Jennifer Hudson and the Democratic party both have rich — but until now separate — histories with Sam Cooke’s classic song “A Change is Gonna Come.” The three came together at the close of the third evening of the 2020 Democratic National Convention Wednesday night with a spectacular performance by Hudson that took place under the tiffany dome at the Harold Washington Cultural Center in Hudson’s hometown of Chicago.

There were some big Aretha Franklin tie-ins in the performance by the woman who is about to be seen playing Franklin on film: Not only was she was singing “the Aretha version” of the song, she was being accompanied by two pianists: Fred Nelson, Franklin’s conductor, and Richard Gibbs, the soul queen’s piano player for many years. Reginald Foster rounded out her backing trio on soprano sax.

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