Amy Grant
The late twentieth century saw contemporary Christian music grow from a niche devotional form into a genre capable of reaching mainstream popular audiences. Amy Grant, born on November 25, 1960, in Augusta, emerged as one of the central figures working across that boundary, performing both contemporary Christian music and pop music as a singer-songwriter and musician.
Grant was educated at The Ensworth School, Furman University, and Vanderbilt University. Her work as a singer carried her across two musical worlds, and she has been referred to as "The Queen of Christian Pop" — a title that reflects the particular space she occupied between religious and secular audiences. In 1999 she divorced Gary Chapman, whom she had previously married, and the following year she married musician Vince Gill.
The honors Grant received over the course of her career span several distinct institutions. She was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and received Covenant Awards, recognitions rooted in the Christian music community she had long been part of. Beyond that world, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a marker of her presence in mainstream American entertainment. The Kennedy Center Honors, among the most formal acknowledgments available to an American performing artist, were also bestowed upon her — a concrete measure of the regard in which her work as a singer and musician has been held.
Quotes by Amy Grant
Amy Grant's insights on:
I just think people should find the music that helps them through the day and enjoy that. I've never felt like, if somebody does or doesn't like what I'm doing, it's a morality issue.
I think that if my kids are completely convinced of God's unfailing love for them, whether they fail or not, they'll have confidence to persevere in life.
Since I travel so much, it’s always great to be home. There’s nothing like getting to raid my own refrigerator at two in the morning.
Depending on what day of the week it is and what time of the month it is, I’m a good friend or not a good friend. I’m more or less a good mom or not a good mom, more or less a good mate or not a good mate. That’s just life, whether or not you’re public.
You have to treat people gently because we’re all in a process. What might seem like a good idea to somebody at 21 is probably not going to seem like a good idea at 50, but you don’t know that until you get there.
The world my children are growing up in is so much more sophisticated and exposed – emotionally, intellectually, sexually.
I can look back at different times in my life when I felt I could not find my way out of whatever it was. I’m not necessarily talking about marriage, but I wanted to pack it in. I wanted to disappear. A lot of that has to do with being in the public eye.
It’s human nature to be curious about people, and to be more curious about young people than old people. We want to cheer something on at the same time we want to tear it down. That’s just so normal.
Come Christmas Eve, we usually go to my mom and dad’s. Everybody brings one gift and then we play that game when we all steal it from each other. Some are really cool, others are useful and some are a bit out there.
