Far from missing the boat, Grant has had smooth sailing for almost the last decade. The 24-year-old singer-songwriter is a certified phenomenon in Christian circles, a Grammy Award-winner whose 1982 release "Age to Age" is the most successful album in the history of gospel music with more than 800,000 copies sold.
She has accomplished this without following any stereotypes of what a Christian performer should sound or look like. First of all, her brand of gospel has little in common with the fervent black music usually associated with the term. "And," she adds, "it doesn't mean wearing a three-piece suit and having a bouffant hair-do."
Indeed, it would be hard to imagine her in either. In fact, she is often spotted in leopard-patterned attire that gives her the appearance of a rock singer.
The look is clearly intentional. After years of what could be described as "preaching to the converted," she is moving determinedly into the mainstream rock market. Her recently issued ninth album, "Unguarded," is the first to be released on a major pop label (A&M), and she is supporting the record by embarking on an extensive tour that brings her to the Del Mar Fair's Grandstand Stage on Saturday night at 7:30.
So far, the reaction to the new album has been just as amazing as her previous successes. After only a couple of months in release, "Unguarded" has passed the 250,000 mark in sales -- and that is in non-Christian outlets alone. In addition, the album and the single, "Find a Way," have been picked up by about 150 adult-contemporary radio stations and a like number of "CHR" (which, ironically, stands not for Christian but Top-40) broadcasters.
Even Grant is at a loss when asked to explain her success, "because, especially in the gospel marketplace, you've got everybody doing about basically the same thing, and some people are real popular and some are not. Who knows (why)?"
She does offer some form of explanation, though. "I can sing, but I'm not incredible," she says. "And that's not false humility -- there are a lot of things I cannot sing. And there are a lot of people who are incredible singers who haven't enjoyed the popularity that their talent demands. I think that we're just real relatable, and I think that people just appreciate honesty." Grant's description perfectly fits "Unguarded," as her low-key conviction combines with strong songwriting to make for an appealing record. Some of the songs on the album have a plainly spiritual intent, while others, such as the evocative "Everywhere I Go," could be taken as expressions of either divine or romantic love. The constant on "Unguarded" is her consistently attractive and involving vocals. In fact, her singing has won over many secular cynics who were suspicious of not only her religious background but also her musical influences, which she admits are "your basic mainstream disaster."
"I just listen to Top-40 radio and try not to sound like anyone," she says. "I have been affected by Kenny Loggins. I like James Ingram, Kim Carnes and Michael McDonald, and I'm really a big Dave Grusin fan. "And of course," she adds, "everybody in America is a big Bruce Springsteen fan. You get shipped away to foreign parts if you're not."
Her listening habits have perhaps enabled her to put a new spin on Christian music, but at times she does feel that she is missing something. "There are not too many Christian rock bands, per se, that I listen to," she says, "because usually the way I fall in love with a band is that I hear them on the radio. You hear them until you like them, whether it's one listening or 150. We don't have reception to get a Christian radio station here (at her home in Nashville), so I guess that if anything I'm a little out-of-pocket because there are some great bands out there."
Still, the success in the rock field of bands who are avowed Christians -- notably Ireland's U2, and locally Army of Love -- has not gone unnoticed. "I've got two U2 records, and I have really grown to like them," says Grant. "I'm probably influenced a lot more by my husband. He was the first one who, years ago, brought Bruce Springsteen records into the house. I tend to be a little more of a mellow-type listener." Her husband, Gary Chapman, is a fellow singer-songwriter who plays bass in her band. The couple is joined on its current tour by six other musicians and three backup singers. The large assemblage, Grant says with a laugh, is a "big hammer to drive a big nail." "We've thought about having a smaller band before," she continues, "but then you just think, everybody would be so busy on stage, we wouldn't have nearly as much fun. Our big checkpoint is going to be when the people on stage outnumber the people in the audience." While that occurrence seems less and less likely, Grant's broadened success has also brought on new problems. The usually candid Grant finds herself having to be a bit cautious now to avoid alienating either her rock or, in particular, her Christian fans.
"I guess part of it is, I go into an interview just wanting to talk and wanting to know what somebody else thinks," she says. "I mean, how boring to think, `Who's going to read this and how do I want to aim my response?' -- because then you just cease to be a person. But the danger is that sometimes things taken out of context look sort of weird."
A rather dramatic case-in-point, in which she feels her remarks were taken out of context and in at least one instance something she would never say was attributed to her, was a recent Rolling Stone article. The piece, written by Michael Goldberg, quoted her as criticizing rock performer Prince's sexual shenanigans in colorfully vernacular terms. She says the article, which she asked her mother not to read, left her "a little embarrassed."
"You know, it's amazing what you can say in a heated argument that sounds gross and foul when written up in a magazine," she says. "The only problem I had with the article was I felt like he (writer Goldberg) picked out every potentially vulgar thing and put it in the article. And that was a little disappointing. (We) talked for three-and-a-half days, and all he did was pick out the sexy stuff." Nonetheless, she sees the value in the exposure.
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