Amy Grant

Amy Grant occupies a prominent place among contemporary Christian performers, thanks to her sincere approach and comforting vocal tone. She became the initial artist focused on inspirational material to gain a foothold in mainstream pop circles. Arriving as a teenager during the mid-1970s, when faith-oriented recordings occupied only a modest niche, Grant issued her seventh studio project, the Grammy-winning Unguarded, in 1985. Marketed simultaneously to secular listeners and her core Christian audience, this release helped gospel music surpass jazz and classical in U.S. sales share. She thereby became the first musician rooted in faith traditions to reach platinum status. This milestone stemmed partly from her blend of pop-chart production standards with heartfelt yet often open-ended lyrics, paired with full-scale pop and rock staging for live shows. That strategy carried her to the summit of the Hot 100 in 1991 via the single “Baby Baby,” drawn from the Top Ten album Heart in Motion. After her eleventh studio effort, 1997’s Behind the Eyes, achieved a personal peak at number eight on the Billboard 200, Grant shifted back toward explicitly devotional material with 2002’s Legacy…Hymns & Faith, which nevertheless reached the Top 30. She earned her sixth career Grammy for the similar 2005 project Rock of Ages…Hymns & Faith. More than thirty years into her recording tenure, she placed at number 12 on the Billboard 200 with 2013’s How Mercy Looks from Here, while the 2016 holiday set Tennessee Christmas marked her fifteenth title to lead the Christian albums chart. Following several duet singles with Michael W. Smith, Dion, and additional partners, she became the first Christian artist awarded a Kennedy Center Honor in 2022. Grant reemerged in 2023 with the reflective solo single “Trees We’ll Never See.”

Born November 25, 1960, in Augusta, Georgia, during her father Dr. Burton Paine Grant’s medical residency, Amy Lee Grant descended from one of Nashville, Tennessee’s most established and affluent lineages. Her great-grandfather Andrew Mizell Burton had built wealth as an insurance executive and philanthropist. She arrived as the youngest daughter to her mother Gloria Grant and her father, after sisters Mimi, Kathy, and Carol. The household relocated briefly to Houston, Texas, in 1961 before settling permanently in Nashville. Beyond their social and financial standing, the Grants adhered devoutly to the Church of Christ, a strict Protestant denomination that prohibited musical instruments during services, requiring a cappella hymn singing. Nevertheless, Grant received permission to start piano lessons at age ten. While attending seventh grade at the private Ensworth grammar school, she took up the guitar. Although baptized in the Church of Christ, she soon joined her sister Mimi at the more informal Belmont Church of Christ, aligned with the Charismatic movement.

During her time at the private girls’ preparatory school Harpeth Hall, Grant performed with guitar at devotional gatherings, interpreting material by James Taylor, Carole King, and John Denver. Because those artists avoided religious themes, she supplemented her sets with original Christian-themed songs. While interning at a recording studio, she created a demo tape for her parents that reached producer Brown Bannister. He shared it with gospel singer Chris Christian, recently engaged by Word Records as a talent scout. Christian presented the tape to Word, which offered Grant a contract while she remained in her mid-teens.

Her self-titled debut appeared on Word’s Myrrh Records imprint in 1977. It moved 50,000 units in the first year, considered strong for a Christian release then. Tracks “Old Man’s Rubble” (by Bannister), “What a Difference You’ve Made in My Life” (by Archie Jordan), and “Beautiful Music” (by Lanier Ferguson) each reached the Top Ten on Christian radio. Grant finished high school in spring 1978 and launched national concerts that summer. Initially limited to two weekends monthly while balancing college, she enrolled at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, that September.

My Father’s Eyes, her second album, arrived in April 1979. Gary Chapman, an emerging Christian songwriter, penned the ballad “Father’s Eyes,” which conveyed a subtle spiritual message rather than overt devotional content. Positive in tone and touching on Christian ideas yet accessible in nearly secular terms, it contrasted with the more explicitly religious “Faith Walkin’ People,” also a Top Ten Christian-radio performer. “Father’s Eyes” drove the album’s sales, eventually earning gold certification by 1987. In the nearer term, My Father’s Eyes secured Grant’s first nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary or Inspirational.

She maintained focus on academics while continuing to perform and record. Never Alone (1980), her third album, featured mostly collaborative writing among Grant, Chris Christian, Bannister, and Chapman. “Look What Has Happened to Me” became a Top Ten Christian-radio hit, though the set sold less than its predecessor despite earning her a second Grammy nomination in the same category. She toured with Chapman opening during summer 1980, then paused college for a semester to accept dates on the Billy Graham Crusade and as opener for the Bill Gaither Trio.

Rather than returning to Furman, she registered at Vanderbilt University in Nashville for spring 1981. Before that term, she undertook her first national headlining tour of 40 dates beginning in February, supported by the Christian rock band DeGarmo & Key. Several concerts were captured for Myrrh’s two live albums: In Concert in May and In Concert, Vol. 2 in November. Christian radio elevated “Singing a Love Song” (by Jim Weber) from the first and “I’m Gonna Fly” from the second to Top Ten status, while In Concert brought Grant her third Grammy nomination for Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary or Inspirational.

Spring 1982 marked a pivotal juncture. Unable to reconcile studies with performing and recording demands, Grant left Vanderbilt twenty credits short of graduation. She had accepted Chapman’s proposal and wed him on June 19. Momentum built with the April arrival of her fourth studio album, Age to Age, her genuine breakthrough and a test of gospel’s commercial ceiling. Christian radio yielded three Top Ten hits, led by the number-one “Sing Your Praise to the Lord” (by Rich Mullins), followed by “El Shaddai” (by Michael Card and John Thompson) and “In a Little While.” The album entered Billboard’s Inspirational chart in July, climbed to number one, and remained there for 85 weeks. It earned Grant her first Grammy for Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary, plus Dove Awards for Gospel Artist of the Year and Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year; “El Shaddai” received Gospel Song of the Year. In November 1983 Age to Age became the first solo-artist gospel album certified gold, reaching platinum by June 1985. Myrrh issued a medley EP in spring 1983; “Ageless Medley” hit the Christian-radio Top Ten and won Grant her second Grammy, for Best Gospel Performance, Female.

Age to Age elevated Grant to gospel superstardom. Managers Michael Blanton and Dan Harrell then explored expansion beyond the genre. In summer 1983 they sent her to Colorado’s Caribou Ranch—used by Chicago and Elton John—to cut a holiday album. The modestly titled A Christmas Album appeared in October. Christian radio sent keyboardist Michael W. Smith’s “Emmanuel” to Top 20 status, while the set peaked at number four on Billboard’s Inspirational chart. It became a perennial seller, certified gold in November 1985 and platinum four years later. While preparing her next release, Blanton and Harrell booked Grant beyond typical gospel venues. In December 1983 she sold out two dates at Los Angeles’ Universal Amphitheatre.

Straight Ahead, her sixth studio album, surfaced in February 1984. Though it fell short of Age to Age commercially, it remained highly popular. It reached number one on Billboard’s Inspirational chart on March 31 and held the position for 61 weeks. Christian radio produced hits from “Angels” (number one), “Thy Word,” “Jehovah” (by Geoffrey P. Thurman), and “The Now and the Not Yet” (by Pam Mark Hall). “Angels” secured Grant’s third Grammy, for Best Gospel Performance, Female, and the album won the Dove for Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year. Blanton and Harrell persisted in widening her reach. In spring 1984 Grant co-starred with Paul Williams and Tom Wopat in the hour-long television special Story, Songs and Stars, modeled on Cinderella and featuring her video for the non-explicit “It’s Not a Song” from Straight Ahead. That summer she opened U.S. dates for country artist Kenny Rogers. By October she sold out two shows at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

These developments prepared the major crossover of 1985. Word Records arranged distribution through A&M, which reissued Straight Ahead just as Grant performed “Angels” at the Grammy Awards in February 1985. Consequently the year-old album entered the Billboard 200 in April and went gold in May. That same month her seventh studio album, Unguarded, launched simultaneously on Myrrh for Christian buyers and A&M for pop listeners. Overt religious messaging receded in favor of hopeful yet often ambiguous lyrics. Christian radio nevertheless championed five tracks: “Find a Way” (number one), “Wise Up” (by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Billy Simon), “Everywhere I Go” (by Mary Lee Kortes), “Sharayah,” and “Love of Another Kind.” A&M promotion placed “Find a Way” in the Hot 100 Top 30 and “Wise Up” as a minor pop entry; “Find a Way” also reached the adult-contemporary Top Ten, joined there by “Wise Up” and “Everywhere I Go.” An eighteen-month tour supported the set, which went gold in September 1985 and platinum in June 1986 after securing Grant’s fourth Grammy for Best Gospel Performance, Female, and the Dove for Artist of the Year.

While touring behind Unguarded, A&M and Myrrh issued the compilation The Collection in July 1986. It led the Inspirational chart for 29 weeks, earned gold in February 1987, and platinum in August 1989. Two new recordings appeared: “Stay for Awhile” and “Love Can Do,” both Top Ten Christian-radio performers, with “Stay for Awhile” hitting number one and the adult-contemporary Top 20. Grant received a Dove for Short Form Music Video of the Year. Her rising profile opened further collaborations. Producer Michael Omartian, known from Christian circles, asked her to duet with former Chicago vocalist Peter Cetera on “The Next Time I Fall” for Cetera’s Solitude/Solitaire. Released by Warner Bros. in June 1986, the single (credited to Peter Cetera with Amy Grant) followed in September. A stylish MTV video propelled it to number one on both adult-contemporary and pop charts in late 1986, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Simultaneously, the Christmas-minded Grant joined Art Garfunkel for the Jimmy Webb suite The Animals’ Christmas on Columbia in November; Garfunkel appeared with her on the NBC special Headin’ Home for the Holidays, broadcast in December (a home-video edition retitled Amy Grant’s Old Fashioned Christmas later went gold in 1992).

After finishing all commitments in December 1986, Grant announced her pregnancy and stepped back to prepare for motherhood. Matthew Garrison Chapman arrived September 25, 1987. She resumed activity with her eighth studio album of original material, Lead Me On, released June 1988. The project adopted a serious tone: the title track addressed slavery and the Holocaust in heightened poetic language, “Faithless Heart” examined adulterous temptation, and “What About the Love” (by Kye Fleming and Janis Ian) questioned preachers, brokers, and care facilities. Glossy pop production and impassioned vocals drew critical praise, yielding a fifth Grammy (her fourth for Best Gospel Performance, Female) and Dove Awards for Artist of the Year, Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year, and Short Form Music Video of the Year for “Lead Me On.” Christian radio embraced six tracks, including three number-one singles: “Saved by Love,” “Lead Me On,” and “What About the Love,” alongside “1974,” “Say Once More,” and “Faithless Heart.” The album shipped gold, topped the Inspirational chart for 36 weeks, and played to a million fans across 135 cities on a September 1988–March 1989 tour, yet underperformed commercially in the pop market. (In March 2002 CCM magazine’s reader poll named it the top Contemporary Christian Music album ever.)

At tour’s end Grant took another pregnancy leave. Her sole notable recording that year was a rendition of the hymn “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus” for Word’s various-artists project Our Hymns; she co-arranged the track, which shared a Dove for Country Recorded Song of the Year. Gloria Mills Chapman, known as Millie, was born December 18, 1989. A May 26, 1990, Billboard poll named Grant Gospel Artist of the Decade and Age to Age Album of the Decade. She would replicate that success in the 1990s, though largely by moving away from gospel conventions. Her ninth new studio album, Heart in Motion, favored light pop and rock over the gravity of Lead Me On. Released March 1991 with aggressive A&M promotion (later described by Grant as the label’s attempt to replace Janet Jackson after her move to Virgin), the campaign and a video portraying romantic pretense helped “Baby Baby”—actually written about her daughter—reach number one on the pop chart in April. That single earned Grammy nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Four additional Top 40 singles followed, each with videos, the first three also Top Ten: “Every Heartbeat,” “That’s What Love Is For,” “Good for Me,” and “I Will Remember You.” By late 1997 the album had sold five million copies; the Heart in Motion Video Collection went gold. The Christian market embraced it as well, with 32 weeks at number one on Billboard’s Top Contemporary Christian Albums chart and six radio singles.

Grant toured North America and Europe from July 1991 through March 1992. The next month she again received Artist of the Year at the Dove Awards and a Song of the Year Dove as co-writer of Michael W. Smith’s “Place in This World.” Another pregnancy leave followed, though she contributed a cover of Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” to the Honeymoon in Vegas soundtrack in August and recorded the seasonal Home for Christmas, issued October and quickly peaking at number two while going platinum. Sarah Cannon Chapman, named for Harpeth Hall alumna Minnie Pearl (Sarah Ophelia Colley), arrived October 11, 1992.

Following Heart in Motion’s triumph, Grant could pause before the next album yet pursued several projects in 1993. She lent her voice to two Rabbit Ears children’s spoken-word releases—The Gingham Dog & the Calico Cat (music by Chet Atkins) and The Creation (music by Béla Fleck)—and collaborated with Chapman on Songs from the Loft, a various-artists teen devotional collection that won the 1994 Dove for Praise and Worship Album of the Year. She then prepared her next studio set, House of Love, released August 1994. Patterned after Heart in Motion, it mixed romantic pop aimed at mainstream charts with spiritual material for Christian fans. Another multi-platinum success resulted, though sales fell below half those of its predecessor. “Lucky One” reached the Top 20, the title track (a duet with country star Vince Gill written by Wally Wilson, Kenny Greenberg, and Greg Barnhill and featured in Speechless) hit the Top 40, and a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” charted lower. The album led Billboard’s Contemporary Christian Albums chart for 12 weeks, while Christian radio supported five further tracks, two—“Children of the World” and “Helping Hand”—reaching number one. A yearlong tour concluded in September 1995. A month earlier Grant appeared on the various-artists My Utmost for His Highest, singing “Lover of My Soul,” earning a share of the 1996 Dove for Special Event Album of the Year.

In February 1996 she sang the 1976 10cc hit “The Things We Do for Love” for the Mr. Wrong soundtrack, which reached the adult-contemporary chart. That December she performed two sold-out Nashville Arena shows titled Amy Grant’s Tennessee Christmas, inaugurating an annual tradition. Otherwise she devoted 1996 and much of 1997 to her twelfth studio album, Behind the Eyes, released September 1997. Reviewers praised its return to early folk-rock textures and introspective lyrics. Observers also noted that Grant, attentive to pop trends, had abandoned dense synthesizers and programmed drums after hearing newcomers such as Sheryl Crow and Jewel. While she had long juxtaposed life’s hardships against spiritual solace, many listeners perceived hints of personal romantic strain in the new material.

The album debuted at a career-best number eight on the pop chart and went gold within three months as “Takes a Little Time” became a Top 40 pop and Top Ten adult-contemporary hit. “Like I Love You” also reached the adult-contemporary Top Ten, and “I Will Be Your Friend” (by Michelle Lewis, Dane DeVillier, and Sean Hosein) charted there as well. Behind the Eyes won a Dove for Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year.

Grant toured one month in fall 1997, four months beginning March 1998, and 22 cities on a Christmas trek in November–December 1998. Additional recordings included a duet with Kevin Costner on a cover of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice” for the December 1997 Postman soundtrack; a duet with Bryan White on “With These Hands” from the October 1998 various-artists Civil War: The Nashville Sessions; and “River Lullaby” for the December 1998 Prince of Egypt soundtrack.

Grant and Chapman announced their separation after more than sixteen years of marriage on December 30, 1998, finalizing divorce in June 1999. That month she collaborated with British Christian rock band Delirious? on “Find Me in the River” for the various-artists Streams, sharing the 2000 Dove for Special Event Album of the Year. In September 1999 she starred in the television film A Song from the Heart as a blind cellist. October brought her third seasonal album, A Christmas to Remember, which led the Contemporary Christian Albums chart for five weeks from November, reached the pop Top 40, and went gold; the accompanying television special aired concurrently.

On March 10, 2000, Grant married Vince Gill. Their daughter Corrina Grant Gill was born one year and two days later. In May 2002 she issued Legacy…Hymns & Faith, her first overtly religious project since crossing over, largely traditional repertoire with several originals. It topped the Contemporary Christian Albums chart and entered the pop chart at number 21. Grant, Gill, and Bannister received the 2003 Dove for Inspirational Album of the Year, while Grant and Gill won Country Recorded Song of the Year for Gill’s “The River’s Gonna Keep on Rolling.” She returned to pop with the secular Simple Things in August 2003, which led the Christian Albums chart and debuted at number 23 on the pop chart—the same position the title track reached on adult contemporary. She revisited her hitmaking era with Greatest Hits 198