Sunday, January 16, 2022

The Beauty of Song, Part Nine: Amy Grant

Is there a sweeter soul in show business than Amy Grant? 😊 


Born in Georgia and raised in Tennessee, Amy Grant began her recording career at the age of seventeen and started out as a gospel singer.  She went pop in the mid-eighties by recording a duet single with an unlikely partner - Peter Cetera, the former bass player and frontman for Chicago, which he had just left.  The song "The Next Time I Fall" was a big hit, reaching number one on the Billboard singles chart and staying there for a week.

That was nothing compared to the success of her 1991 album Heart In Motion, which produced another number one single, "Baby Baby" (about a literal baby, her newborn daughter Millie, whom she had with then-husband and gospel singer Gary Chapman), which topped the Billboard singles chart for two weeks. (Heart In Motion gets its title from a lyric in this song.)  The LP spawned four other hit singles - "Every Heartbeat," "That's What Love Is For," "Good for Me," and "I Will Remember You."


Heart In Motion remains Ms. Grant's bestselling album, having gone platinum five times over, and she followed up her success with House of Love, a 1994 LP which included the singles "Lucky One" and the title track, the latter performed with country singer Vince Gill, whom she later married. 
 
Amy Grant has since returned to her gospel roots ,but she already made it clear that there's nothing she can't do.  And I'll bet you any amount of money that this is so. 

Fun fact 1: Amy Grant was born on November 25, 1960 - the exact same day as John F. Kennedy, Jr., making her an astrological twin of the 35th U.S. President's son.

Fun fact 2: Amy Grant has released four Christmas albums, including one for which she collaborated with Art Garfunkel.

No comments: