Representative Albums: "Famous Blue Raincoat," "The Well," "The Best of Jennifer Warnes"
Representative Songs: "Up Where We Belong," "(I've Had) The Time of My Lif," "Right Time of the Night"
Biography
Jennifer Warnes has succeeded in a number of nearly unrelated areas of popular music -- as a contemporary pop singer, as a country singer, as a singer of movie themes, and as an interpreter of the work of Leonard Cohen. She first came to public notice when she became a regular on the television show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967, under the name Jennifer Warren or simply Jennifer. In 1968, she was part of the original cast of the Los Angeles production of the musical Hair, and she signed to the Parrot Records subsidiary of London Records, which released her debut album, ...I Can Remember Everything. Her second album, See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me!, appeared in 1969. Neither album was a commercial success, and she moved on to the Reprise division of Warner Bros. Records, which released Jennifer, produced by John Cale, in 1972. When that album also flopped, Warnes signed on as a backup singer with Leonard Cohen. She joined Arista Records in 1976 and finally registered in the charts in 1977 with "Right Time of the Night," a Top Ten pop hit that reached number one in the Easy Listening charts and also made the Top 40 in the Country charts. It was drawn from her Arista debut album, Jennifer Warnes. The follow-up, Shot Through the Heart (1979), featured "I Know a Heartache When I See One," a Top Ten Country and Top 40 Pop and Easy Listening hit. Warnes' next album was an Arista hits compilation, Best of Jennifer Warnes (1982). In July 1982, Island Records released "Up Where We Belong," the love theme from the movie An Officer and a Gentleman, a duet between Warnes and Joe Cocker. She had sung movie themes before, but never with such success: "Up Where We Belong" hit number one and went platinum. Not surprisingly, moviemakers sought ber out, and in 1983 she had chart entries with "Nights Are Forever" (from Twilight Zone -- The Movie) and the title theme from All the Right Moves, a duet with Chris Thompson In 1986, she became the first signee to the short-lived Cypress Records label, which released her acclaimed Famous Blue Raincoat, an album of Leonard Cohen songs, at the start of 1987. In July of that year, RCA Records released "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," the love theme from the film Dirty Dancing, a duet between Warnes and Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers. It topped the charts and went gold. Warnes spent five years crafting a follow-up to Famous Blue Raincoat, releasing The Hunter, which featured songs by various writers, herself included, in 1992. Note that Warnes' many label affiliations preclude any compilation from adequately covering her career and that, amazingly enough, neither of her biggest hits is available on a Jennifer Warnes album. In 2001, Warnes decided that she had enough feuding with labels and her fans were rewarded with her first solo album in nine years. The Well, which was released in 2001, was privately funded and Warnes retained control of the masters, ensuring that she would control the destiny of the album and its songs far into the future. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Jennifer Jean Warnes (born March 3, 1947) is a Grammy winning Americansinger, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her rich soprano/contralto voice,[citation needed] her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.
Warnes was born in Seattle, Washington.[citation needed] Her desire and ability to sing came early; at age seven she was offered her first recording contract, which her father turned down. She sang in church and local pageants, until age 17 when Warnes was offered an opera scholarship to Immaculate Heart College. She chose to sing Folk music as it became popularized by Joan Baez in the mid sixties. In 1968, after a few years with musical theatre and clubs, she signed with Parrot Records (a London Records subsidiary) and recorded her first LP. That same year, she joined the cast of the television show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
Early in her career, industry advisers suggested her surname "Warnes" should be changed to the more common "Warren". This led to confusion with Broadway and film actress Jennifer Warren, so she performed for some time under the single name "Jennifer", subsequently returning to "Jennifer Warnes".
In November 1968, Warnes (as "Jennifer Warren") portrayed the female lead in the Los Angeles, California production of the stage musical Hair.
In 1976 Warnes released the album which would contain her breakthrough single, "Right Time of the Night", hitting No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart in April 1977 and No. 6 on the Billboard's Hot 100 in May 1977.
Warnes recorded the song "It Goes Like It Goes" for the 1979 motion picture Norma Rae. The song went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Her 1979 single, "I Know a Heartache When I See One", was a top-twenty single on both the U.S. pop and country charts.
Warnes recorded the Randy Newman composition "One More Hour", for the 1981 motion picture Ragtime. This became her second performance of a song to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Warnes teamed up with Joe Cocker to record "Up Where We Belong" for the 1982 motion picture An Officer and a Gentleman. Written by Buffy Sainte-Marie, Will Jennings and Jack Nitzsche, the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and Golden Globe Award. The song also won Warnes and Cocker the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The song was released as a single and hit No. 1 (for three weeks running) on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and stands as one of Warnes' biggest selling discs being certified 'Platinum'. The same year, she recorded a moving performance of James Taylor's Millworker for the American PlayhousePBS production of Working.
Warnes teamed up with Bill Medley to record "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" for the 1987 motion picture Dirty Dancing. This marked the third song performed by Warnes to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song and Golden Globe Award. The song also won Warnes and Medley the Grammy Award for Duo or Group with Vocal, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
She recorded a duet with B. J. Thomas, "As Long As We've Got Each Other", the theme for the TV show, Growing Pains.
In August 2007, the Shout Factory Records label re-released the 20th anniversary edition of Famous Blue Raincoat, with a 24-page booklet and four additional songs.
Jennifer has contributed to tribute recordings to Ian Tyson, Warren Zevon and Alejandro Escovedo.
Discography
Albums
I Can Remember Everything Parrot 1968
See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me Parrot 1969
Jennifer Warner Bros Reprise label 1972 (Produced by John Cale)
