Jennifer Holliday on health, move to ATL and CD project

Fans can expect Holliday to start tweeting and using Facebook this fall when she releases her new CD, "Love Is on the Way," her first recording project in 17 years.

The CD will include covers of some R&B love songs and jazz standards. "Some of the older music is just some of the best music," she said.

The new project is a big step for Holliday, who began her career on Broadway and clinched it in Dreamgirls in the role of Effie.

"Fortunately, I have a career that thrives still fairly well in the sense that people still want to hear me sing and want to pay to hear me sing and that's a fortunate thing to have in this day and time," she said.

Social media help, she said.

"I don't know that the challenges [in the music industry] now are any different than before," said Holliday, who turns 50 this year. "This new technology and social media, an artist can actually have better contact with their fans and be able to show a record company that they have the support of their fans.

"Before then, there was just some kind of record executive saying ‘you don't sell records' or ‘we're not going to put anything out on you because your fans don't buy it.' Now you can actually take your case to the public."

Holliday hopes that promotion for the CD will include a concert in Atlanta.

The Grammy-winner recently moved to Midtown, where she's become a huge  fan of MARTA,  since she doesn't drive.

What she likes most about Atlanta, she said, is the friendliness of the people.

"It's a strange feeling because they all just speak to you, even if they don't know you," she said. New Yorkers "don't do that kind of thing. Even in the elevators, people go, ‘Good morning.' ... They are so warm to everyone and once they know you, they don't give you a handshake, they give you this incredible bear hug, where you can't breathe."

Holliday has also found a church home -- Ebenezer Baptist Church. On July 17, she, along with the Ebenezer Baptist Church Women's Ministry and trainer Andrea Riggs, will lead a free health and wellness fair for African-American women.

"I wanted to go somewhere where I felt that I could make a difference," Holliday said.

Good health has become a major focus for Holliday since she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 15 years ago. The disease affects the central nervous system. In mild cases, patients may experience numbness in the arms and legs. In worse cases, there can be paralysis or loss of vision.

Holliday said she was unable to walk for long periods and was blind for several months at a time. Even people who know she has MS often look at her in disbelief because she has so much energy and is now doing so well.

"A lot of it has been through the mind, body and spirit connection," she said.

Several years ago, Holliday became one of the first celebrities to reveal she'd had gastric bypass surgery. The change that has brought has not been just physical.

"It wasn't until I was 40 that I really looked at myself and said, ‘Okay, Jennifer, I love you and I want you to be well and to be around a long time," she said.

Event preview

Wellness fair

Event includes massages and health screenings, fashion and beauty makeovers and group fitness workouts. Participants can join a six-week fitness challenge. Jennifer Holliday will present an inspirational song and motivational session.

10 a.m. -- 2 p.m. July 17. Free. M.L. King Jr.  Recreation Center, 90 Boulevard, N.E., Atlanta.  404-688-7300.