Saturday, March 12, 2016

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Amy Grant

Artist:Amy Grant
Song:Every Heartbeat
Album:Icon





Amy Grant is known as The Queen of Christian Pop. After a very successful Contemporary Christian Music run, she successfully crossed over to pop. Every Heartbeat was one of her two big early 90s hits. She writes a lot of her own songs so that makes her very durable. I find her music is bland. She was born Nov. 25, 1960 in Augusta, GA. Her great grandfather was Nashville insurance exec and philanthropist A.M. Burton. She started writing songs as a teen. She recorded some of her songs and it landed in the hands of producer Brown Bannister. He signed her to Word's Myrrh label and she released her debut album in 1977. Amy and Bannister would work together for many years. He produced Every Heartbeat. So she's recording albums while attending school. She also met future husband Gary Chapman and started touring with him. One of her biggest early CCM hits was El Shaddai in 1982. But she could only go so far as a Christian artist. Her mid-80s recordings were leaning towards mainstream pop. In 1985, A&M Records made a deal with Word to distribute some of their artists to mainstream record stores and radio stations. Until then, you could only get Amy's albums at Christian book stores. The 1985 album Unguarded was her first pop album. She scored a number one hit with her 1986 duet with Peter Cetera The Next Time I Fall. Unguarded was certified Platinum. So now A&M really wants to push Amy. Her 1988 album Lead Me On wasn't a hit. But with the 1991 album Heart In Motion, Amy scored her two biggest hits. First Baby Baby topped the Billboard Hot 100. Amy wrote and produced it with Keith Thomas. This was immediately followed by Every Heartbeat which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Amy wrote the song with veteran CCM songwriters Wayne Kirkpatrick and Charlie Peacock. Bannister produced the track. The album Heart In Motion was certified 5XPlatinum. Amy had a couple more pop hits. But eventually she faded and she returned to her CCM roots. You can get all her hits on this budget comp. Amy left Word in 2005 and she currently records for EMI's Sparrow label. Her latest CD of new music was released in 2013. She is currently on tour with veteran CCM singer Steven Curtis Chapman. Here's the video for Every Heartbeat by Amy Grant.

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