Jennifer Hudson: The Triple Threat

Jennifer Hudson doesn't drink coffee. Doesn't like it, she says. Doesn't need it, counters her manager, Miguel Melendez.

It's 6:20 a.m. on a Monday morning in July, and an uncaffeinated Hudson is busting full throttle through her warm-ups during a sound check for a performance on "Good Morning America." It was her first TV appearance in support of "Spotlight," the debut single from her first album.

Hudson shakes off any concerns about the ungodly hour. ("The band got there at 4:30 a.m.," she notes.) Melendez, meanwhile, clutched his venti Starbucks as he watched. "Good Lord, she makes me feel old," he sighs.

It's easy to forget Hudson's youth, perhaps thanks to the years she's spent in the pop culture spotlight. At 26, her career path may be impossible to duplicate: She went from being a choir singer at her church in her hometown of Chicago to a Disney Cruise Line chanteuse to an "American Idol" contestant to an Academy Award winner for best supporting actress for her role in "Dreamgirls." Thanks to the ever-expanding entertainment landscape, what this means is that Hudson has built a significant career on a multiple-octave voice--without releasing an album.