Amy Grant was born on 25 November 1960, in Augusta, Georgia. A huge influence on the development of modern gospel music, Grant's perennially youthful but always convincing vocal has imbued her many recordings with a purity of spirit and performance that can be awe-inspiring. Songs such as 'Angels', 'Raining On The Inside' and 'Find A Way', scattered through a consistently high-quality recording career, have endeared her to her massive contemporary and gospel audience as well as critics. Though originally a primarily religious performer, her material also blends in rhythms derived from modern R&B and soul, while her lyrics contemplate subjects outside of the average gospel singer's repertoire. However, when secular subjects are tackled, there is an abiding spirituality to Grant's treatment of them that ensures her position as a gospel singer despite her 90s R&B success: 'The point of my songs is never singer-focused. It's experience focused. When I go in the studio, I'm taking my experience as a wife and a mother with me.' Married to country singer-songwriter Gary Chapman, her audience is now as varied as her songwriting: 'When I was in high school, I listened to Aretha Franklin and the Jackson Five. I remember discovering R&B music then and Joni Mitchell too.' Though earlier albums had flirted with pop, rock, soul and country, her first truly secular release arrived in 1991 with Heart In Motion. With a major hit in 'Baby Baby', this move into the contemporary pop world was rewarded with platinum sales, spending 52 consecutive weeks on the US album chart. Long-term collaborators Keith Thomas and Michael Omartian were again in place for the follow-up, House Of Love. Boosted by a strong duet with Vince Gill on the title track and the presence of another hit single, 'Lucky One', this collection also included a cover version of the Joni Mitchell standard, 'Big Yellow Taxi'. Grant took a giant leap in credibility with Behind The Eyes in 1997. This was an album of much greater depth that dispelled the perception of her as merely a vacuous pop diva.

Encyclopedia of Popular Music Copyright Muze UK Ltd. 1989 - 1998