Ricky Skaggs

Encouraged to pursue music by his father, Gill learned to play a number of instruments including the banjo and guitar. The first band the singer played in was called The Bluegrass Revue in the tail end of the 1970’s and later Flock the Mountain Smoke who opened for Pure Prairie League and Kiss.

After graduating from high school the singer moved around, first to Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. to play in the band Bluegrass Alliance and later Los Angeles, U.S. in the group Sundance. Gill then auditioned to play in Pure Prairie League who remembered Gill’s high school band and made him the lead singer. After three successful albums and the smash hit “Let Me Love You Tonight” Gill departed in 1981 and joined Rodney Crowell’s backing band entitled the Cherry Bombs.

Shortly after Gill secured a solo deal with RCA and released his debut mini-album “Turn Me Losse” in 1984, drawing inspiration from his country-rock roots. His first Top 40 hit “Victim of Life’s Circumstances” was ahead of the 1984 album “The Things That Matter", and his first Top 10 came with a duet alongside Rosanne Cash with the song “If It Weren’t for Him”.

Gill continued his moderate success with 1987’s “The Way Back Home” but left RCA in 1989 to join MCA. The debut release for MCA “When I Call Your Name” (1989) represented Gill’s first taste a stardom, the title track was a breakthrough for the country singer, reached No. 2 in the Country Chart, and subsequently won Gill his first Grammy.

The singer’s follow-up “Pocket Full of Gold” was another platinum selling album led by the smash-hit singles “Look at Us”, “Take Your Memory” and “Liza Jane”. The album was bettered by his 1992 release “I Still Believe in You”, the title-track ballad gave Gill his first No. 1 single, spawned a number of other chart singles, and eventually sold over four-million copies.

Not content to be pigeonholed a solely county star, Gill released the holiday album “Let There Be Peace on Earth” (1993), the pop-inspired “When Love Finds You” in 1994, and 1996’s bluegrass album “High Lonesome Sound” which received a good deal of critical acclaim and paved the way for Gill’s most revered release.

“The Key” released in 1998, documented his marriage and the ultimate break-up of his marriage to Janis Oliver. The album became his first to top the country charts and saw a more hardcore country approach taken. Gill’s subsequent album “Let’s Make Sure We Kiss Goodbye” (2000) describes his new romance with Amy Grant and was awarded four Grammy nominations.

Since then the singer has released 2003’s “Next Big Thing”, which he produced himself, 2006’s “These Days” and ambitious four-disc release, 2011’s “Guitar Slinger” and 2013’s “Bakersfield”, a collaboration with guitarist Paul Franklin.

It’s just as well that Grant is specifically one of the most successful Christian singers of all time because there is most definitely a higher power at work when it comes to her career. This is absolutely not to say that she’s not good enough or that she hasn’t earned it, mind you, but the story is pretty fairy tale-esque.

I mean, to get your first record deal by having a song, the very first song you’ve ever written for that matter, played over the phone to the head of a record label before your sixteenth birthday? That’s some God given talent right there.

The year after that, she recorded her debut album “Amy Grant”. The year after that, a single month before her high school graduation, it was released and before she’d even performed her debut ticketed concert, it charted in the top twenty of the Billboard Inspirational Albums chart.

Arguably, this would be more than enough for most seventeen year olds of the time to put the music on hold until at least after college, but this wasn’t to be the case for Grant. She chose both, enrolling at Furman University and starting work on her second album, “My Father’s Eyes”, an album which would go on to give her a Christian number one hit with the title track and her first Grammy nomination.

This success, combined with her and her co-songwriter and first husband Gary Chapman’s growing touring schedule, made her drop out of college to focus on music full time. She’s since gone on to release many more studio albums and countless singles, including a slightly baffling top five hit on the Hot Club Dance charts in 2014 with a remix of her song “Baby Baby”.

Clearly, to pigeonhole Amy Grant as a “Christian” singer does a disservice to her appeal and her talent. Her music might be inspired by her faith, but it can go on to inspire anyone open minded enough to listen.