Jennifer Rush
| Jennifer Rush | |
|---|---|
 Rush performing in 1988. | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Heidi Stern |
| Born | September 28, 1960 |
| Origin | Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Genres |
Pop, dance-rock[1] pop rock, adult contemporary |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocalist |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | Affiliations with: CBS Songs, Sony Records, CBS, Columbia EMI – EMI Publishing, Virgin Records, Rockbird Music (owned by Ms. Rush) |
| Associated acts | Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion |
| Website | Official website |
Jennifer Rush (born Heidi Stern, September 28, 1960) is an American pop singer best known for the million-selling single "The Power of Love", which she co-wrote. She achieved success in the mid 1980s, mainly throughout Europe, Latin America and South Africa with a number of hit singles and albums.
Early life
Rush was born in the neighborhood of Astoria in Queens, New York and has two elder brothers. Her father is the operatic tenor, voice teacher and sculptor Maurice Stern. Her parents divorced and she and her brothers lived with her mother until Rush was a toddler, and then with her father and his second wife in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Rush studied violin at the Juilliard School and also learnt to play the piano, but did not enjoy these instruments and instead took to playing the guitar in private.[2] When Rush was nine the family moved to Germany, but returned to the US when she was a teenager.[3] She also lived for a time in Seattle when her father was a professor of voice at the University of Washington.[2]
Career
Rush's first album Heidi Stern was released in 1979 locally in Seattle, Washington. After meeting singer, songwriter and producer Gene McDaniels in Seattle, Washington, Rush flew to LA to record demo songs with him. Rush credits McDaniels as being her first and most influential mentor as a songwriter and singer. In 1982, following Gene McDaniels' persistence Rush moved to Wiesbaden, Germany, where her father was engaged as an opera singer. As musicians, both her father and McDaniels were aware Germany had been very welcoming to female singers. Although Rush is not of German heritage, she did speak some German, having spent part of her early childhood in Germany.
Rush continues to be a prolific songwriter and has co-written many of the songs on her albums, with her producers most notably Desmond Child, Phil Ramone, Michael J. Powell, Barry Eastmond, Christopher O'Neil and Diane Warren.
She scored hits as a singer throughout Europe, Africa and Asia with songs "25 Lovers", "Flames of Paradise" (duet with Elton John) "Til I Loved You" (duet with Placido Domingo) "Who Wants To Live Forever" (duet with Brian May from Queen) "Same Heart" (duet with Michael Bolton) "Amigos Para Siempre" (duet with Jose Carreras) "Ring of Ice", "Destiny", "If You're Ever Gonna Lose My Love", "I Come Undone" and "Madonna's Eyes."
Rush's parents met when they were both students at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. She dedicated her first album release to her mother, "In Memory of Barbara", who had died from cancer before its release and multi-million sales worldwide. Her older brothers are both musicians: Bobby Stern (a saxophonist) and Stephen Stern aka Stevie Blue (guitarist/singer/songwriter). In 2010, Rush revealed that she adopted her artist name "Jennifer" at the insistence of her first publishing/recording company, CBS Songs, the publishing unit of CBS Germany, with whom she signed her first contracts. At the very beginning of her career she wanted to concentrate only on her songwriting, not on singing. It was the co-written single "The Power of Love" (the fifth and last single release from her first LP) that became the biggest selling single of 1985 in the United Kingdom, (as well as becoming a significant hit in Australia, Ireland, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, South Africa and Sweden), and was listed in the Guinness Book Of World Records as "the best-selling single by a female solo artist in the history of the British music industry". "The Power of Love" held that status until 1992, when it was outsold by Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You", which was later itself overtaken by Cher's "Believe".
"The Power of Love" topped the charts for more than eight weeks in Australia, South Africa and numerous European countries. number one in several countries, Rush's version reached only number 57 in the United States Billboard Hot 100 chart. After several cover versions by other artists, the Celine Dion version made a U.S. chart impact in 1994.
Rush remains successful singing in both English and Spanish, where her next two albums reached number 1 for 14 weeks and 9 weeks respectively. In the UK, however, her chart career saw only a few sporadic bursts of success, but she did manage three top 50 albums. It was Rush's 1987 album Heart over Mind, featuring compositions by Desmond Child and Michael Bolton and Diane Warren and also guitar work from Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi), that finally brought her Top 40 success in her home country, with the Elton John duet "Flames of Paradise". She also recorded duets with Michael Bolton, Plácido Domingo and Brian May.
Rush built her success through the 1990s releasing four albums, the last being 1998's Classics (along with new songs, and also re-recording her biggest hits with the Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra). After that she took some time off in New York, dedicating time to her daughter, who was born in 1993. She has recently publicly acknowledged being known as a songwriter and not a singer in New York City allowed her to raise her daughter in what she considered a more stable environment than she was raised. Allowing her to still travel and perform, but the admitted luxury of songwriting with colleagues based on the East Coast and available to her daughter as a single mom. A series of greatest hits compilation albums followed in the new millennium.
She released a boxed set Stronghold – The Collector's Hit Box in August 2007. This compilation included all Rush singles from 1982 to 1991 (with her first record company), and in their "extended versions", as available. It also included all the B-sides and other rare or unreleased tracks (among them four James Bond theme songs, recorded live in 1984 and only released in a very limited edition by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra).
In March 6, 2009, she announced on her official website that she had signed a worldwide recording contract with Sony Music/Ariola for only one album, "Now Is The Hour" which was released in 2010. This meant a return to the recording label where she made her international breakthrough in the 1980s and released the first five studio albums of her career. Now Is the Hour, was released on March 5, 2010 in most of Europe,[4] and on March 8, 2010 in the UK.[5] It was her first solo album not containing any of her own compositions in 10 years.
In June – October 2015 Rush was in South Africa doing extensive recording, radio, and TV appearances most notably being a mentor and guest artist singing two songs live on Idols South Africa October 4, 2015.
Rush has been writing and collaborating on songs for current and future releases for other artists and her own releases. She is in negotiations and will co-partner to release solely on social media platforms in 2016 via South Africa.
Discography
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [6] |
US [7] |
GER [8] |
NOR [7] |
SWE [7] |
SWI [7] |
AUT [9] |
FRA [9] |
NLD [9] | |||
| 1982 | "Tonight" (as Heidi Stern) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album track |
| 1983 | "Into My Dreams" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7 | — | Jennifer Rush |
| "Come Give Me Your Hand" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1984 | "25 Lovers" | — | — | 25 | — | — | — | — | 9 | — | |
| "Ring of Ice" | 14 | — | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1985 | "The Power of Love" | 1 | 57 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 32 | 4 | |
| "Destiny" | 96 | — | 4 | — | — | 5 | 5 | — | 23 | Movin' | |
| 1986 | "Madonna's Eyes" | 84 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5 | — | Jennifer Rush |
| "If You're Ever Gonna Lose My Love" | — | — | 24 | — | — | — | 15 | — | — | Movin' | |
| "The Power of Love (Remix)" | 55 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album track | |
| 1987 | "I Come Undone" | 94 | — | 11 | — | — | 9 | 28 | — | — | Heart Over Mind |
| "Flames of Paradise" (Duet with Elton John) |
59 | 36 | 8 | — | — | 7 | — | — | — | ||
| "Heart Over Mind" | — | — | 25 | — | — | 29 | 24 | 9 | — | ||
| 1988 | "Another Way" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album track |
| "You're My One and Only" | 90 | — | 27 | — | — | 21 | — | 3 | — | Passion | |
| 1989 | "Keep All the Fires Burning Bright" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Love Get Ready" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Till I Loved You" (Duet with Plácido Domingo) |
24 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Goya: A Life in Song | |
| "Higher Ground" | 98 | — | 54 | — | — | — | 27 | — | — | Wings of Desire | |
| 1990 | "Wings of Desire" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "We Are the Strong" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album track | |
| 1991 | "Ave Maria (Survivors of a Different Kind)" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | The Power of Jennifer Rush |
| 1992 | "Never Say Never" | — | — | 46 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Jennifer Rush (1992) |
| 1993 | "Vision of You" | — | — | 56 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "A Broken Heart" | — | — | 90 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1995 | "Tears in the Rain" | — | — | 45 | — | — | 26 | — | — | — | Out of My Hands |
| "Out of My Hands" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Das Farbenspiel des Winds" (Pocahontas' "The Colours of the Wind") |
— | — | 80 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Pocahontas | |
| 1997 | "Credo" | — | — | 75 | — | — | — | 32 | — | — | Credo |
| "Sweet Thing" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1998 | "The End of a Journey" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Classics |
| 1999 | "Ring of Ice" (Classics version) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2010 | "Before the Dawn" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Now Is the Hour |
| "Echoes Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
NOTES:
- "—" denotes releases that did not chart or that no info is known, or that the album was not released on that market.
- "The Power of Love" also reached no.1 in Australia, Ireland, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand.
- "Who Wants to Live Forever" (duet with Brian May) was released as a promo-single in 1995.
- "Piano in the Dark" was released as a promo-single in 1997.
Albums
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [6] |
US | GER | NOR | SWE | SWI | AUT | GRE | ||
| 1979 | Heidi (as Heidi Stern) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1984 | Jennifer Rush * | 7 | – | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | – |
| 1985 | Movin' * | 32 | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | – |
| 1987 | Heart Over Mind | 48 | 118 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 9 | – |
| 1988 | Passion | – | – | 3 | – | 10 | 4 | 24 | – |
| 1989 | Wings of Desire | – | – | 12 | – | 18 | 13 | – | – |
| 1991 | The Power of Jennifer Rush | – | – | 40 | – | – | 34 | 37 | – |
| 1992 | Jennifer Rush | – | – | – | – | – | 38 | – | – |
| 1995 | Out of My Hands | – | – | 15 | – | – | 28 | 30 | – |
| 1997 | Credo | – | – | 26 | – | – | – | 37 | – |
| 1998 | Classics | – | – | 34 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2007 | Stronghold - The Collector's Hit Box | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2010 | Now Is the Hour | – | – | 21 | – | – | 61 | 51 | 6 |
NOTES:
- "—" denotes releases that did not chart or that no info is known, or that the album was not released on that market.
- * In some countries the Jennifer Rush debut album was a cross section of Jennifer Rush and Movin', either titled Jennifer Rush (Canada,[12] German Democratic Republic) or Movin' (Venezuela).
DVDs
- The Power of Love – The Complete Video Collection (2004)
References
- ↑ Allmusic.com Artist Biography
- 1 2 Arena, James (2015). My History Books on Google Play Stars of 80s Dance Pop – The European Edition. AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781496962287.
- ↑ Demalon, Tom. "Jennifer Rush". billboard. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
- ↑ Official website; accessed April 8, 2015.
- ↑ Profile, Amazon.co.uk; accessed April 8, 2015.
- 1 2 Chartstats.com – UK Chart details
- 1 2 3 4 Arcor.de – Release dates
- ↑ German Chart details
- 1 2 3 Tsort.info – Selected Chart positions
- ↑ Official website – Album releases
- ↑ Official website – Compilations
- ↑ Canadian debut album at Discogs (list of releases)