Amy Grant

Grant was married to fellow Christian musician Gary Chapman from 1982 until their divorce in 1999. They had three children: Matthew Garrison, Gloria Mills “Millie,” and Sarah Cannon. In 2000, she married country singer-songwriter Vince Gill, with whom she has a daughter, Corrina Grant Gill.

Grant has also described the importance of family relationships and therapy in her later life. She and Gill continued therapy with their children as part of a broader effort to understand their family system and process unresolved grief.

Her health has affected her later career. In 2020, she underwent open-heart surgery to repair partial anomalous pulmonary venous return, a congenital heart condition. A 2022 bicycle accident caused a traumatic brain injury and led to shoulder surgery, while doctors also discovered a thyroglossal cyst that required throat surgery and temporarily affected her singing.

Grant was born in Augusta, Georgia, and spent most of her childhood in Nashville, Tennessee, after her family moved there during her infancy. She attended Harpeth Hall School and later enrolled at Furman University before transferring to Vanderbilt University. She began writing and performing as a teenager, composing “Mountain Top” in 1976 and receiving her first recording contract five weeks before her 16th birthday.

Her self-titled debut album was recorded in 1977 and released in 1978. It established her in contemporary Christian music, and she followed it with My Father's Eyes in 1979, Never Alone in 1980, two live albums in 1981, and Age to Age in 1982. The latter included “El Shaddai” and became the first Christian album by a solo artist to be certified platinum.

Gary Chapman, who wrote the title track of My Father's Eyes, toured with Grant in her early career and later collaborated with her on songs. Grant also developed a long-running professional and creative relationship with Michael W. Smith, touring and recording with him during the 1980s and appearing with him in later Christmas concerts.

During the mid-1980s, Grant sought to become the first Christian singer-songwriter to achieve substantial success as a contemporary pop performer. Her albums Unguarded and Lead Me On introduced a more mainstream sound while retaining Christian themes. In 1986, she earned her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single with “The Next Time I Fall,” a duet with Peter Cetera.

Her 1991 album Heart in Motion became the decisive turning point in her career. It topped the Billboard Christian album chart for 32 weeks and produced “Baby Baby,” her second pop number-one single, along with the top-ten hits “Every Heartbeat,” “That's What Love Is For,” and “Good for Me.” The album became her best-selling release and was certified platinum after selling five million copies in the United States.

Grant continued the pop and spiritually themed approach on House of Love in 1994. The album included “Lucky One” and its title track, a duet with Vince Gill, who later became her husband. She later adopted a darker, acoustic soft-rock sound on Behind the Eyes in 1997.

Grant returned to Christian pop and hymn-based material with Legacy... Hymns and Faith in 2002. The album combined bluegrass and pop influences associated with Vince Gill, and she followed it with Simple Things in 2003 and the Grammy-winning Rock of Ages... Hymns and Faith in 2005.

Her work during this period extended beyond recording. She hosted the NBC reality series Three Wishes in 2005, a program centered on helping small-town residents, and released the live CD and DVD Time Again... Amy Grant Live in 2006. She also published Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far, a collection of memories, lyrics, poetry, and photographs, in 2007.

Later releases included Somewhere Down the Road in 2010, How Mercy Looks from Here in 2013, the remix album In Motion: The Remixes in 2014, Be Still and Know... Hymns & Faith in 2015, and Tennessee Christmas in 2016. She returned to touring after her accident and throat surgery, announcing plans to resume performances in 2023.

Grant has won six Grammy Awards and numerous Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. She was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2003 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006. Her honors also include induction into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and recognition for humanitarian work.

In 2021, Grant was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2022, she became the first contemporary Christian recording artist to receive the Kennedy Center Honors. She also received honorary doctorates from Grand Canyon University and the University of Notre Dame.

Grant has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and has performed at venues and events including the Grand Ole Opry and Camp David. Her music has also appeared in films, television programs, music videos, and other screen projects.