Obviously…

Amy Grant.

I’ll never forget the day. I was probably around seven years old. I knew I loved to sing, because I wore out my Gaither Vocal Band album singing “I Am a Promise”. My mom has an amazing voice and I knew she was very good. She listened to Sandi Patty and we would play her albums all the time. So I was very familiar with “More Than Wonderful” and “Upon This Rock”, but I couldn’t sing any of those songs.

My daddy came home from work that day with a new record. The cover was kind of a pale peachy color and there was a picture on the front of the prettiest person I’d ever seen. She had long dark hair and wore a white dress. I thought she was just beautiful.

I wanted to look just like that.

Then daddy turned on the record. “Sing Your Praise to the Lord” came on first, and when I heard her sing, I stood there motionless. This lady sang with a low voice, JUST LIKE ME.

I had never heard an alto sing on an album before, that I could remember. And she was singing about Jesus. And she was singing stuff that had a good beat.

And it changed my whole life.

I became a huge, huge fan. There were posters in my room from every album. I was really blessed to know a lot of people who worked at Christian bookstores and they humored a little girl who wanted to be just like the biggest thing in Christian music. I bought every single tape. I wore my hair pulled back in a barrette. When her “Unguarded” album came out, I wanted a pink leopard jacket more than anything in the whole world. Someone gave me an autographed cd that was my most treasured possession. I didn’t have a cd player, so I would walk to my neighbor’s house to listen to it.

As I got older, I started singing in church. I sang “El Shaddai”, and “All I Ever Have to Be”. At Christmas, I sang “Heirlooms”. I knew every word on every tape, and every time she appeared on television, I recorded it on the VCR. She was my hero.

When I was 11 years old, I was able to see her in concert at the Coliseum in Jackson. My brother and I found our seats and my friend Gary came to check on us. He handed me a backstage pass and I don’t think I heard a note of the concert. I was so excited. I met her in a group of people and we had a 45 second conversation. I remember every word she said to me.

She made a huge impact. I attribute so much of my love for music to her. She sang about what I believed and for that time in my life, when I felt very different because I wanted to live for Jesus and my classmates didn’t necessarily respect that, I felt like I wasn’t alone. Christian music was changed because of her. She took it from “church” music to just music about God. I’m so grateful for her and what her music has meant to me.

And I remember seeing her wear this on TV and thinking it was the absolute coolest outfit I’ve ever seen in my life:

Amy, you and your music changed this little girl. I found confidence in singing that I didn’t have. I found a love for singing about my Savior. I found that I have a love for pink satin pants. Grin.