"It's not that I am a particular fan, " laughs the 14-year-old musical prodigy from Cheadle Hulme, who shot to fame in 2002 as the youngest ever winner of the BBC Young Musician competition.
"I would just like other girls to know that he is a really nice guy!"
The prized-by-many signature was the result of sharing the stage at the CBBC's Proms In The Park with the pop star in 2002 following her televised win playing the Mendelssohn violin concerto, but her real pride is reserved for the later names in her book - violin virtuoso Maxim Vengerov and percussionist Evelyn Glennie.
These are just a two of a glittering constellation of musicians with whom the Chetham's School pupil has had contact since her win against other finalists several years her senior playing with the London Symphony Orchestra in the concerto final conducted by Sir Colin Davis in the Barbican.
"I still can hardly believe it," says Jennifer, currently in the middle of a run of concerts playing the Bruch Concerto with Manchester Camerata - culminating tomorrow night at the Bridgewater Hall, under the baton of Douglas Boyd.
She has already done a series with the Camerata, playing Mozart's 4th Concerto and bubbles over with enthusiasm at the prospect of working with Boyd: "He discusses the interpretation with me beforehand. Some people think `Oh, here's this little girl!' and make you play it their way."
The fact is, she is not a little girl. Musicians who have worked with her talk about "maturity beyond her years", "a real stage presence", "thoughtful interpretations" and "amazing self-discipline". Two years in the spotlight has been a steep learning curve - for Jennifer's family as well as for herself.
She lives with her Polish mother, Teresa, her father Jeremy, head of composition at Chetham's School, and her 17-year-old sister, Alexandra, in a modest detached house in Cheadle Hulme.
Now the whole family has had to accept that life must to some extent revolve round the development of this potentially extraordinary talent. They have seen it coming.
Chetham's
Jennifer started the violin before her fifth birthday, went to Chetham's in 1998, gained her Grade 8 violin with distinction when she was nine, gave her first full evening's public recital at the age of 10 as well as making her concerto debut. At 11, she played as soloist with the Hall'.
The same year that she triumphed in the BBC Young Musician final, she was the youngest major prizewinner (fourth place) in the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition in France. It helps that Jeremy himself is a musician.
He accompanies her at the piano in many of her concerts, acts as her escort-cum-accompanist in recitals, fights her corner for flexibility in the schedule at Chetham's and has also written several pieces of music for her, two of which (Aphelion and Praesagium) she played in various rounds of the BBC competition.
Recently she started going for lessons every 10 days with internationally-known David Takeno in London. Teresa and Jeremy take turns accompanying her on the train.
This is a girl totally immersed in music, whose idol is the late violin virtuoso, Jasha Heifitz, and who admits to using her ruler in maths lessons for surreptitious violin fingering practice. She is excited at the prospect of playing live on the BBC on May 2 during the adjudication of BBC Young Musician 2004.
But alongside the focused performer, there is also the teenager who is thrilled by the silk dresses she needs for her performances, who has a lucky mascot cat called Kitty in her violin case and who nicknamed the Stradivarius she was loaned for the BBC Young Musician final, Tiddles.
"I always give my violin a name," she giggles. "My violin is my best friend. One of the previous ones was called Fudge." She is currently struggling to find a name for her present instrument - a 1708 violin made by the Venetian Matteo Goffriller, loaned to her by the Saba Young Musicians Trust.
There is nothing pushy about her parents - they just want to keep life as normal as possible while Jennifer's playing rockets ahead. Within the next couple of years, they know she could be studying full-time in Paris or America. Where is the money going to come from to fund her studies, and to buy her a violin of her own?
When Jennifer Pike won the BBC Young Musician competition in 2002, many said she should have left it until she was younger to benefit, but her father disagrees: "She has had such a head start. The one big thing that we have had to watch is that the expectations of her are not too great. You have to let her play like a 14-year-old otherwise it takes all the fun out of performing."
Jennifer Pike performs with Manchester Camerata at the Bridgewater Hall on Saturday, February 14. Tickets are £6.50-£26 - to book, call 0161 907 9000 or visit the venue's website below.
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