Jennifer Warnes
- Music Artist
- Actress
- Music Department
Singer/songwriter Jennifer Warnes has enjoyed enormous crossover
success not only on the pop and country music charts alike, but also
for her often exceptional song contributions to several hit movies.
Jennifer was born on March 3, 1947 in Seattle, Washington and raised in
Anaheim, California. She made her public debut singing "The
Star-Spangled Banner" at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium at age 9.
After graduating from high school Warnes was offered an opera
scholarship to Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, but turned said
scholarship down to perform folk music with singer Doug Rowell at
various Southern California folk clubs in the 60's. The duo opened for
such people as Jackson Browne, Steve Martin, Jose Feliciano, and Pat
Paulsen. Jennifer was a regular on the hugely popular TV variety
program "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" and had a lead role in the
1968 Los Angeles stage production of the smash hippie counterculture
musical "Hair." Her first three albums were all commercial flops.
However, Warnes hit her stride with the sultry tune "(It's the) Right
Time of the Night," which peaked at #1 on the Adult Contemporary
Singles charts in 1977. The follow-up song "I Know a Heartache When I
See One" was a Top Ten country hit and cracked the Top Forty pop charts
as well. In 1970 Jennifer met acclaimed Canadian singer/songwriter
Leonard Cohen; she has sung on six albums altogether with Cohen and
recorded in 1987 the highly praised "Famous Blue Raincoat," an album of
all Cohen songs that's widely regarded as Warnes' crowning achievement
as both a singer and top interpreter of Cohen's work. She has sung on
recordings for such artists as Bob Dylan, Harry Belafonte, Roy Orbison,
Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Sam & Dave, Bobby Womack,
and Tina Turner. Warnes sang the Oscar-winning theme song "It Goes Like
It Goes" for the film "Norma Rae." "Up Where We Belong," her duet with
Joe Cocker and the love theme for the movie "An Officer and a
Gentleman," was a huge hit: It peaked on the Pop Charts at #1 for three
weeks straight and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. "(I
Had) The Time of My Life," another duet with Bill Medley of the
Righteous Brothers and the love theme for the blockbuster film "Dirty
Dancing," peaked at #1 on the pop charts for four weeks, sold over a
million copies, and once again won the Academy Award for Best Original
Song. Jennifer's rendition of the Randy Newman composition "One More
Hour" for the picture "Ragtime" was nominated for an Oscar. Warnes'
songs have been featured on the soundtracks to such films as "Corky
Romano," "Life With Mikey," "When Harry Met Sally," "Blind Date,"
"Twilight Zone: The Movie," and "Bad Boys." More recently Jennifer
Warnes recorded the album "The Well" in 2001.