NEW YORK, USA (CARIBPR Wire) — Multiple award-winning singer and actress, Jennifer Kate Hudson, is set to make the transition from a White House performance to the stage of the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival from January 24-30, 2010.

TurnKey Productions president and festival producer, Walter Elmore, said while he is thrilled for Hudson at her White House performance on November 24, at the first state dinner of President and Mrs Obama, he is thrilled that Hudson will be in Montego Bay, Jamaica in a matter of weeks.

“Jennifer has a magic that surrounds her and the Jamaican audience loves her. We feel she is an excellent addition to the line-up,” said Elmore.

Hudson came to prominence in 2004 as one of the finalists on the third season of the Fox reality television series, American Idol. She made her film debut in the 2006 film Dreamgirls and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, as well as a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, among many others.

She won a Grammy Award for her eponymous debut album, Jennifer Hudson, which was released in 2008 on Arista Records and soon certified gold by the RIAA for more than 500,000 shipped copies, spawning the hit single, Spotlight.

Also on the bill for the Jamaica 2010 jazz and blues festival will be Billy Ocean, Joe Roy Jackson, Kelly Price, Tamia, Deborah Cox, Hall and Oats, Jon Secada, Monty Alexander, Roy Ayers, Third World, Marion Hall and the Max Klezmer Band, a polish Jazz band which the government of Poland has kindly arranged for the event.

The festival, which, since its introduction in 1996 was known as the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, has attracted thousands of patrons from the USA, Europe, the Caribbean and Jamaica. International artistes that have performed at the festival include Alicia Keys, Kenny Rogers, Julio Iglesias, Nancy Wilson, Earth Wind and Fire, Kenny G, Gladys Knight, Kool & the Gang, Brian McKnight, George Benson, Erykah Badu, Gladys Knight, Michael Bolton, and many more.

This year the festival is again being presented by key title sponsor, the Jamaica Tourist Board.