Past Internet Articles About Amy Grant

Amy Grant says one of her career-guiding philosophies goes something like this: "A good deal is good for everybody." She will put that oft-expressed sentiment into action again Thursday in Frazer as she and her band perform a benefit concert at the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills for Allegheny Valley Habitat for Humanity.

"It is the greatest feeling to be able to use your music for a good cause," says the multiple Grammy-winning singer-songwriter who has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide.

"It's so easy for me to incorporate music into somebody else's function. It is a feel-good element, and if that function also provides help to someone else, it is a double home run," she says in a phone conversation.

Grant has a history with Habitat for Humanity, having helped build a dozen homes and providing space for informational brochures to be distributed at her concerts. To kick off the 1994 tour for her "House of Love" album, she sponsored a Habitat house in Nashville. "We had the whole band come and build on it," she says.

Diane Belitskus of New Kensington,executive director for Allegheny Valley Habitat for Humanity, is elated that Grant is involved. "I cannot believe it. I am a fan anyway and was shocked to see that she was doing this for Habitat," Belitskus says.

She is hopeful that the Mills Corp.'s partnering with Habitat for Humanity will encourage other companies to get involved.

"Sponsoring a Habitat house is a great way to show community involvement for any company," Belitskus says. "Having employes work together on a Habitat project is a team-building experience and I am sure it would enhance the productivity of workers no matter what their paid job. And, as a side benefit, workers have a great time building and bonding."

The Habitat performance will be presented in a concert tent near the mall's entry 5.

"I started writing when I was a kid, and I have always seen music as a great opportunity to either get in touch or stay in touch with things that matter," Grant says. That includes, she adds, "how you feel about somebody, what you think, what you hope for, what you are crying about."

Not all music is that way, nor should it be, she adds. "Some music is great for strutting and posing, and some is good for the more vulnerable side of life. My personality is that I would write and create more of that second kind of music," she says.

She has been performing for so long, she says, that it has created an environment of familiarity with people. Her career spans almost 30 years

"You get to know somebody over almost 30 years. Probably the biggest comment I get from women around my age or younger is, 'I wish we could sit down and have a cup of coffee and just talk about life.' I would much rather have that then a bunch of flash cameras in my face."

It's about people being connected to people, she says. That's why she believes she is asked to do benefits. "I have written a lot of songs about people connecting with people."

As she re-connects with fans in Frazer, Grant says she plans a repertoire that will be "a walk down Memory Lane."

"It will be old stuff, new stuff and, if someone shouts a song out in the crowd, we'll play it if we know it," she adds, laughing.

Grant will have a lot from which to choose, including hits such as "Baby Baby," inspired by the birth of her daughter Gloria Mills; "Every Heartbeat," "That's What Love Is For," "Lucky One," "Takes A Little Time," "Good For Me" and "I Will Remember You."

She'll have a full band with her.

Husband Vince Gill won't be along this time, because he is recording in Nashville.

She says people will enjoy her friend Ruth McGinnis, a Juilliard-trained violinist who will open the concert.

Grant loves the spontaneity of live performance. "I love a group of people being exposed to immediate creativity," she says. "I think that is always just great soul food: whether it's the bass player trying to play a song he played 40 times before, saying 'I've got to get inside this and make it new; it's a challenge,' or someone sitting in the audience maybe hearing the lyric for the first time, and they get to enjoy hearing a story unfold. It's a great way to recharge your mental and emotional motor. Live music is beautiful because it is imperfect. You just never know."

The magic moments that take place on stage, when they do happen, involve so many elements, she says. "It might be the setting or a special purpose for the evening. It all just depends on how you invest yourself and how the wind blows," she says.

The things she sees from the stage are "unbelievable," she says. "It might be someone in the first row with season tickets to a concert series yawning his head off and checking his watch," she says, laughing. "Or it could be a father picking up his teenage daughter out of her wheelchair, holding her under the arms and dancing with her."

Grant says she is surprised by where her musical journey has taken her.

Her mot recent album is "Rock of Ages," a CD of "timeless and beautiful" hymns, she says.

Although she does most of her work in the pop field, she is seen in some circles as having been a pioneer in the contemporary Christian genre, perhaps opening some doors for others.

"That has been said, especially by younger artists. But life just happens, and one step leads to the next," Grant says. "A lot of people were already working really hard doing what I was doing before I came along."

The things in life that are the most important to you always involve a combination of success and failure, she says. "Any good thing worth working really hard for, and really sacrificing your time and energy and emotion for, it's just the nature of it being fraught with success and failure -- whether you are parenting or trying to be creative musically. I just look at life in terms of the long haul."

What does she hope people take from her music?

"I always hope people are just revived on some level. Depending on the song, what really you can hope for with music is that it is just like a good, long drink of water," she says. "Whether you are 15 years old or 90 years old, there will be some kind of music that will connect with what you desperately want and need to hear, and that helps articulate it. I hope my songs do that."

For more information about Habitat for Humanity Allegheny Valley, call 724-339-2777, or visit www.habitat.av.org.

SIDEBAR: THREE WISHES TV SERIES

Amy Grant will begin giving America "Three Wishes" at 9 p.m. Sept. 23.

That's when the new NBC series of the same name, for which she is the host, will make its debut.

The unscripted format will feature Grant leading a team of experts to a small town to help make the hopes and dreams for people come true.

"Everyone secretly wants the chance to fulfill a lifelong wish that seems beyond their grasp, and this show will help transform those dreams into a life-changing reality," says Jeff Gaspin, president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment & Cross-Platform Strategy.

The wishes range from paying tribute to an unsung hero to helping a hopeless family in the grip of a member's life-threatening medical crisis.

Also included: living out a sports fantasy, helping to save a dedicated teacher's job, keeping a factory that provides jobs open as it teeters on the brink of closing down, and saving a desperate local economy on the verge of slipping into debt.

Grant says when she heard about the show, she was moved by the concept to provide "incredibly positive changes" in the lives of different people. "Seeing the initial prep work the producers had done for the pilot episode gave me reason to look at my own life and remind myself, once again, to never underestimate the impact that one life can have on another," she says. "I knew that whoever wound up hosting the show was going to have a front-row seat to some pretty amazing interaction with some very deserving people."

Each wish involves a personal story, and viewers follow the families as Grant and her team help bring their wishes to life.

"I think it is a great idea. Its essence is that it truly is about bringing people together," she says. "The really beautiful aspect of the show is the networking. You are in a small town, for example, and people go build a park for a blind mom."

Ultimately, says Executive Producer Andrew Glassman, the show will be about people helping people make their wishes and dreams come true.

On thursday, Amy Grant will give a performance of "God Bless America" to officially open the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, Frazer.

The 5:30 to 6 p.m. Grand Celebration ribbon-cutting ceremony in the food court will begin with the performance by Grant, accompanied by classical violinist Ruth McGinnis.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger also is scheduled to be in attendance, along with hometown reality-show star Amber Brkich and Chris Harrison, host of ABC-TV's "The Bachelor."

The evening will be the start of a four-day celebration at the Galleria, which opened July 14.