About Natalie Grant
Natalie Diane Grant is an American singer and songwriter of contemporary Christian music. She received the Gospel Music Association's Dove Award for Female Vocalist of the Year four consecutive years, 2006–2009, and a fifth award in 2012. She has also been nominated for eight Grammy Awards .
Grant was born December 21, 1971, in Seattle, Washington. She enrolled at Northwest College in Kirkland, Washington, studying to be a schoolteacher. She reportedly figured that her musical gifts were merely for sharing with her local church until she learned how to find God's true calling for her life, and so switched directions and began a career in Christian music.
Grant first started in contemporary Christian music when she auditioned for the travelling music group Truth. Later she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue her solo career. There she signed with Benson Records in 1997 and began working on her self-titled debut which was released in 1999. She left Benson for Pamplin Music soon after and released the album Stronger in 2001. She then ended up at Curb Records after Pamplin folded, where she has made five solo albums as of 2012, starting with Deeper Life in 2003. Awaken was her breakthrough success, in 2005. It was RIAA certified gold. It was followed by Love Revolution on August 24, 2010 and Hurricane on October 15, 2013.
Grant released three albums between 1999 and 2003, although the majority of her hits came later in her career. She has since reported being unhappy with the way she was imaged by her early record label which marketed her partly on her looks and says of her first record, "It wasn't me at all either." However, she credits her early albums with having been necessary to her progressing and growing into an artist that takes control of such decisions, starting with her first widely successful album, Awaken.
Another factor that was essential to her later success was a life-altering trip to India in 2004. Not only did this trip inspire her charitable pursuits, "but it brought a new passion and direction to her music." Instead of focusing only on what song might be a hit, Grant reports that she now focuses on songs that will inspire, give hope, and motivate others to make their lives matter.
There have been other noteworthy events along the way. She wrote a book entitled The Real Me in 2005. She toured on the Speaking Louder Than Before tour with Bebo Norman and Jeremy Camp in 2008. She contributed the song "Breathe On Me" to Crystal Aikin's self-titled debut album. She was a speaker and performer on the Revolve Tour, a conference for teen girls from Women of Faith. She toured with award-winning, multi-platinum selling Billboard magazine's Artist of The Decade MercyMe in April 2011. Also, in October 2011 she starred in the Gospel Music Channel made-for-television movie Decision.
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