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Warnes is also noted for her country and contemporary pop hits.

Warnes was born on March 3, 1947 in Seattle, Washington. She began singing at a very young age and was offered a recording contract at age seven, which her father turned down. She later gave her first public performance singing "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium when she was nine years old. Following her high school graduation, she was offered an opera scholarship, however declined as she preferred singing folk and pop music. In 1967, she made her television debut on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, a variety show which ran until 1969. Meanwhile, Jennifer was playing "Sheila", the female lead in the stage musical, Hair. She was also signed to Parrot Records, a subsidiary of Decca, issuing her debut I Can Remember Everything in 1968. A year later, she released her follow-up, See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me which similarly to her previous album failed to receive any credit.

Unsatisfied with her record company, she signed with Reprise, a division of Warner Brothers and released Jennifer in 1972. The album's disappointing performance led Warnes to join Leonard Cohen on his European tour as a back-up singer. She eventually recorded guest vocals for several of his albums, Live Songs, Various Positions, I'm Your Man, and The Future. Warnes credits Cohen for having a significant influence on her career. With Arista Records in 1977, she scored her first hit with "Right Time of the Night" off of her self-titled album which peaked at number one on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles chart. Shot Through the Heart followed in 1979 featuring the popular single "I Know a Heartache When I See One" which became a Top Ten country hit. In 1982, she issued her first greatest hits compilation, The Best of Jennifer Warnes.

Meanwhile, Warnes immersed in what would become a continuous streak of successful movie theme songs starting with the Academy Award winning "It Goes Like It Goes" from the film Norma Rae in 1979, and "One More Hour" from Ragtime which followed in 1981. In 1982 her duet with Joe Cocker, "Up Where We Belong" from An Officer and a Gentleman, became a number one hit, was certified platinum, and won a Grammy Award for Best Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocal. She later released "Nights Are Forever" which was featured in Twilight Zone in 1983 and collaborated with Chris Thompson in 1986 on the theme song for the film All The Right Moves. The famous Dirty Dancing duet with Bill Medley "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" was released in 1987 topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number one and later earned a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, as well as an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Jennifer's sixth album, Famous Blue Raincoat, was issued in 1987. The album, a tribute to Leonard Cohen, covered many of his songs throughout his career. The Hunter followed in 1992 and her most recent studio album, The Well, was released in 2001.