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Jennifer Jean Warnes (born March 3, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter who has performed as a vocalist on a number of film soundtracks. She has won two , in 1983 for the Joe Cocker duet "Up Where We Belong", and in 1987 for the Bill Medley duet "(I've Had) The Time of My Life". Warnes also collaborated closely with Leonard Cohen.
Warnes chose to sing folk music as it became popularized by Joan Baez in the mid-1960s. In 1968, after a few years with musical theatre and clubs, she signed with Parrot Records (a London Records subsidiary) and recorded her first album. That year, she joined the cast of the television show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
Early in her career, industry advisors suggested Warnes change her name to "Warren", but then realized that there was already an actress named Jennifer Warren, so she performed briefly as simply 'Jennifer', though she was credited as Jennifer Warren when she provided duet vocals for the singer-guitarist Mason Williams on his 1968 album, The Mason Williams Ear Show. Soon, however, she returned to her birth name.
In November 1968, Warnes (as "Jennifer Warren") portrayed the female lead in the Los Angeles, California, production of the stage musical Hair. She had a related UK single release as "Jennifer" on London HLU 10278 in June 1969 with "Let The Sunshine In" and "Easy to Be Hard", licensed from the US Parrot Records label. Her fellow Hair castmate Bert Sommer wrote a song inspired by her entitled "Jennifer," and at Woodstock. Here Comes the Song website retrieved 19 August 2024
In 1972, Warnes released her third album, Jennifer, which was produced by John Cale. It was unavailable after the LP was deleted, until it was finally reissued in Japan in 2013 (Reprise Records WPCR-14865). In 1976, Warnes released the album Jennifer Warnes (Arista Records 4062), which contained her breakthrough single, "Right Time of the Night", which hit number 1 on Billboard's Easy Listening (Adult Contemporary) chart in April 1977 and number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 1977.
Warnes recorded the song "It Goes Like It Goes" for the 1979 motion picture Norma Rae. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Her 1979 single "I Know A Heartache When I See One", was a Top 10 Country hit and reached the Top 20 on both the Pop and Adult Contemporary charts.
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, as well as a Golden Globe Award. The song also won Warnes and Cocker the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, which was released as a single and hit No. 1 (for three weeks running) on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was certified platinum record for over two million sales in the United States. That same year, she recorded James Taylor's "Millworker" for the American Playhouse PBS production of Working.
In 1985, she recorded a duet version with B. J. Thomas of the song "As Long As We Got Each Other", the theme for the TV show Growing Pains. It was used as the opening theme for the second and third seasons. For the fourth season, the song was once again re-recorded with Thomas and Dusty Springfield. However, the Warnes version made its return for the fifth season and the seventh (final) season of the show. The same year, she recorded vocals for Leonard Cohen's record Various Positions, getting equal vocals credits with Cohen in the inside booklet. After releasing a praised tribute LP of Leonard Cohen's songs in 1987, Famous Blue Raincoat, to which Cohen contributed two new compositions, "First We Take Manhattan", which featured Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar, and "Ain't No Cure for Love", she contributed vocals to Cohen's 1988 hit LP I'm Your Man, most notably to "Take This Waltz" and "Tower of Song".
Warnes teamed 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 second for the Golden Globe Award in the same category. The song also won Warnes and Medley the Grammy Award for Duo or Group with Vocal. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
On September 30, 1987, at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles, she contributed vocals for Roy Orbison's star-studded television special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night.
Warnes released her seventh studio album, The Hunter, in June 1992. The LP featured the AC No. 13 single "Rock You Gently", and also featured the track "Way Down Deep" co-written by Warnes and Leonard Cohen. She recorded the track "Cold Enough To Snow" for the 1993 film, Life With Mikey.
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. The Hunter was re-released in 2009, and The Well was re-released in September 2010.
All remasters were issued on high quality vinyl and 24K gold discs. Famous Blue Raincoat was released with four bonus tracks. The Hunter was released without bonus material. The re-released The Well, however, contains a total of 14 tracks. These include two previously unreleased recordings from the original session: "La Luna Brilla", "A Fool for the Look (in Your Eyes)", and one extra bonus selection, "Show Me the Light" (a second duet with Bill Medley, which was originally featured on the 1998 movie soundtrack Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer-The Movie).
In 2018, Warnes released her first album since 2001, Another Time, Another Place. The first cut from the new album, "Just Breathe" was released on March 1, 2018. Written by Eddie Vedder, the song was originally recorded by Pearl Jam. The album includes 10 tracks, among them a new version of "So Sad" by Mickey Newbury, "I Am The Big Easy" by Ray Bonneville, "Once I Was Loved" by John Legend, "Why Worry" by Mark Knopfler, and "The Boys And Me" by Warnes herself and Michael Smotherman.
| 1968 | I Can Remember Everything | — | — | — | — | — | Parrot Records |
| 1969 | See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1972 | Jennifer | — | — | — | — | — | Reprise Records |
| 1976 | Jennifer Warnes | 43 | — | 92 | 26 | — | Arista Records |
| 1979 | Shot Through the Heart | 94 | 13 | — | — | — | |
| 1986 | Famous Blue Raincoat | 72 | — | 21 | 8 | 33 | Cypress Records |
| 1992 | The Hunter | — | — | — | 76 | — | Private Music |
| 2001 | The Well | — | — | — | — | — | Music Force/Cisco |
| 2018 | Another Time, Another Place | — | — | — | — | — | BMG Rights Management |
| 1969 | "Easy to Be Hard" | 128 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me |
| 1976 | "Right Time of the Night" | 6 | 1 | 17 | 33 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 54 | Jennifer Warnes |
| 1977 | "I'm Dreaming" | 50 | 9 | — | — | 67 | 6 | — | — | |
| 1979 | "I Know a Heartache When I See One" | 19 | 14 | 10 | — | 46 | — | 12 | — | Shot Through the Heart |
| "Don't Make Me Over" | 67 | 36 | 84 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1980 | "When the Feeling Comes Around" | 45 | 15 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1981 | "Could It Be Love" | 47 | 13 | 57 | — | — | — | — | — | The Best of Jennifer Warnes |
| 1982 | "Come to Me" | 107 | 40 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Up Where We Belong" (duet with Joe Cocker) | 1 | 3 | — | 1 | 1 | 2 | — | 7 | An Officer and a Gentleman | |
| 1983 | "Nights Are Forever" | 105 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "All the Right Moves" (duet with Chris Thompson) | 85 | 19 | — | — | — | 5 | — | — | All the Right Moves (soundtrack) | |
| 1987 | "Simply Meant to Be" (duet with Gary Morris) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Blind Date |
| "Ain't No Cure for Love" | — | — | 86 | — | 23 | 1 | 17 | — | Famous Blue Raincoat | |
| "First We Take Manhattan" | — | 29 | — | 32 | 43 | 6 | — | 74 | ||
| "Bird on the Wire" | — | — | — | — | — | 16 | — | — | ||
| "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" (duet with Bill Medley) | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | 3 | — | 6 | Dirty Dancing | |
| 1992 | "Rock You Gently" | — | 13 | — | — | 50 | 7 | — | — | The Hunter |
| "True Emotion" | — | 43 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1993 | "The Whole of the Moon" | — | 49 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1973 | David Blue, Nice Baby and the Angel (vocals) |
| 1979 | With Steve Gillette, "Lost the Good Thing We Had" on A Little Warmth. No. 76 on Billboard Country Chart in 1980. |
| 1981 | James Taylor, Dad Loves His Work (vocals) |
| 1982 | Bert Jansch, Heartbreak |
| 1988 | Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night (TV special) |
| 1989 | With David Benoit, "When the Winter's Gone (Song for a Stranger)"/"Urban Daydreams" |
| 1991 | Tanita Tikaram, Everybody's Angel (vocals) |
| 1994 | "Up Where We Belong" (live version with Joe Cocker) – Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume III |
| 1983 | Grammy Award | Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals | "Up Where We Belong" with Joe Cocker | |
| 1988 | "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" with Bill Medley |
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