On the 100th episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show, Jennifer was ready to celebrate her milestone with her studio audience, as well as a very special guest. Introduced by Jennifer as “a fellow EGOT winner,” John Legend joined Jennifer onstage to enthusiastic applause from the audience. After handing her a bouquet of flowers by way of congratulations, John invited Jennifer to join him at the piano to sing a duet that music fans won’t be able to forget any time soon.
Inspired by Jennifer Hudson’s portrayal of Aretha Franklin, John invited her to join him in singing Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water,’ which was famously covered by Aretha Franklin in 1970. The pair’s voices blended seamlessly as they turned the gentle folk classic into a powerful and emotionally charged performance. The video of their cover has since received over 1.6M views, with fans leaving emotional comments like, “Oh my goodness! I have tears and chills right now!”
‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ has now become one of the most famous and extensively covered songs of the last 50 years. Besides Aretha Franklin, it has also been covered by musical legends such as Elvis Presley, The Supremes, and Johnny Cash. Not only was John’s suggestion of the song inspired by Jennifer’s portrayal of Aretha Franklin, but also due to the fact that he had recently released his own cover of it on the solo piano version of his album ‘LEGEND’.
However, this was not the first time John had performed a cover of this iconic song. Music Man readers may be surprised to find out that a video of John singing ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam surfaced over 11 years ago. Voices echoed around the stadium as the audience sang along to the dynamic cover, which showed John’s vocal agility and his ability to switch between tender intimacy and power within the same song.
Here at the Music Man, we love to see artists of the present day paying tribute to the artists who paved the way and had influence over their work. Not only did Jennifer Hudson and John Legend’s cover of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ showcase their own talent, but they also paid tribute to Aretha Franklin’s musical style and the legendary songwriting of Simon and Garfunkel. Their magical cover reminds us that no artist creates in isolation. Passion and inspiration flow from one generation to the next, helping every artist discover their own unique voice.
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