Nashville: Hills of Harmony

Since her debut album in 1977, Amy Grant has transcended her role as one of the most influential singers in contemporary Christian music to become a crossover artist appealing to mainstream listeners everywhere. A Georgia native and the youngest of four children, Grant grew up in Nashville and continues to call the area home today. As a singer-songwriter with 16 albums to her credit, Grant has sold more than 20 million albums worldwide, including one that went quintuple platinum, one triple platinum, one double platinum, nine platinum, and 10 gold. In 1983, her breakthrough album Age to Age won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Album. She went on to win three straight Best Gospel Performance Grammy Awards from 1984 to 1986, and her album Lead Me On won the 1988 Best Contemporary Album Grammy. In 1992, her album Heart in Motion was nominated for Album of the Year, while its crossover hit "Baby Baby" was nominated for Best Pop Performance, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. She has won 22 Dove Awards-including Artist of the Year four times-and the 1996 ASCAP Voice of America Award, among many others. Grant has also been the recipient of numerous other honors. In 1999, her contributions to the city's performing arts community were recognized by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. She's the recipient of the Sarah Cannon Humanitarian Award and the Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award. She's even the namesake for a rose. Part of the proceeds from sales of the Amy Grant Rose, cultivated in Franklin, Tennessee, go to Target House, a long-term residence for families and patients at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. Photo Consultant Tom Stanford currently serves as photo editor for Nashville's Tennessean. Stanford began his career in photojournalism in 1983 and has worked for newspapers in Texas, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Throughout the course of his career, Stanford has won numerous awards with the National Press Photographers Association, the Associated Press, and the Louisiana and Texas Press Associations. Additionally, he worked for USA Today to cover Super Bowl XXIV and the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Profile Writer Heather Cochran is a native Nashvillian who has worked as a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional for nearly 20 years. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in journalism, she began her career in New York working for Young and Rubicam and later for Ruder Finn, where she was a vice president. Her breadth of experience includes marketing communications work for international trade, travel, retail, fashion, technology, and food and beverage clients. Cochran returned to Nashville to work as a vice president and group director at one of the Southeast's largest public relations firms. Today, Cochran works as an independent consultant and has helped write and edit several books for groups including the Harpeth Hall School, the Nashville Parents Council, and Towery Publishing. She is married and juggles her work with the raising of her two young daughters.Grant, Amy is the author of 'Nashville: Hills of Harmony' with ISBN 9781589670020 and ISBN 1589670027.