Award-winning, show-stopping singer and actress Jennifer Holliday is a singers singer, a diva with a God-given gift for vocal interpretation who leaves audiences breathless. She has the innate ability to get inside a lyric. to give new meaning to songs she's performed time and again. All this is captured on The Best of Jennifer Holliday (Geffen Records), the first CID retrospective of Holliday's recording career and a powerful testament to her superlative skills and soulful artistry.

Lovingly assembled with input from Holliday herself, this 16-track collection includes many of the songs most closely associated with her, from "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" and "I Am Changing" -both from the 1981 Broadway smash "Drearngirls" - to the chart hits "I Am Love," "Hard Times for Lovers" and "I'm on Your Side." The album also features two new songs, "Love Me" and "Early Warning," as well as a remix of Holliday's 1985 R&B/dance hit "No Frills Love" and the track 'Someday," recorded in 1983 but never before released.

"When Geffen Records told me they wanted to release a compilation of my work," Holliday recalls, "I was very happy. Then, when the company asked me to be involved in choosing the material for the album, I was truly honored. I'm so glad we were able to present both the chart records and some of my personal favorites."

A Houston native, Holliday was discovered at 17 by a member of a touring production of "A Chorus Line" who spoiled her in a Houston play and insisted she journey to New York to audition for the Broadway revival of "Your Arm's Too Short to Box With God." Holliday did - and was awarded the lead in the show that day. In 1981, at the age of 21, she won a starring role in "Dreamgirls." Since then, she has released five solo albums arid collaborated with some of music's biggest names: Quincy Jones, Barbra

Streisand, Michael Jackson, Ashford & Simpson, Luther Vandross, Michael McDonald, Foreigner, Loretta Lynn and more.

The Best of Jennifer Holliday, released Sept. 10, 1996, opens with the two songs from "Dreamgirls," which catapulted the singer to national attention. "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" (a No. 1 R&B hit) and "I Am Changing" are the dramatic highlights of the legendary musical based loosely on the story of the Supremes. Night after night Holliday brought audiences to their feet with her performance of these pivotal numbers, lending them singular emotional intensity and conviction. "My secret has always been to sing from my heart and to be honest," she reveals. Her portrayal of the heroine Effie "Melody" White earned her the 1982 Tony Award for Best Actress; Holiday's rendition of "And I Am Telling You" on the "Drearngirls" soundtrack, released by Geffen Records in 1982, resulted in her first Grammy Award (also in 1982, for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female).

In light of the acclaim Holliday received for "Dreamgirls," Geffen Records signed her to a solo recording contract in 1983. She was teamed with producer Maurice White, the founder of supergroup Earth, Wind & Fire. Her first album, Feel My Soul, received rave reviews and yielded "I Am Love," a No. 2 R&B hit in the fall of 1983. Other standout cuts from Feel My Soul included "Just Let Me Wait" (another R&B hit) and the Ashford & Simpson-penned "This Game of Love (I'm Never Coming Down)." The previously unreleased "Someday," a stirring ballad written by White, was cut during the sessions for Feel My Soul. In 1984 Holliday embarked on her first national tour, sharing the road with singer Peabo Bryson.

The following year, Geffen released her second album, Say You Love Me. Production duties were divided between Tommy LiPuma, known for his work with such artists as George Benson and Al Jarreau, and New York-based dance music producer Arthur Baker. LiPuma's contributions included the LP's title track, a revival of R&B star D.J. Rogers' 1976 hit, and Holliday's outstanding reading of the Duke Ellington standard "Come Sunday," which earned the singer her second Grammy Award (in 1985, for Best Inspirational Performance). Baker produced "Hard Times for Lovers," an R&B hit in 1985, and "No Frills Love," which topped Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1986.

LiPuma also produced three tracks for Holliday's final Geffen album, 1987's Get Close to My Love, among them the powerful ballad "Read It in My Eyes." The production team of Preston and Alan Glass created the funky dance hit "Heart on the Line" for the LP, which also presented the work of producers Marcus Miller, Michael McDonald and David Pack, and Rene Moore.

Holliday signed with Arista Records in 1988. Fans would have to wait until 1991, however, to indulge in her next offering, I'm on Your Side. The title track, written and originally recorded by Angela Bofill, became a Top 10 R&B hit. Holliday - who spent her formative years singing every Sunday at Houston's Pleasant Grove Baptist Church - next fulfilled a long-held desire to return to her musical roots by cutting her first gospel alburn. On & On, released by Intersound International in 1994, became a best-seller for the artist. In 1995, she returned to Broadway, appearing as the Teen Angel in a revival of the /Sp:pular musical "Grease."

Rounding out The Best of Jennifer Holliday are a sizzling remix of "No FdIIs Love" from the London-based production team Love to Infinity and two new recordings shaped by the British trio, the midtempo groovefest "Love Me" and the hot dance track "Early Waming."

"I'm very pleased and proud of the work on this album," Holliday confesses. "But most of all, I'm happy that my music is finally going to be available on CID. For years, my devoted and longtime fans have written and asked me where they could get my material on CID. Over the last few years, new fans who are just getting to know who I am would also want to hear my earlier work. Now, at last, I have something for all of them."

From her spine-tingling first hit, "And I Am Telling You," to the powerhouse vocals of "Early Warning," The Best of Jennifer Holliday is a passionate set from one of contemporary music's most distinctive artists, a lady with an enduring talent - and a whole lot of soul.

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Dreamqirls - Original Broadway Cast, Geffen Records, 1982.

Feel My Soul, Geffen Records, 1983.

Say You Love Me, Geffen Records, 1985.

Get Close to My Love, Geffen Records, 1987.

I'm on Your Side, Arista Records, 1991.

(With Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra) "Lean on Me," Amen! A Gospel Celebration,

Telarc: Records, 1993. On & On, I ntersound International, 1994. The Best of Jennifer Holliday, Geffen Records, 1996.