Amy Grant and Vince Gill went from singing “House of Love” to finding love with each other.
The “Queen of Christian Pop” and the Grammy award-winning country singer met in late 1993, however, they were both married to other people at the time. The two artists then formed a friendship and began collaborating on music together.
It wasn’t until after their respective marriages ended that the musicians’ relationship turned romantic.
“The truth is there was never a magic plan, ‘I’m going to go do this and a couple years later you go do this,’ ” Gill said during a 2003 interview with Larry King. “There wasn’t ever even a discussion. I got a divorce. And I said, ‘Well, I think [Amy will] probably stay.’ I really did. That’s how I felt.”
The pair began dating in 1999 and got married the following year, bringing together their two families — Grant has three children, Matt, Sarah and Millie, with her ex-husband, Gary Chapman, while Gill shares daughter Jenny with his ex-wife, Janis Oliver.
The couple’s blended family grew by one with the birth of Grant and Gill’s daughter, Corrina, just two days after their first wedding anniversary.
From writing music together to celebrating anniversaries, here is everything to know about Amy Grant and Vince Gill’s relationship.
1983: Vince Gill hears Amy Grant’s “Tennessee Christmas” on the radio
It was Grant’s holiday tune “Tennessee Christmas” that first caught Gill’s attention. During an appearance on I Played The Ryman, the country singer recalled hearing the song on the radio in 1983.
“I was driving around somewhere in Nashville and I heard her voice and I pulled the car over. I said, ‘There’s something in that voice, it’s connecting to me,’ and little did I know how much,” Gill recalled.
December 1993: Amy Grant and Vince Gill perform together for the first time
The couple officially met in 1993 when Grant joined Gill at his “Christmas With Vince Gill” holiday event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to the Oklahoman.
“We actually crossed paths many times before we actually worked together. We sang for the troops during Desert Storm at Fort Campbell [in Tennessee]. And I just thought he was a nice guy. And then we worked together Christmas of ’93 and actually performed together,” Grant told King in 2003. “I was just captivated with his personality. I just thought he was a great guy.”
In 2003, Gill told ABC News that someone dared him to put on a top hat and dance with Grant during one of her songs at the concert.
“I started dancing with her, and those pretty big eyes,” he recounted. “I started to sing and the words were just nowhere to be found. And the people were laughing at me.”
Grant also noted in the couple’s interview with King that there was “nothing shocking” between them when they first collaborated.
“We worked together. It was great. I was doing a benefit for the symphony in Nashville. And he was doing a TV show for a Christmas show with Chet Atkins,” she said. “His management called mine and said, ‘Would she be on the TV show?’ And I said, ‘Hey, I’ll do that TV show with him if he’ll do the benefit with me.’ And that was the connection of our friendship for years was doing these Christmas shows.”
August 1994: Amy Grant and Vince Gill collaborate on “House of Love”
The duo sang the title track on Grant’s 1994 album House of Love. On Larry King Live, Grant shared that she asked Gill to be a part of it between their 1993 Christmas shows. “I’d heard his voice live, I said, ‘Would you sing on this record of mine, House of Love?’ ” she remembered.
Grant later told ABC News that sparks flew between them when they met to record a video for the song. “I think that a part of me loved him instantly,” he said. “I was so moved by him as a human being that I went up behind him and just hugged him as hard as I could while he was singing. I just said, ‘I just needed to hug you all night.’ ”
April 1997: Vince Gill and his first wife Janis Oliver divorce
Gill’s ex-wife filed for divorce in 1997 after 17 years of marriage. The Chicago Tribune reported at the time that Oliver had cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the divorce.
Grant learned of Gill’s divorce in the news. “That’s how I found out. I read it in the paper,” she said during her 2003 interview with King. Initially, Grant wasn’t happy about the announcement. “It wasn’t like I went, ‘Oh good, he’s available to me,’ because I wasn’t,” she added.
December 1998: Amy Grant and Gary Chapman separate
Grant and Chapman, who wed in 1982, announced in 1998 that they were separating.
“This is easily the saddest thing I’ve encountered in my life,” Chapman told PEOPLE at the time. “I’m an old-fashioned guy who believes marriage should last until one of you quits breathing.”
The former couple’s divorce was later finalized in June 1999.
October 1999: Amy Grant confirms her relationship with Vince Gill
Grant confirmed that she and Gill were dating during an interview with the Tennessean. The “Baby, Baby” singer shared that her daughter Millie had asked if Gill was her boyfriend. “I kinda took a breath and said, ‘He is, honey. Yeah,’ ” Grant recalled.
She added their friendship had nothing to do with their respective divorces.
“A lot of disparaging things were said about my very public friendship with Vince,” she explained. “One of the reasons that the friendship was so public was because it never occurred to me to hide it.”
March 2, 2000: Amy Grant and Vince Gill confirm engagement
In March 2000, Gill’s spokesperson confirmed that the couple were engaged. “I can confirm that they are getting married,” she said, per the Tampa Bay Times. “Other than that, they’d like to protect their privacy.”
March 10, 2000: Amy Grant and Vince Gill get married
Shortly after news of their engagement broke, the couple got married on March 10, 2000. They wed in an outdoor ceremony just outside of Nashville.
“After they kissed, they embraced. They just needed to hold each other,” a friend said. “Everybody was crying — everybody — because we’ve seen them go through so much.” The ceremony was attended by 100 guests, including the bride and groom’s children.
During a 2013 appearance on Katie, Grant told Katie Couric that she and Vince were “the only excited ones” at their wedding.
“I laugh about our wedding day, because all of our photographs, I refer to my grim-faced children,” Grant shared. “It just takes time, and it’s okay to let it.”
September 20, 2000: Amy Grant and Vince Gill announce they’re expecting their first baby together
Months after their wedding, Gill’s rep confirmed to the Associate Press that the newlyweds were expecting their first child together. “She’s due at the end of March,” the rep said.
March 12, 2001: Amy Grant and Vince Gill welcome first baby together
The couple welcomed their daughter Corrina Grant Gill two days after their first wedding anniversary. Gill has called Corrina the “glue” of their family. “She bonded all of us in a blood way that really did connect us,” he later told AARP The Magazine.
September 19, 2006: Vince Gill praises Amy Grant at her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony
The entire blended family was in attendance at Grant’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, and Gill gave a sweet speech to honor his wife’s accomplishment.
“Amy’s greatest quality is her ability to have a conversation with you as your friend or even a stranger and she will never waver from that conversation,” Gill said in his speech, per AP. “This is the greatest thing I love about my wife is that when she talks to you, she’s not looking over your shoulder to see if a bigger, better deal is coming through the room. She’s engaged in you and you only. … If you’re lucky enough to have spent time with her as a friend or travel the road with her riding a bus, or let her help you kind of cure your own problems, she is a great friend and I applaud her for that.”
April 12, 2011: Amy Grant and Vince Gill take care of her parents
Grant’s mother Gloria, who had dementia and whose health was deteriorating, came to their home on Gill’s 54th birthday to live her final days with them.
When Gloria survived longer than anticipated, Grant asked Gill, “What if she’s got another four or six months?” Gill replied, “Then we get to enjoy your mother for four or six more months.” Gloria Grant died on April 30, 2011.
Grant’s father, Burton, was also diagnosed with dementia in 2009. The singer told PEOPLE that her husband had been “so supportive” in taking care of her parents.
“He’s not a man of a whole lot of words, but sometimes he can read it on my face,” she said. “He’ll sit on the sofa and just say, ‘Come here. It looks like you need to be held for a little while.’ ”
December 2, 2019: Amy Grant says she is “forever grateful” for Vince Gill
Grant expressed her gratitude for her husband on Instagram a few days after Thanksgiving in 2019.
Alongside a photo of herself with Gill, she wrote: “I hope you all had a joyful and relaxing Thanksgiving. I am forever grateful for my sweet husband, Vince, and this life we share. Would love to know what you are thankful for this year!”
December 13, 2019: Amy Grant says she falls in love with Vince Gill “every night”
Later that month, Grant spoke to PEOPLE about performing with her husband.
“I fall in love with him every night again hearing him play because he is maybe one of the most gifted musicians, singers I’ve ever heard in my life. I mean ever,” Grant said. “He just makes everything better. Makes everything sound better. And he’s funny. And he makes fun of himself.”
March 10, 2020: Amy Grant and Vince Gill celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary
The couple celebrated 20 years of marriage in 2020. Grant marked their wedding anniversary on Instagram with a photo of their names carved into a log. “20 Years…… (Log carving by George Hemby),” she captioned the post.
March 14, 2021: Vince Gill wins his 22nd Grammy for a song he wrote for Amy Grant
At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, Gill took home the award for best country solo performance for “When My Amy Prays,” a song he wrote for Grant.
“It’s just a testament to how much I care about her. How dear she is to me in my life,” he told CMT. “Kindness is how she leads her life and it’s the first thing you ever notice. It’s the first thing you ever experience, and it’s kind of unending.”
July 27, 2022: Vince Gill supports Amy Grant after her bike accident
In July 2022, Grant got into a bicycle accident in Nashville. Grant fell while cycling with a friend and was taken to Vanderbilt Hospital, where she was treated for cuts and abrasions.
Gill was by his wife’s side as she recovered in the hospital, even cancelling three of his shows, per Billboard, to be there for his wife.
Grant later told PEOPLE that Gill “made every day of the journey okay.” She recalled, “[Gill] said, ‘Things happen to people every day, and you just have to take one day at a time, and we’re here, and I love you.’ ”
August 5, 2022: Vince Gill and daughter Corrina honor Amy Grant in concert
Over a week after Grant’s bike accident, the couple’s daughter Corrina joined her father on stage to perform “When My Amy Prays” at the Ryman in Nashville.
“We’re gonna do this song that I wrote for my wife, Amy,” Gill said. “We haven’t been doing it much, but because of her accident and everything she’s been going through, we’ve been thinking a lot about her and I thought how sweet it would be for her youngest to sing this song I wrote for her. Please welcome my kiddo.”
As Corrina sang, she changed the lyrics to say “when my mama prays.”
December 2022: Amy Grant and Vince Gill perform their annual Christmas show together
The couple performed their annual show, Christmas at the Ryman, together in Nashville throughout the holiday season. The 12-concert run has been a time honored tradition for the husband-wife duo and city of Nashville, in which they duet classic Christmas songs.
May 21, 2023: Vince Gill supports Amy Grant at honorary degree ceremony
Grant was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame. Gill joined her on the trip to Indiana and was in the audience as she received her honorary doctorate of fine arts at the university’s May commencement ceremony. Grant closed the ceremony with a performance of “Breath of Heaven.”
December 13, 2023: Vince Gill and Amy Grant host Christmas at the Ryman
Gill and Grant have hosted Christmas at the Ryman — a holiday concert series in Nashville — every year for the past 13 years. The couple sing Christmas favorites such as “Let It Snow,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “O Holy Night.”
“[It’s] become one of our favorite holiday traditions,” Grant said in a statement.
November 26, 2024: Amy Grant and Vince Gill talk about falling in love years after meeting for the first time
Just before celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary to Gill, Grant told PEOPLE that “life orchestrated that we kept crossing paths” until the timing was right for them to fall in love.
“Life is full of all kinds of mysteries,” Grant said. “And I’m not saying any of us did it all wrong or all right, but what we’ve experienced is just so much grace and forgiveness for each other and for our first families and our second families, and it is possible to reconcile.”
She continued, “It’s possible to mend fences. It might not be in the context of original relationships, but it’s possible to find your way in life with respect.”
Source: People
