Vince Gill & Amy Grant: Country Honky-Tonk Meets Christianity

When Nashville singer-songwriter-musician, Vince Gill and Christian singing artist, Amy Grant, came together to record the video for Amy's duet with Vince, "House of Love" , in the early 1990s, sparks ignited.

Vince was so taken with Amy that he wrote a song about her. In classic Vince Gill fashion, the song, "Whenever you come around",wrenched deep with raw, palpable emotion and tied a knot in your heartstrings. That could have been because at the time, the love seemed destined to be an unrequited love. Amy Grant was married. And so was he.

Vince Gill and Amy Grant continued working together off and on throughout the 1990s, doing annual Christmas specials, developing what they both called a "close friendship". But, those around them, gossip columnists included, could see the deep spark and connection between the two. Of course, Vince Gill penning a pining love song about his feelings for Amy probably didn't help much either. Nevertheless, both Amy and Vince adamantly maintain that their affection for each other remained only from afar and unconsummated for many more years to come.

Amy Grant and Gary Chapman

Amy Grant's Christian music career was well into forward motion when she met her first husband, also a singer-songwriter-musician and Christian artist, Gary Chapman. Amy had already released two albums of contemporary Christian music, one of which Gary Chapman wrote the title track for, when they met and did a tour together in 1979.

When Amy Grant and Gary Chapman married in 1982, Amy was well on her way to becoming who she is now, the highest selling Christian artist of all time, complete with Grammy awards, Dove awards and pop cross-over success as well. But, by the time Amy Grant had met Vince Gill, the underpinnings of her marriage to Gary Chapman were already tenuous at best. According to Amy, it was her rock-solid career success (though others say Gary Chapman's drug addictions were the bigger problem) that contributed to the undoing of her 16 year marriage to Gary Chapman, which had also produced three children.

Vince Gill and Janis Oliver

Vince Gill and Janis Oliver met in the late 1970's on the West Coast where they were both young, up and coming musicians. Janis was a member of the bluegrass duo Sweethearts of the Rodeo, with her sister, Kristine Oliver and Vince was singing and writing songs with the country rock band Pure Prairie League looking for his big break. They also married in the early 1980s and had one child together before they moved to Nashville to pursue their careers.

Over the following decades, both of their careers grew and saw success, but without question the 1990s belonged to Vince Gill. His breakout single, a duet with Patty Loveless, "When I Call Your Name" put the velvet-voiced country crooner right on the country music map. Vince earned a total of 18 Country Music Awards and an astonishing 20 Grammy awards during those years.

But, by the time 1997 rolled around, the tongue-wagging gossip about the "friendship" between Amy Grant and Vince Gill had reached a fever pitch. After finding a note in her husband's golf bag from Amy saying, "I love you", Janis Oliver demanded that he quit seeing Amy. When he refused, she filed for divorce.

Though her own 16 year marriage to Gary Chapman was deeply troubled and unhappy , Amy felt obligated to continue to work on it through therapy and marriage counseling. It would be two more years, with a lot more ugly gossip and an album, Behind the Eyes, that echoed the deep sadness and loneliness that Amy Grant felt in her marriage, before she too would move out of her home with Gary and file for divorce in 1999.

Where They are Today

Vince Gill and Amy Grant were married in March 2000. The following year, their daughter, Corinna Grant Gill, was born. Today, they live with their blended families in Nashville, carrying out the day to day duties that most families do, but readily admit that bringing their lives and families together has not been an easy process.

"All those kids had a lot of feelings," Gill says. "They were confused. They were angry. I just felt like we should love them through it all and just be there for them all the time."

As a Christian, Amy Grant took the brunt of the criticism leveled at them both for leaving their spouses. Yet, she is adamant that Vince Gill did not break up her marriage, even though she admits he was the one who shined the light on how troubled and doomed the relationship with Gary Chapman really was.

Neither Amy nor Vince has any illusions about their lives together now. "It's not about arriving at that big, grand place ('oh, our dreams have all come true!')" she says."It's just the day-to-day reaching out for somebody else, assuring them, being friends."

Indeed, none of us can expect anymore than that.

Sources:
Good Housekeeping.com
Yahoo! Music.com
CMT.com
Ladies Home Journal.com
People.com