrey flamboyantly performed a parody of the song in the final episode of The Larry Sanders Show (entitled "Flip"), pleading to the titular Sanders to persuade him not to leave his late-night talk show.
In the 2001 film Down to Earth, the song is performed by several people at the Apollo Theater, with the audience only approving when sung by Phil Quon (John Cho).
Various renditions appear in several episodes of the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, often sung by Chris' mother Rochelle (Tichina Arnold), or by off-screen performers watched by Rochelle.
In 2006, then 12-year-old Bianca Ryan auditioned with the song for America's Got Talent. Ryan subsequently won the contest that year.
Jake Gyllenhaal performed it on Saturday Night Live shortly after the film's release in a pastiche of Hudson. He wore a wig and black sequined dress, with three of the female regulars on SNL as his "backup singers", dressed in red glitter dresses, heels and wigs.
In 2009, it was performed by Amber Riley as her character Mercedes Jones in the first seasonGlee episode "Sectionals". Riley would go on to play Effie onstage in the 2016 London Premiere performance of Dreamgirls.
Also in 2009, the parody filmDance Flick features David Alan Grier performing a version of the song telling the protagonists that they're "gonna feed [him]" with assorted foods and name brand items.
American Idol runner-up Jessica Sanchez performed the song as one of her two songs in the Top 4. Her performance during the Top 4 was praised by Jennifer Holliday.[25] Holliday later performed the song with Sanchez during the eleventh season finale in 2012.[26]
Dami Im, the 2013 winner of the Australian version of The X Factor, performed this as one of her final three songs.[27] Her performance received a rapturous response from all four judges and the audience. The judges stood up on the judges table as an indication of their overwhelming adulation of her exquisite performance while the audience applauded strongly for 70 seconds.[28] Her performance debuted number 29 on the Australian ARIA Charts. On December 1, 2013, Im released a version of the song as part of her self-titled album, which debuted at number one in Australia, and was certified Platinum.[29]
In 2015, Louisa Johnson performed this song both in the six chair challenge and with Rita Ora as her celebrity duet choice during the first part of the twelfth-season finale of The X Factor in the UK.
In Britain's Got Talent 2017, Sarah Ikumu sang this song as her audition. It won her the Golden Buzzer from Simon Cowell, which got her an unchallenged pass into the live finals.[33]
^Molanphy, Chris (June 28, 2019). "The Lullaby of Broadway Edition". Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia (Podcast). Slate. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
