CBS is excited about its growing relationship with Grant, says her primary manager, Jennifer Cooke.
"They believe that Amy works well for their demographic," she observes. "They love the fact that she's family-friendly and yet hip and current."
Her third Christmas album, also called A Christmas to Remember, comes out Oct. 19. Her previous Christmas albums, Home for Christmas and A Christmas Album, have sold more than 4 million copies combined.
A traditional collection mixing classics such as Silent Night and Jingle Bell Rock with original material, the new release was recorded with a symphony orchestra. A new holiday album means Grant will have new material for this year's tour.
After she finishes her Christmas tour and celebrates the holidays, Grant will begin work on a new album, due to Interscope/A&M by June 1. No producer has been selected. Her last studio album, Behind the Eyes, appeared in 1997 and has been certified gold for shipments of more than 500,000 copies.
Songs on that album such as Cry a River and The Feeling I Had grew out of her own emotional turmoil. Grant says she hopes the new album will retain the "songwriter integrity" of Behind the Eyes "minus the Prozac and razor blades."
Behind the Eyes did not have "a lot of big statements of faith," she concedes, something her fans in the Christian marketplace where she launched her career must be ready to hear.
"People who gravitate toward my songs are people who want to have an unshakable faith but who find that life shakes 'em up," Grant reasons.
As she has come through tough times herself, Grant says she has found solace by writing, over and over, the Bible verse Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess, for he who promised is faithful."
Recently, Gill and Grant were grilling hamburgers for a gathering put together by her daughter, fourth-grader Millie.
"One of them asked, 'Is he your boyfriend?' " Grant recalls, and she felt ready to let down her guard a little.
"To have tried to walk the line of propriety for so long, I kinda took a breath and said, `He is, honey. Yeah.' "
People/January 18, 1999Baby Baby Goodbye
After 16 years, singer Amy Grant and songwriter husband Gary Chapman separate.
Christian-music and pop star Amy Grant has often viewed her life as a series of blessings. Her marriage to singer-songwriter Gary Chapman, 41, was no exception. "I'm married to someone who is very different than I am," Grant, now 38, told The Washington Post in 1997. "Yet our home is still together. There's another miracle."
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