Jennifer Warnes

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 Grammy Awards, 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.

Early life Warnes was born on March 3, 1947, in Seattle, Washington and raised in Anaheim, California. Her desire and ability to sing came early; at age seven she was offered her first recording contract, which her father declined. She sang in church and local pageants until age 17, when Warnes was offered an opera scholarship to Immaculate Heart College. She was so committed to her Catholic faith that for a while she entered a convent after graduating from high school.

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. Her fellow Hair castmate Bert Sommer wrote a song inspired by her entitled "Jennifer," and performed it at Woodstock.

Career 1970s In 1971, Warnes met Canadian songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen, and the two remained friends. She toured Europe with Cohen's band in 1972 and 1979 — first as a back-up singer and then as a vocal arranger and guest singer on Cohen's albums Live Songs (1973), Recent Songs (1979), Various Positions (1985), I'm Your Man (1988), The Future (1992), Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979 (2001), and Old Ideas (2012). Warnes also recorded a critically acclaimed album of Cohen songs, Famous Blue Raincoat, in 1987.

Warnes released her seventh studio album, The Hunter, in June 1992.

Discography Albums Year Album Peak chart positions Label US US Country AUS CAN UK 1968 I Can Remember Everything — — — — — Parrot 1969 See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me — — — — — 1972 Jennifer — — — — — Reprise 1976 Jennifer Warnes 43 — 92 26 — Arista 1979 Shot Through the Heart 94 13 — — — 1986 Famous Blue Raincoat 72 — 21 8 33 Cypress 1992 The Hunter — — — 76 — Private Music 2001 The Well — — — — — Music Force/Cisco 2018 Another Time, Another Place — — — — — BMG Rights Management

Compilation albums Best of Jennifer Warnes (Arista, 1982) – US No. 47 Just Jennifer (Deram, 1992) Best: First We Take Manhattan (unauthorized German compilation, 2000) Platinum and Gold Collection (2004) – with errors in actual tracks, not Warnes singing; recalled Love Lifts Us Up: A Collection 1968–83 (Raven, 2004)

Singles Year Title Peak chart positions US AC US Country AUS 1981 James Taylor, Dad Loves His Work (vocals) 1982 Bert Jansch, Heartbreak 1988 Harry Belafonte, Paradise in Gazankulu 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 1995 Tanita Tikaram, Lovers in the City (vocals)

Awards and nominations