In Mr. Holland's Opus, who sang for Rowena?

In the film Mr. Holland’s Opus, the actor Richard Dreyfuss plays a high school music teacher named Glenn Holland. The actress Jean Louisa Kelly plays a character named Rowena Morgan, one of Mr. Holland’s students.

In the course of the film Rowena sings the song Someone to Watch Over Me.

But the soundtrack album credits the song to Julia Fordham:

Link one
Link two

I guess the implication is that we never heard Jean Louisa Kelly singing the song in the film; she was just lip-synched to the recording of Julia Fordham.

Is that right?

Best Answer

According to the IMDb Trivia

Jean Louisa Kelly, who plays Rowena, did all her own singing & dancing she is in fact a trained singer, dancer, and actress. In addition to movies she has done a number of stage productions including playing Snow White, the understudy for Rapunzel, and Little Red Riding Hood in the original Broadway production of Into the Woods.

I haven't been able to discover why her version wasn't included on the soundtrack album. However, after reading some of the reviews for the album you linked to it appears that several people feel this is not the movie version of several of the songs.

I'll keep looking for the reason why Jean Louisa Kelly's version isn't on the soundtrack. In the meanwhile you can find it at the bottom of her page here.