Every Friday around 11 a.m. Central, it’s time for Classic Americana on Radio Heartland. We pull a special track from the archives or from deep in the shelves to spotlight a particular artist or song.

Jennifer Warnes has been a hard-working and highly lauded musician pretty much since her career began. Born in Seattle and raised in Southern California, Warnes found herself inspired by Joan Baez to sing folk music. After cutting her teeth performing in clubs in Los Angeles, Warnes was signed to Parrot Records in 1968, and that same year, Warnes was hired by CBS as a cast vocalist for the television variety program The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

Warnes’ work on TV brought stage work to her door, as she was cast as Sheila in the West Coast production of the Broadway musical Hair. 

In the early 1970s, Warnes worked with John Cale and with Leonard Cohen, even joining the Canadian singer on a European tour.

In the late 1970s, Warnes began taking on work for Hollywood. In 1979, she recorded the song, “It Goes Like It Goes,” the theme song for the film Norma Rae, which starred Sally Field as a labor organizer. “It Goes Like It Goes” won the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 52nd Academy Awards in 1980. That led to a string of cinematic hits for Warnes, including “Up Where We Belong,” a duet with Joe Cocker featured in the film An Officer and a Gentlemen; and “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life” with Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers for the film Dirty Dancing. Both of those songs won Grammy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Oscars.

Beyond film, Warnes continued her collaboration with Leonard Cohen, appearing on his album Various Positions as a co-vocalist. This led to Warnes releasing her own album of Leonard Cohen covers, Famous Blue Raincoat, in 1987. A top-notch artist, Jennifer Warnes’ career has been marked by collaborations with many other amazing artists, including James Taylor, John Prine, Rita Coolidge, Jackson Browne and Randy Newman. 

For our Classic Americana feature, we’ll look back at the year 1979 when Jennifer Warnes scored a major crossover hit, “I Know A Heartache When I See One,” which soared to the Top 20 in the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts, and it hit No. 10 on the Billboard Country chart. Written by Rory Bourke, Kerry Chater and Charlie Black, the song showcases Jennifer Warnes’ powerful, emotive vocals.

Classic Americana Playlist

External Links

Jennifer Warnes – official site