Jennifer Rush

Jennifer Rush
Rush performing in 1988.
Background information
Birth name	Heidi Stern
Born	(1960-09-28) September 28, 1960 (age 56)
Origin	Queens, New York, U.S.
Genres	Pop, dance-rock 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.

Rush was born in the neighborhood of Astoria in Queens, New York to an East European Jewish family 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. When Rush was nine the family moved to Germany, but returned to the US when she was a teenager. She also lived for a time in Seattle when her father was a professor of voice at the University of Washington.

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 Neil and Diane Warren.