Jennifer Judy "JJ" Heller (born October 19, 1980, '' née'' Kellner) is an American Christian

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

. After releasing multiple albums, she had two songs that charted. "Your Hands" from her 2008 album ''Painted Red'' and "What Love Really Means" from the album ''When I'm with You'' both peaked at number 13.

Career

Heller grew up in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

in a family with strong Christian values. She didn't listen to music much as a child. She attended high school at Valley Christian High School and then went on to attend college at San Jose Christian College (now

William Jessup University William Jessup University is a private Christian university in Rocklin, California, with an additional site in San Jose, California. The university had 1,743 students during the 2019–20 academic year, over 1650 being full-time equivalents. Foun ...

) and began writing songs in her second year. She joined a band which played at coffee shops in the area; the band included her future husband Dave Heller. He continues to collaborate with writing, recording and producing her works. Heller released multiple albums before she had her first chart appearance in 2009. Her song "Your Hands", from her album ''Painted Red'' hit number 13 on the ''Billboard''

Christian Songs Hot Christian Songs is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It ranks the popularity of Christian songs using the same methodology developed for the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the magazine's flagship songs c ...

chart. Heller released her next album ''When I'm with You'' in 2010 and it charted, peaking at number 33 on ''Billboard''s

Christian Albums Top Christian Albums is a weekly chart published in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the best-performing Christian albums in the United States. Like the ''Billboard'' 200, the data is compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly ...

. She released "What Love Really Means" as the first single from the album and it peaked at number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Singles chart. In 2011 she released her ''Deeper'' album, which is a collection of acoustic songs, which were put aside to allow her to release the more pop-oriented ''When I'm with You''. ''When I'm With You'' was covered by Jennifer Love Hewitt's character Riley Parks on Season 2 Episode 6 of ''

The Client List ''The Client List'' is an American television film that premiered on the Lifetime Network on July 19, 2010. It starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and was directed by Eric Laneuville. The film is a fictionalized dramatization of a 2004 prostitution scan ...

'' entitled "Unanswered Prayers". The shortened cover was released on iTunes on April 9, 2013. Heller released ''Loved'' on March 12, 2013. Her song "Control" was featured on Season 7 Episode 19 of ''One Tree Hill''.

Musical style

She credits

Damien Rice Damien George Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate success ...

and

Patty Griffin Patricia Jean Griffin (born March 16, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician.Griffin, Patrici She is a vocalist and plays guitar and piano. She is known for her stripped-down songwriting style in the folk music genre. Her songs ha ...

as influences to her style.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

describes her sound as being comparable with Jewel,

Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of 8 and recording for the first time at 14. She signed with ...

Sara Groves Sara Groves (born Sara Lee Colbaugh, September 10, 1972) is an American contemporary Christian singer, record producer, and author. Groves received her Bachelor of Science degree in history and English in 1994 from Evangel University, a private ...

and Griffin.

Discography

Albums

References:

Singles

References:

Guest appearances

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heller, JJ 1980 births Musicians from San Jose, California Living people American women singer-songwriters American performers of Christian music Singer-songwriters from California 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American women singers