Jennifer Rush (born Heidi Stern, September 28, 1960) is a German
pop/
rock singer, best known for the million-selling
single "
The Power of Love", which she co-wrote and which went on to be covered by
Air Supply,
Laura Branigan and
Celine Dion.
It was in
Flensburg, Germany, that she discovered her passion for music. She recorded her first album
Heidi Stern in 1979, but it did not get much attention. Trying to establish her career as a singer, in 1982, she moved to
Wiesbaden, Germany, with her father
Maurice Stern, an opera singer. Over the next several years she scored
hits around Europe with songs "25 Lovers", "Flames of Paradise", "Ring of Ice", "Destiny", "If You're Ever Gonna Lose My Love", "I Come Undone" and "Madonna's Eyes".
Jennifer's mother Barbara was a pianist, and her brothers are musicians Bobby Stern and Stephen Stern. In 2010, Jennifer revealed that she adopted her artist name "Jennifer" upon the insistence of her record company,
CBS, who felt Heidi did not sound 'international' enough.
Her single "
The Power Of Love" was the biggest selling single of 1985 in the United Kingdom, (as well as becoming a significant hit in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, South Africa and Sweden) and was listed in the
Guinness Book Of Records as "the best-selling single by a female solo artist in the history of the British music industry". It held that status until 1992, when it was outsold by
Whitney Houston's "
I Will Always Love You". "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 remained successful in Europe and notably in Germany 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 did manage three top 50 albums. Part of the reason she didn't have much more success in the UK was because of the lack of promotion she got, also she found it hard to emulate the same level of success as her first release. It was Rush's 1987 album
Heart over Mind, featuring compositions by
Desmond Child and
Michael Bolton and 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.
While she continued to achieve platinum and multi-platinum sales of albums and singles in both English and Spanish, recognition eluded her in her home country. Rush built on her success through the 1990s in Europe (again, especially in Germany), releasing four albums, the last being 1998's
Classics (along with new songs, 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. 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 2006 she moved to London with her daughter. On March 6, 2009 Rush announced on her official website that she had signed a worldwide
recording contract with Sony Music/Ariola. 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, produced by Berlin-based producer team Valicon, was released on March 5, 2010 in most of Europe,
and on March 8, 2010 in the UK.
It was her first album with completely new material in thirteen years.
In 2013 Jennifer made a
concert hall tour of
South Africa and also performed on several TV- and radio channels in the same country.
