American actress and singer Jennifer Love Hewitt has recorded songs for four studio albums as well as a number of soundtracks and other projects. Hewitt first rose to prominence in the entertainment industry for acting in television commercials and the children's television series Kids Incorporated . [1] [2] At age 10, she moved with her mother from Killeen, Texas to Los Angeles to pursue a music career, [3] and collaborated with Earth, Wind & Fire on the song "One World" for the 1990 compilation album Music Speaks Louder Than Words . [4] Two years later, Hewitt recorded her first studio album Love Songs (1992) [2] [5] under the name "Love Hewitt". [6] The video game company Meldac released Love Songs exclusively in Japan, and it includes cover versions of songs by ABBA and Michael Jackson. [2] Prior to the album's release, Hewitt released the stand-alone cover of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" earlier in 1990. [7] According to a 2013 Rolling Stone article, Love Songs led to Hewitt becoming a pop star in Japan. [2]
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After Hewitt attracted further attention following her role in the family drama Party of Five , she released two studio albums in the United States through Atlantic. [2] [5] Let's Go Bang (1995) featured dance-pop and "light R&B", [2] and her self-titled album (1996) had R&B-inspired pop music and adult contemporary music with lyrics about "love, loss, and longing". [8] Following the two albums' poor sales, Hewitt was dropped by Atlantic [9] and went on to act in several films and television programs. [2] As well as starring in the 1998 slasher film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer , she recorded the 1999 single "How Do I Deal" for its soundtrack, [1] which became the best-selling song of her career. [9] In 2002, Hewitt signed a record contract with Jive, [1] and her fourth studio album BareNaked was released in October that year. [10] Recording "rock-oriented" songs, [2] Hewitt collaborated with Meredith Brooks for the album. [8] Hewitt said that she had more creative freedom with BareNaked since she was "able to find [her]self as an artist". [3] She co-wrote nine of the album's thirteen songs and was involved with its arrangements and instrumentation. [3] [10]
In 2002, Hewitt wrote and recorded "I'm Gonna Love You (Madellaine's Love Song)" for the animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame II , in which she also voiced the character Madellaine. [2] She appeared in the 2004 television film A Christmas Carol, an adaptation of the original novella, [11] and contributed to its soundtrack. [12] Despite finding commercial success with BareNaked, Hewitt shifted away from music in 2004 to focus on her acting career, including the lead role in the supernatural television show Ghost Whisperer . [2] [13] Her final record was the compilation album, Cool with You: The Platinum Collection, released in Asia in June 2006. [5] [14] In 2013, she recorded five songs for the television drama The Client List, in which she starred as the lead character. [15] [16] The same year, she collaborated with Sophie B. Hawkins for a song for the comedy film Alpha Males Experiment. [17] In 2024, Hewitt released a cover of Kenny Rogers's and Dolly Parton's "Islands in the Stream" after it was featured on 9-1-1, a show in which she plays a lead role. [18]
