My Favorite Female Vocalists: 1. Amy Grant
One of the most real musical artists you'll ever encounter
Disclaimer: this countdown isn’t meant to be an all-time definitive list. These are simply my favorites.
Ask any Gen-X Christian kid who was the most dominant musical artist of our generation, and chances are they’ll say Amy Grant.
And it’s with good reason. She took a genre of music that was stuck in a rut and pushed its boundaries in multiple ways.
I first became aware of Amy and her music when I heard someone sing “Father’s Eyes” at church.
Then, when her seminal album Age to Age came out in 1982, I found out all about her. She was beautiful, faithful, and Southern, and I fell in love with her! Amy became my longest celebrity crush.
Before Age to Age, Amy had recorded three studio albums and two live albums, but that album raised the production values and set the stage for her to bring in more elements of contemporary rock and pop.
With Lead Me On she took license to dive into deeper territory musically and lyrically, and it became her masterpiece.
But Heart in Motion, House of Love, and Behind the Eyes gave her her biggest pop success throughout the ‘90s.
Over the years, Amy has been honest about her struggles — divorce, controversy, health scares — in both her music and her interviews. The fact that she’s still making music today is a testimony to her talent and faith.
If there’s one thing about Amy Grant that’s compelling, it’s that she’s real. I saw that in her when I was a kid, and I see it today. That’s why she’s still my all-time favorite female vocalist.
Photo: Scott Catron from Sandy, Utah, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons