February 21: Jennifer Love Hewitt - "Party of Five," "Ghost Whisperer" & "BareNaked"- is 34-years-old today.

-----

Jennifer Love Hewitt was born on February 21, 1979 in Waco, Texas. At 10, Jennifer Love Hewitt won the title of Texas Our Little Miss Talent Winner. Ultimately, she moved to the city Los Angeles in hopes of becoming a professional actress and singer. Soon after, Hewitt was one of the back-up singers in Martika's number-one single, "Toy Soldiers" in 1989.

In 1991, Meldac funded the recording of Hewitt’s first album Love Songs, when she was just 12. The album was only released in Japan in 1992 where Hewitt became a pop star.

As an actress, Hewitt began her acting career as a child by appearing in television commercials and the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated. Jennifer appeared in a live action video dance "Workout With Barbie" released by Buena Vista. In 1993, she was seen in Running Wilde playing Pierce Brosnan’s daughter. She next appeared on Shaky Ground, The Byrds of Paradise, McKenna and Sarah Reeves on the TV hit,  Party of Five. She reprised the role of Sarah Reeves on Party of Five spin off Time of Your Life.

In 1992, Hewitt made her appearance on big screen in the movie Munchie. In 1997, she appeared as a leading character in the horror movie I Know What You Did Last Summer, and the sequel the following year, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Her other movie credits include: - Can’t Hardly Wait, and Heartbreakers. In 2000, Hewitt was seen in The Audrey Hepburn Story.

After she joined the cast of Party of Five, she signed to Atlantic Records, who released her second album, Let's Go Bang in 1995. The album and its three singles failed to chart. The following year, she recorded her follow-up album, Jennifer Love Hewitt. The album, along with its four singles, failed to chart and Atlantic dropped Hewitt, who did not return to the music scene for three years.

Then she recorded the single "How Do I Deal" in 1999. The song became Hewitt's first charting single, climbing to No. 59 on the Hot 100 and No. 36 on the Top 40 Mainstream. It reached No. 8 in Australia. Hewitt also recorded a cover of the Gloria Gaynor song "I Will Survive." Also in 1999, she appeared in the LFO video for "Girl on TV" which was written for her by a member of the band.

Two years later, she appeared in the music video for the Enrique Iglesias song, "Hero" as the singer's love interest.

In 2002, Hewitt signed to Jive Records and recorded her fourth album, Bare Naked, with singer, songwriter and producer Meredith Brooks.




The first single, "BareNaked" became her biggest radio hit to date when it peaked at No. 24 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, No. 31 on the Adult Top 40 and No. 25 on the Top 40 Mainstream.

It climbed to No. 6 in Australia, and reached No. 33 in the Netherlands. The song later featured in two episodes of her TV show, Ghost Whisperer.

The moderate success of the single propelled the album to peak at No. 37 on the Billboard 200 and No. 31 in Australia. The second single, "Can I Go Now" failed to chart in the US, while managing to peak at No. 8 in the Netherlands and No. 12 in Australia.

Since 2004, Hewitt has remained inactive from the music industry, but the compilation album Cool with You: The Platinum Collection was released in Asia in 2006. Another compilation, Hey Everybody was released in Brazil in 2007.

In 2009, reports surfaced that Hewitt was planning on making a country album and was in the process of writing material for it. To date, nothing has of yet come of the reports and Hewitt has remained absent from the music scene.

In 2012, she has had a recurring role in the television series Hot in Cleveland, and a lead role in The Client List.




####