Jennifer Warnes is a singer who’s done at least two very famous pop tunes you know while at the same time she hardly has the name recognition of numerous inferior performers. Wikipedia tells us that “Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as the vocalist performing the most songs to be nominated for (four) and to win (three) the Academy Award for Best Original Song.” And yet, most people, even close to her generation, know her name.
She’s doubtless best known through her duets. She did “Up Where We Belong” with Joe Cocker and “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life” with Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers. Let’s remind ourselves of those hits starting with “Up Where We Belong”:
Joe Cocker’s rasp is the perfect complement to Warne’s voice, which is always crystal clear. Similarly, her pairing with blue-eyed soul singer Bill Medley works on “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life”:
Her album of Leonard Cohen tunes, Famous Blue Raincoat is one of those rare albums where every single cut is pure gold. Following are three examples:
“First We Take Manhattan”:
“Famous Blue Raincoat”:
which has one of my favorite lyrics:
So you treated some woman to a flake of your life,
And when she got home, she was nobody’s wife.
Finally, here is her duet with Leonard Cohen as they sing “Joan Of Arc,” in which her burning at the stake is allegorized into a wedding, the flames becoming her groom and lover, and the crowd her wedding guests. It’s as uplifting as it is heartbreaking:
