Jennifer Warnes – Shot Through The Heart (1979)

Not her first album, but the first I bought and my favourite.   Jennifer was born in 1947 and was brought up in California and was a strong Catholic, even entering a convent for a short while.  She was impressed by Joan Baez in the early Sixties and moved from Classical to folk singing.  In 1971 she met Leonard Cohen and joined him on his tours, becoming vocal arranger and duetting with him on several albums.  Her voice has an emotional depth and warmth and subtlety that seemed to perfectly complement the deep baritone of Cohens voice.  She has only recorded albums sporadically but has sung on several film soundtracks and had a huge hit with Buffy Sainte-Marie’s song ‘Up Where We Belong’ with Joe Cocker.  She also released an album of Cohen songs ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’.  This album contains only three original compositions but she made the covers her own, even Dylan’s ‘Sign On The Window’  and the Bacharach David ‘Don’t Make Me Over’.  Other favourites are the title track, ‘When The Feeling Comes Around’ and ‘I Know A Heartache When I See One’.