Amy Grant "I Will Be Your Friend"

There's a strange connection between TOMS Shoes and Amy Grant. Back in 1999, Blake Mycoskie convinced the city of Nashville to allow his company (Mycoskie Media) to put billboards up around the city. Mycoskie convinced local politicians that these new billboards would not be billboards, per se, and wouldn't be advertising. Instead, Mycoskie sought to put album art from musicians on the sides of buildings. He successfully convinced the Nashville city council that the "ads" would contain no call-to-action, so therefore it was more art than advertising. Guy Raz artfully covers this in his podcast interview with Mycoskie on How I Built This. Mycoskie Media's first client: Amy Grant. After selling his billboard company to radio behemoth Clear Channel, Mycoskie later appeared on The Amazing Race and eventually launched TOMS Shoes. 

Amy Grant "Simple Things"

After releasing a few Christian-Rock albums in the late-'90s and early-2000s, Amy Grant returned to mainstream music with Simple Things in 2003. Her secular album was the first in six years and gave us the self-entitled hit "Simple Things". While both Adult Contemporary and Christian radio stations played the tune, the song never became much of a hit.

Amy Grant "The Things We Do for Love"

Ellen DeGeneres still pokes fun at her first movie...the dud called Mr. Wrong. The 1996 flick starred Ellen alongside Bill Pullman in a dark comedy about a man (Pullman) who fooled everyone into think he's Mr. Right when, in reality, he's an awful human being who basically stalks Ellen's character after she breaks up with him. With a budget of $19 million, the film only grossed about $13 million in 1996 leading to the headline "Little Right About Mr. Wrong" from the SF Gate. The movie's soundtrack did spawn Amy Grant's remake of the classic 10cc tune "The Things We Do for Love" which Adult Contemporary radio stations gladly spun in 1996. 

Michael W. Smith "Somebody Love Me"

Michael W. Smith is the male-version of Amy Grant: successful Christian pop artist who crossed over at about the same time as Amy Grant. In fact, Michael opened for Amy twice during the 1980s.

Amy Grant "1974 (We Were Young)"

One listen to the popular new song "joy." from the band For King & Country may make you question if the song is a Christian Pop song (spoiler alert: it is). In the case of Amy Grant's "1974 (We Were Young)", the song pre-dates Amy's Adult Contemporary days and comes from her Contemporary Christian days. The song discusses Amy's discovery of her faith and how it changed her. Chances are Seinfeld's Elaine Benes' on-again off-again boyfriend Puddy was a fan of the song.

Amy Grant "Like I Love You"

With Amy Grant's marriage to Gary Chapman nearing its breaking point, many of the songs on Grant's Behind The Eyes album touched upon her personal struggles. "Like I Love You" was one of the album's bittersweet hits--peaking at #10 on the Adult Contemporary Chart in 1998.

Kenny Loggins "Return to Pooh Corner"

Parents and their children in 1994 had a new song (and album) to sing along with thanks to Kenny Loggins. His ballad "Return to Pooh Corner" was an updated version of  his 1970 tune "House at Pooh Corner". The 1994 version featured Amy Grant and her then-husband Gary Chapman providing backup vocals and also contained a new third verse for Loggins' son.

Amy Grant "Oh How The Years Go By"

As the years went by, the number of artists who covered the song "Oh How The Years Go By" increased...as did the song's popularity. Simon Climie and Will Jennings originally released the uplifting tune in 1993, but the song failed to chart. A year later, Amy Grant included her take of the song on her House of Love album. This time, Grant turned the song into a Top 15 hit on the Adult Contemporary Chart. Two years later, Vanessa Williams said "I wanna try!" and recorded the song for a compilation album celebrating the NBA's 50th anniversary. Williams' version went all the way to #6. It's been a while -- who's up next?

Amy Grant "Big Yellow Taxi"

Amy Grant asked for Joni Mitchell's permission to update the lyrics  in "Big Yellow Taxi" and Mitchell agreed (admission to the tree museum was hiked to $25 in Grant's version). Grant released the song in 1994. Grant's version preceded another more commercially-successful version from Counting Crows and Vanessa Carlton in 2003.

Amy Grant - "Baby Baby"

Sixth grade was a year of transition.  My parents pulled me from a Catholic school and enrolled me into the neighboring public school.  No longer a big fish in a small pond, my class size went from about 30 students to nearly 700.  For years, lunch time meant sitting at my desk and eating lunch.  Lunch morphed into eating with nearly 300 other kids in a large cafeteria that smelled of tater tots and stale chocolate.  That aside, the big smelly cafeteria did have an upside: a jukebox.  My sixth grade lunch not only included the scent of tater tots and stale chocolate, but also featured the vocals of Amy Grant.  Not a day during sixth grade seemed to go by without hearing "Baby Baby".

Amy Grant - "I Will Remember You"

Most successful albums produce three or four commercial hit singles.  In Amy Grant's case, Heart in Motion, her first mainstream album, produced seven singles.  The seventh and final single from Heart in Motion was the ballad "I Will Remember You".  While the song was the first of the seven not to crack the Top 10 of the Hot 100, it was a major success on the Adult Contemporary Chart (#2).

Agnetha Faltskog & Peter Cetera - "I Wasn't The One (Who Said Goodbye)"

I had the opportunity to meet Peter Cetera twice within about a month of each other in 2003.  Cetera couldn't have been more friendly or accommodating during our first meeting, but things fell apart during his second visit.  Musicians and celebrities don't just stop by radio stations -- in this case, Cetera stopped to chat with the morning show to promote an upcoming concert.  Among other things discussed during the interview, the host marveled at the number of duets Cetera recorded.  He mentioned Cher, Amy Grant, Chaka Khan, Crystal Bernard, and even Agnetha Faltskog (who?) as duet partners for Cetera.  The following is a loose transcript of what happened next:

Host: "Who else would you really like to record a duet with?"
Cetera: "(makes a sound effect of him snoring)"
Host: "No really. your list of duet partners is impressive.  Who else would you like to sing a sing with?"
Cetera: "(continues to make snoring sound effects)..."

Real classy, Cetera.

Amy Grant - "Lucky One"

"Lucky One" encapsulates how Adult Contemporary radio sounded in 1994.  Amy Grant's syrupy tune climbed all the way to #2 where it ran out of luck and stalled.

Counting Crows & Vanessa Carlton - "Big Yellow Taxi"

A few songs have made so many appearances on the Adult Contemporary Charts by numerous different artists.  One such tune is "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell, and then later by Amy Grant, followed by Counting Crows and Vanessa Carlton.  Believe it or not, the latter version scored the highest chart position of any of the former versions.

Dionne Farris - "I Know"

Adult Contemporary radio started turning in 1995.  Artists such as Alanis Morissette and Hootie & The Blowfish started turning up on AC radio stations.  Known particularly for ballads and "safe" music, AC radio started to get more contemporary.  Dionne Farris' "I Know" was one such song that AC radio played to death during the latter part of 1995.  Before long, core artists such as Amy Grant, Lionel Richie, and Billy Joel would soon fall off stations' playlists.

The Rolling Stones - "Out of Tears"

Adult Contemporary radio stations loves when the likes of Paul McCartney or The Rolling Stones put out an AC-friendly tune years past their prime.  That meant that Adult Contemporary stations could add the song simply based on the name.  While "Out of Tears" mainly found its way to rock stations, it was one such song that certain AC radio stations deemed "safe enough" to play between Amy Grant and Whitney Houston tunes back in 1994.

Amy Grant - "Takes A Little Time"

From the files of "Songs That Immediately Make You Change The Station" comes Amy Grant's "Takes A Little Time".

Amy Grant - "House of Love"

1990s Adult Contemporary darling Amy Grant recorded "House of Love" with country singer Vince Gill.  Years later, the duo would divorce their respective spouses and marry one another.  Whoopsie.

Peter Cetera - "Next Time I Fall"

Thirty years ago, Peter Cetera teamed up with a relatively unknown female singer named Amy Grant and produced a delicious gem called "Next Time I Fall".  What happened next was history: Amy Grant's career began to ascend while Cetera continued his dominance in awesomeness.  We look forward to Cetera singing with Chicago during Chicago's inauguration into Rock 'n Roll's Hall of Fame in 2016.  UPDATE: Cetera announced that he will not be performing with Chicago at the Rock 'n Roll Induction Ceremony.

Amy Grant - "That's What Love Is For"

Like Gloria Estefan and Celine Dion, Amy Grant was once a darling of the Adult Contemporary format with soft-pop hits like "That's What Love Is For".  These days, Amy Grant is noticeably absent from most AC radio stations, but still can be found on most grocery store playlists.