Amy Grant, multi-platinum artist, finds hidden gems in tough times
Singer, who underwent open heart surgery, performs Tuesday at Kettering Health Foundation benefit.
Despite facing a trifecta of health issues since 2020, multi-platinum selling singer Amy Grant is stronger and more grateful than ever heading into Kettering Health Foundation’s Heart to Heart concert at the Schuster Center in Dayton on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
“Oh, my gosh, who would’ve thought in my 60s I’d be feeling better physically and singing better than I have in years,” Grant said. “I never thought I’d still be doing shows in my 60s. Life is like surfing a tsunami — you’ve got to keep your knees flexed no matter who you are. There’s still a lot of recovery from my latest surgery, but it feels like an unexpected gift.”
Grant’s first unexpected medical issue was uncovered while accompanying husband Vince Gill to an appointment with his cardiologist, who suggested she get checked out as well. She did, and the tests revealed she was born with partial anomalous pulmonary venous return or PAPVR. She had open heart surgery for the previously undiagnosed birth defect in June 2020. She found out later if it hadn’t been detected, she would’ve been dead by 62, a milestone she celebrated in November 2022.
“The birth defect was present in utero,” Grant said. “It’s funny because I’ve noticed since I was in high school, I breathed harder and my heart rate went up when I was exercising. I used to say, ‘I feel like I’m suffocating.’ I thought it was weird, but it just made me persistent, only to find out I was running at two-thirds volume of oxygenated blood. After that heart surgery, breathing felt so efficient.
“As weird as it sounds, that fixed me,” she continued. “I still had to recover from the entry wound, and I don’t know what all they did, but they fixed everything. Within six weeks, I was doing big hikes. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, breathing.’ It was the best breathing has ever felt in my life.”
Another blow
Grant noticed increased stamina
upon her return to touring in the fall of 2021, but soon faced another major setback. A serious bike accident in the summer of 2022 left her unconscious for 10 minutes. She had shoulder surgery two months later and dealt with lingering memory issues. Soon after, another unknown ailment from birth was uncovered, which led to throat surgery last month to remove a thyroglossal duct cyst.
“I was having trouble swallowing,” Grant said. “I had a cyst that had gotten really big. Once again, it had been present since in utero. It had been growing over the years, and then it got really big. It was an inch-and-half long, and it was very infected. I had five-hour surgery in January, and they had to take out part of the bone in my throat. That was so much harder than open heart surgery, so much harder than shoulder surgery.
“It was a lot from which to recover, but it was worth it,” she continued. “The doctor said, ‘You’ve had so much infection in your throat. This is really going to help your singing. Your vocal cords are fine.’ We went back into rehearsals 2 and a half weeks after my surgery. After decades of songs getting lower and lower in key because I couldn’t do it, now we’re raising the key. I can’t go back to the original key 40 years later, but I’ll take being a half step down from the original key.”
From church to Kennedy Center
Grant has been singing her entire life. She took piano lessons as a child growing up in Augusta, Georgia, but was shaped more by the singing during the thrice-weekly church services her family attended. She wasn’t even old enough to drive when she started her career as a Christian music artist. She signed with Myrrh Records at 15 in 1976 and released her self-titled debut the following year. It reached 12 on the Christian album charts.
Grant’s fourth album, “Age to Age” (1982) was her third consecutive number one Christian album and also the first solo release in the genre to be certified platinum. She reached a wider audience in 1986 when “The Next Time I Fall,” her duet with Peter Cetera of Chicago, hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
After eight successful albums, Grant surprised fans and industry insiders with a full shift to secular pop music with 1991’s “Heart in Motion.” It was a shrewd move for the Georgia native. It was number 10 on Billboard’s album chart and included her first solo crossover hit with the single, “Baby, Baby.” Other hits followed like “I Will Remember You,” “Lucky One” and “House of Love” with Gill, who she married in March 2000.
Grant has won six Grammy Awards and more than 20 Dove Awards on the way to selling more than 30 million albums and garnering more than one billion streams globally. She was a 2022 Kennedy Center honoree alongside George Clooney, Gladys Knight and U2. Grant’s latest album, “Tennessee Christmas,” was released in 2016. Her previous album of new non-holiday music was 2013’s “How Mercy Looks from Here.” It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard album chart. On March 1, Grant is releasing two new songs, “Trees We’ll Never See” and “What You Heard.”
Performing for a cause
The Heart to Heart gala and concert was started 35 years ago by then-volunteer Linda Lombard, who became a longtime board member for Kettering Health Foundation. Steve Allen headlined the first benefit in 1989. The last one, pre-COVID-19, was in 2019 and featured Smokey Robinson. Other big names from past years include Tony Bennett, Diana Ross, Itzhak Perlman, Carole King, Clint Black and the Commodores. In that time, the concerts have raised more than $7.5 million for patient care, surgical equipment and employee education.
“It’s so incredible what they’ve done with this Heart to Heart gala,” Grant said. “It just shows the power of a dreamer and what they can do for a good cause. Of course, it became even more near and dear to me since they discovered that birth defect and I had open heart surgery. It was such a crazy set of circumstances, but it actually brought me into a more hands-on relationship with the work being done at Kettering.
“There are all types of problems,” Grant added. “Even if it’s not you, somebody you love might be suffering. But with every hard time, there are always hidden gems, always, always, always. That’s just how life is. I never thought this would’ve been the last two-and-a-halfyear journey for me, but I also never anticipated all the hidden gems. It’s really been amazing.”