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 1971, she met Canadian poet/songwriter Leonard Cohen, who became a life-long friend. She would eventually tour Europe with Cohen's band first as a back-up singer and then as vocal arranger and guest singer on Cohen's albums Live Songs, Various Positions, I'm Your Man, The Future, Field Commander Cohen and Recent Songs including a duet on a song titled "The Smokey Life".[citation needed] Warnes would later (1987) record a critically acclaimed audiophile album of Cohen songs, Famous Blue Raincoat.
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 Playhouse PBS 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.
On September 30, 1987 at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, she contributed background vocals for Roy Orbison's star-studded television special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night.
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.
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