Background
Between 1982 and 1984, Amy Grant had become one of the most popular contemporary Christian singers ever. Her album Age to Age had become the best-selling Christian album up to that point; it became the first Christian album by a solo artist to be certified gold in 1983.
Although Grant never made public her intentions to become a secular artist during this period, her success might have hinted at future decisions. When she penetrated into the country charts in late 1983 with the holiday single "Tennessee Christmas," she managed to be nominated for an ACM award for Best New Female Vocalist. In 1985 she continued her success when she performed "Angels," a song from her 1984 album Straight Ahead, on the nationally televised Grammy Awards.
At this point, her record company had become convinced that she would be equally successful as a mainstream artist. They soon began negotiations with the major independent label A&M to distribute their catalogue in secular outlets. The deal went into effect in January 1985 when A&M reissued Straight Ahead in secular outlets. Although it only peaked at #133 on the Billboard 200, it did go gold and was a bigger success than most Christian artists had at the time, and so she and her management decided to record a crossover album.
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