Jennifer Patricia Morris (born 29 September 1956) is a New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter. Her first success came with New Zealand band the Crocodiles, who had a top 20 hit single with "Tears". Re-locating to Sydney in February 1981, she was a backing vocalist for various groups and formed a trio, QED, in 1983.
Morris provided backing vocals for INXS on their 1984 album, The Swing. She then recorded a duet with lead singer, Michael Hutchence, on a cover of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's hit "Jackson"; it was included as a bonus track on the March 1985 (cassette only) INXS EP, Dekadance, which reached number two on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart. Morris worked on their 1985–1986 Listen Like Thieves World Tour.
Her solo career includes top five Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) albums with Shiver in 1989 and Honeychild in 1991, and her top five ARIA singles are "She Has to Be Loved" and "Break in the Weather". These albums and singles also peaked in the top ten on the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) charts.
Morris has won the ARIA Award for Best Female Artist twice, in 1987 and 1988 and was nominated for the same award in 1992. In 2003, on Australia Day (26 January), Morris became an Australian citizen and in 2010 she received the Medal of the Order of Australia. Morris has played a significant role in shaping the Australian music industry through leadership and advocacy especially as board member and then chair of the board of APRA.
On 11 June 2026, Morris was inducted in the ARIA Hall of Fame.
Early life and education Jennifer Patricia Morris was born on 29 September 1956 in Tokoroa, New Zealand, and grew up in Hamilton with three brothers (Alistair, Rhys and Tam) and four sisters (Maxine, Bronte, Joanne and Shanley).
Morris wrote a poem on the Vietnam War when she was 12 and used her sister's guitar to put it to music.
Music career Early years and the Crocodiles
Morris has stated that her influences include Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield. Her first professional performance was at age fifteen, at Andersons Theatre Restaurant, in Hamilton. In 1976 she became a singer with How's Your Father, who were finalists in the 'National Battle of the Bands'. She began working as a Home Economics teacher for two years at a high school near Wellington. Late in 1978, Morris joined an all-girl group, Wide Mouthed Frogs in Wellington, performing lead vocals.McFarlane (1999). Encyclopedia entry for . Retrieved 4 January 2010. Fellow members were Kate Brockie on lead vocals, Andrea Gilkison on guitar, Tina Matthews on bass guitar, Bronwyn Murray on keyboards and Sally Zwartz on drums. In 1979 they released the track, "Some Day" for the compilation album, Home Grown Volume One; "Some Day" was cowritten with Tony Backhouse, guitarist of fellow Wellington band the Spats, which also had a track, "Young Ladies in Hot Cars", on the compilation.
Wide Mouthed Frogs worked with the Spats' members: drummer Bruno Lawrence sometimes played saxophone for them and keyboardist Peter Dasent became their musical director. By 1980, the Spats had evolved into the Crocodiles, under the mentorship of US producer Kim Fowley, and featured Backhouse, Dasent, Fane Flaws (guitar, vocals), Mark Hornibrook (bass guitar), Lawrence, and songwriter Arthur Baysting. Morris was asked to join and soon after, Hornibrook departed and was replaced by Matthews. The Crocodiles were managed by Mike Chunn (ex-Split Enz bassist) and regularly performed in Auckland. In January 1980, they played the high-profile Sweetwaters Music Festival and in April that year, they released their debut album, Tears, produced by Glyn Tucker, and its lead single, "Tears", both reached number 17 on the respective New Zealand albums and singles charts.
Lawrence left and was replaced on drums by Ian Gilroy (ex-Whizz Kids), then Flaws left, although he continued to write material for the second album. Released in November 1980, Looking at Ourselves, was produced by Ian Morris. That year, they won 'Best Group' and 'Most Promising Group' at the New Zealand Music Awards. The line-up went through further changes, Gilroy left to join the Swingers, then Matthews and Dasent left. In February 1981, following a repeat performance at the Sweetwaters Festival, The Crocodiles moved to Sydney, at the behest of their manager, Chunn, with new band members, Barton Price (drums), Rick 'Rikki' Morris (guitar) and Jonathan Zwartz (bass) only to disband in July. Price went on to join Models. Morris explained why The Crocodiles left:
QED and "Jackson"
Morris began her solo career with the single, "Puberty Blues" in December 1981 on Mushroom Records; it was the title track from the 1981 film Puberty Blues, which was a local box-office success. The song was written by Tim Finn and performed by Sharon O'Neill in the film. The B-side was "Adolescent Angst", which Morris recorded with The Morris Majors. "Puberty Blues" reached the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart top 100. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974. The follow-up single, "Little By Little"—a cover of The Springfields 1960's song—was released in 1982 but failed to chart.
During 1982–1984, Morris continued as a session backing vocalist, contributing to releases by ex-manager Chunn's brother Geoff (also ex-Split Enz); ex-bandmate Flaws' project and album, I Am Joe's Music; the 1983 Models' album The Pleasure of Your Company; and New Zealand outfit D.D. Smash's 1984 album The Optimist, she went on to tour with D.D. Smash front man Dave Dobbyn, and the New Zealand version of The Party Boys. Morris was credited for Dropbears' 1984 mini-LP, Untitled, before contributing backing vocals to INXS' first number 1 album The Swing.Spencer et al, (2007) Morris, Jenny entry. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
In late 1983, Morris formed QED in Sydney with guitarist Rex Goh (ex-Air Supply) and bassist Ian Belton (ex-Dave Dobbyn, Renée Geyer). The trio signed with EMI Australia and their recordings were produced by Mark Moffatt (The Saints, Mondo Rock, Tim Finn) and Ricky Fataar (Geyer, Finn, Kids in the Kitchen). Morris was now managed by Chris Murphy, who also handled INXS. QED recorded their versions of The Crocodiles' material including, "Everywhere I Go", "Animal Magic" and "You're So Hip"; Morris also co-wrote new songs with Goh. QED's debut single, "Everywhere I Go", was released in December, and performed on national television pop music show, Countdown, on 1 April 1984; it peaked at number 19 on the national chart. The follow-up single "Solo and More" was issued in March, but failed to chart. The third single, "This One", appeared in August and reached top 50. Additional musicians for QED's first album, Animal Magic, included keyboardist Amanda Vincent (Eurogliders, later joined the Jenny Morris band), drummer Steve Fearnly, saxophonist Tony Buchanan, and Fataar on drums. EMI released it in November, but sales remained low and the album did not chart. QED only released one album and disbanded by 1985, Morris continued session and touring work with other artists, Belton went on to Mondo Rock, and Goh to Eurogliders.
Morris recorded a duet with INXS lead singer, Michael Hutchence, on a cover of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's hit "Jackson", it was included as a bonus track on the April 1984 (cassette only) INXS EP, Dekadance, which reached number two on the charts. Morris and INXS performed "Jackson" live at the 1984 Countdown Music and Video Awards held on 19 May 1985. At Murphy's suggestion she teamed with INXS as a backing singer on their 1985 Australian tour—originally just for a few weeks—and stayed on for eighteen months on their 1985–1986 Listen Like Thieves World Tour. During her INXS-time, she shared a flat in Paddington with Hutchence and his partner at that time, producer Michele Bennett.
Morris recorded and, in November 1985, released her first single for Warner Entertainment Australia (WEA), "Get Some Humour", with a contribution from Dave Dobbyn, which reached the top 100.
Solo success: 1986–1994 During the US leg of the Listen Like Thieves World Tour, in January 1986, Morris recorded "You're Gonna Get Hurt", which was written and produced by INXS songwriter and keyboardist, Andrew Farriss. Recorded with backing from INXS' Andrew and Jon Farriss and Garry Gary Beers, together with guitarist Ian Moss (ex-Cold Chisel), it was released in September and peaked at number 24. The next single "Body and Soul"—composed by Morris—reached number 55 in mid-1987.
In 1986 she performed on The Rock Party's Everything to Live For, a charity project initiated by The National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NCADA), which included many Australasian musicians such as Big Pig's Sherine Abeyratne; Crowded House's Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Paul Hester, Eddie Rayner and Nick Seymour; Dynamic Hepnotics' Robert Susz; GANGgajang's Mark Callaghan, Robbie James and Geoff Stapleton; Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls' Michael Barclay and Paul Kelly; Mental As Anything's Reg Mombassa and Martin Plaza; Models' Sean Kelly; The Promise's Greg Herbert; Rockmelons' Mary Azzopardi, Peter Blakeley and Danny De Costa; The Venetians' Rick Swinn; Vitabeats' Andrew Barnum and Lissa Barnum; and Deborah Conway, Spencer P. Jones, and John Kennedy.
In July 1987, Morris released her first solo album, Body and Soul, produced by Moffatt and Fataar and mixed by Tim Kramer. It sold over 70,000 copies in Australia (platinum status) reaching number 13 on the album charts in Australia and number 21 in New Zealand. The album spawned two further hits in "You I Know"—written by Neil Finn—which reached number 13 in Australia and number 30 in New Zealand, and "Lighthearted" peaked in the top 100 in both countries. Morris also hit the road with her backing band, including Vincent, Jehan Lindsay (ex-Richard Clapton Band), Paul Burton (ex-Mark Williams Band), and Roger Mason (ex-Models). Morris won back-to-back ARIA Awards for 'Best Female Artist' in 1987 and 1988. In 1988, Morris and photographer, Paul Clarke, were married.
Her next single "Saved Me" was released in July 1989 and reached the top 40 in Australia and New Zealand. It featured a distinctly Latin-Spanish feel permeated by funk undertones, with the promo video shot in Nicaragua by Richard Lowenstein. Morris' second solo album Shiver, followed in August and was produced by Farriss, with Morris writing ten of the eleven tracks. In between recording the album, she gave birth to her son, Hugh. The second single was "She Has to Be Loved", a song which melded funk rhythms with a pop hook. In addition, it featured a strong feminist theme, and quickly became a favourite among Morris's female fans. "She Has to Be Loved" became Morris' first Australasian top ten hit reaching number five in Australia and number three in New Zealand during October 1989. Shiver continued to chart over the Southern Hemisphere summer of 1989–1990, peaking at number five on the Australian album charts and number six in New Zealand, it established Morris as one of the best selling female artists in Australia. The track "Aotearoa"—Māori term for 'Land of the Long White Cloud' or New Zealand—received a special single release in New Zealand and reached top 40. The album eventually sold over 250,000 copies, achieving double platinum status in Australia. It spawned two more singles; "Street of Love" written by Australian songsmith Paul Kelly, which reached the top 100 in Australia; and the reggae inspired "Self Deceiver", penned by Morris and Kelly, which reached top 100 in Australia.