AceShowbiz - Jennifer Hudson was left devastated following the death of her mum Darnell Donerson, sibling Jason Hudson and her sister's seven-year-old son Julian King, who were shot in her native Chicago, Illinois in 2008. Jennifer Hudson's former brother-in-law William Balfour has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first degree murder in relation to the killings.

The Oscar-winner has previously admitted she "pretty much secluded" herself away from everyone in the wake of the tragedy, but she worked out her grief during recording sessions for second album "I Remember Me", her first new record since the killings.

Jennifer Hudson also reveals collaborator Alicia Keys encouraged her to use her feelings to create the music, telling Britain's Daily Star, "I felt very inspired working with Alicia, who co-produced and co-wrote a lot of the album, along with R. Kelly. Alicia told me I was an inspiration and we worked with that."

"What I like to do is bottle everything up from my experience and give it to someone else, so that was what we did. The album is a celebration of a new start and a new beginning."

"Alicia has her sound, Beyonce Knowles has her sound, Rihanna has hers and we wanted a sound for me. Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan and the Pointer Sisters were huge influences on the album."