The Tennessean
May 5, 2002
By Sandy Smith, Staff Writer
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| Grant is an advocate for Habitat for Humanity, helping Nashville families get in the low-cost houses. |
On her regrets about dropping out of Vanderbilt University, 20 hours short of a degree, 1983: ''I will sing all of my life, but popularity comes and goes. Five years from now, I may not be able to draw two people to my concerts. It just seemed like a shame to have the opportunity and only do it halfway and that's what I was doing. I was doing only a halfway job at school and a halfway job at my career.''
On stardom, 1982: ''I don't really care to ever be a star. Maybe it's because I feel like I've experienced enough recognition to know.''
On writing about life, 1986: ''If I wake up in a passion about my toothbrush, then I want to write a song about my toothbrush. I feel the same about prayer or sunsets. I want to write and sing about whatever motivates me. I really want to approach life in a holistic manner and not worry so much about how things are perceived.
''But I know if I put seven songs on an album about Jesus and three about 'Let's go dance our brains out,' then it will be the three dance songs that radio will pick up. And then people will say, 'Amy Grant's not singing about Jesus anymore.' ''
On publicizing Habitat for Humanity on her concert tour, 1988: ''I want there to be some long-term effect from our being on the road. And the long-term effect is not paying our own bills and it's not somebody wearing an Amy Grant T-shirt. And I don't have much control over the spiritual aspect of our concerts, because that's everyone's own personal decision. What I can do is use my platform as a voice to speak out for another group.''
On offers to change career directions, 1984: ''Life basically is a series of springboards. Last year what really hit me is that it's the wise person who figures out when to stop springing. I realized that for me, the soul of my music is in the fact that I sing because of and about God's inspiration.''
On recording Heart in Motion, which brought four Grammy nominations in pop, not gospel, categories, 1992: ''About half the camp of people that I know were saying, 'You are a fool. You're risking everything and if this goes down in flames, you're an idiot.' The other half was saying, 'Life is too short. Go with your heart and your gut instinct and pray hard.' It has turned out bigger and better than we hoped for.''
On her friendship with Gill while both were married to others, 1999: ''A lot of disparaging things were said about my very public friendship with Vince. One of the reasons that the friendship was so public was because it never occurred to me to hide it. I would hear rumors about, 'You guys were seen doing this, you guys were seen doing that.' I just said, 'Not true.'
''I don't take lightly the responsibility of being a public person, of my faith, all those things. I know why God hates divorce, because it's painful and it's hardest on the kids and you have to kiss your history goodbye, start over.
''I never thought I would wind up here. I look at the choices all along the way that were made and think, I did the very best I could and I wound up here, now. I want to stand up and say, 'It's not the way you think it was!' But it doesn't really matter.''
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