Amber Riley joined Jennifer Hudson for a knockout version of the Dreamgirls song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" on The Jennifer Hudson Show Monday.
Former Glee star Riley, who won The Masked Singer last week, both have ties to the role of Effie in the musical. Hudson's Effie was an Oscar-winning career-maker in 2006 for the American Idol alum, while Riley took to the London stage in the role in 2016.
Before the performance, Riley recalled when Hudson joined her in London for the Dreamgirls opening night.
"You'd best believe I was going to be there," Hudson said. "I made a point, I said I got to go see Amber in this. It was amazing. Beautiful job."
On Instagram Monday, Riley shared the clip and wrote, "A 'DREAM' come true! Thank you for always being so kind to me and always supporting me, and for being such a powerhouse trailblazer. I love you @iamjhud!"
Riley felt a kinship with the character: "Playing Effie, I'm sure you became close to that character, like I became close to that character, and really knew her. Having her story be like this gift, and not being able to be out in the front, I feel like doing things like Masked Singer, doing things like Dancing With The Stars, I get to be the winner for those stories, so it's full-circle for me."
Riley wasn't always playing starring roles, though. She used to be a ghost singer.
"Producers used to have me do demos," Riley said. "And also when some artists couldn't do what I did in the demo, they would have the artist come in, and I would imitate that artist to try and fix vocals. ... It's like a ghostwriter. They used to have me come in and say, 'It's just the background' and I'm like, 'No, it's not, it's the lead.' I know my voice when I heard it."
