''Straight Ahead'' is the sixth studio album by

Christian music Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...

artist

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She began her music career in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the mid-1980s. Grant has been referred to as "Honorific ...

, released in 1984. ''Straight Ahead'' was the follow-up to Grant's ground-breaking 1982 album ''

Age to Age ''Age to Age'' is the fourth studio album by Christian music singer Amy Grant, released in 1982 on Myrrh Records. ''Age to Age'' was Amy Grant's breakthrough album, finally earning her serious recognition within the burgeoning Contemporary Chri ...

''. Containing songs that were more aggressive than the ones found on ''Age to Age'', ''Straight Ahead'' was not as commercially successful as its predecessor. Nonetheless, it still topped Billboard's Christian album chart for 61 weeks, knocking ''Age to Age'' from the number-one position. The song "

Angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

" was also a No. 1 Christian radio hit for 13 weeks, and won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for " Best Gospel Performance, Female." ''Straight Ahead'' would be certified gold in 1985. The song "Thy Word" is based on

Psalm The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of H ...

119:105. In 2007, ''Straight Ahead'' was reissued and digitally remastered by Grant's new record label,

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Sparrow Records Sparrow Records is a Christian music record label and a division of Universal Music Group. History Sparrow Records was founded in 1976 by Billy Ray Hearn, then artists and repertoire (A&R) director at Myrrh Records. Barry McGuire was the fi ...

. The remastered edition is labeled with a " Digitally Remastered" logo in the 'gutter' on the CD front.Sparrow Records News
''Straight Ahead'' was the first Christian album to chart on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. A&M reissued it in 1985, just as Grant was appearing on the Grammy Awards performing "Angels".

Track listing

Personnel

– lead vocals, backing vocals (1, 5, 9, 10) * Robbie Buchanan –

Roland Jupiter 8 The Jupiter-8, or JP-8, is an eight-voice polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizer introduced by Roland Corporation in early 1981. The Jupiter-8 was Roland's flagship synthesizer for the first half of the 1980s. Approximately 3,300 units have ...

(1, 2, 5), acoustic piano (2, 3, 8), synthesizers (4), keyboards (6, 7), arrangements (6),

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

(7, 9) *

Michael W. Smith Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian music, contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when "Place in This Worl ...

– keyboards (1-5, 8-10), Yamaha GS2 (1-3, 8), acoustic piano (4, 5, 9, 10) * Alan Steinberger – additional synthesizers (1, 5, 6, 9), synthesizers (10) *

Shane Keister Shane Keister is an American musician. He is known for his work as a studio musician, writer, arranger and producer. He plays synthesizer, piano, Hammond B3, Synclavier, Fairlight CMI, Fender Rhodes, and others. History Keister was born in Huntin ...

– additional synthesizers (2, 5, 8), synthesizers (3),

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

(4) * Gary Chapman – backing vocals (1, 4, 5, 9), guitar (4), guitar solo (4) * Jon Goin – electric guitar (1), "fly" guitar (1), guitar (2-4, 6-10) *

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer, studio guitarist, and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004 ...

– guitar solo (1), guitar (9) *

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Parks has one Grammy nomination. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los A ...

– guitar (7) *

Mike Brignardello Giant is an American melodic rock band that was formed in 1987. The band originally consisted of founding members Dann Huff (lead vocals and guitar) and Alan Pasqua (keyboard), and had Dann's brother David Huff on drums and Mike Brignardello o ...

– bass (1-4, 6-10) * Andy Widders-Ellis – stick bass (3) * Duncan Mullins – bass (4) *

Paul Leim Paul William Leim (born December 29, 1950) is an American drummer and recording session musician based in Nashville. Biography Leim was born in Port Huron, Michigan and raised in Troup, Texas. He was inspired to take up drumming as a child a ...

– drums (1-4, 6-9) *

Kenny Malone Kenny Malone (August 4, 1938 – August 26, 2021) was an American drummer and percussionist. Life and career Malone was born in Denver, Colorado. From the 1970s onwards, he was a prominent session musician in folk, country and many other acousti ...

– drums (10) *

Lenny Castro Lenny Castro (born September 19, 1956) is an American percussionist from the Los Angeles area. He is one of the most prolific percussionists of all time, appearing on hundreds of albums, including those by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Maroon ...

– percussion (1, 7, 9) * Farrell Morris – percussion (8, 10) * Alan Moore – string arrangements (2, 8) * Donna McElroy – backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 9) * Kim Fleming – backing vocals (1, 4, 5, 9) * Gary Pigg – backing vocals (2, 3) * Debrorah Black – backing vocals (3) *

Bill Champlin William Bradford Champlin (born May 21, 1947) is an American singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the rock band Chicago (band), Chicago from 1 ...

– backing vocals (3) *

Tamara Champlin Tamara Champlin (née Matoesian) is an American singer-songwriter who started her career as a session singer in Houston, Houston, Texas, later moving to Los Angeles. She has performed with and written for singers such as Elton John, Leon Russell ...

– backing vocals (3) * Carmen Twillie – backing vocals (3) * Marty McCall – backing vocals (3) * Leann Jones – backing vocals (5) * Curt Lyles – backing vocals (5) * Mark Mason – backing vocals (5) * Steve George – backing vocals (6) *

Richard Page Richard Lewis Page (born 22 February 1941) is a former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979, and from 1979 to 2005. Early life Born the so ...

– backing vocals (6) * Thomas Cain – backing vocals (6) * Chris Harris – backing vocals (7) * Billy Sprague – backing vocals (7) * David Thornton – backing vocals (7) * Ron Downey – backing vocals (10) Production * Michael Blanton – executive producer * Dan Harrell – executive producer * Gary Chapman – executive producer * Brown Bannister – producer *

Jack Joseph Puig Jack Joseph Puig is an American audio engineer, record executive, and record producer. He has worked with Tonic, Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes, John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Roger Hodgson, Taxiride, Green Day, Counting Crows, No Dou ...

– engineer * Jim Baird – additional engineer * Kevin Burns – additional engineer * Gene Eichelberger – additional engineer * Steven Ford – additional engineer * Jerry Mahler – additional engineer * Daniel Garcia – additional engineer * Dennis Hill – design * Mike Borum – photography *

Aaron Rapoport Aaron Rapoport (born May 22, 1954) is an American photographer, best known for his photographs of musicians. Biography In a career that spans over three decades, Rapoport has photographed in a wide variety of areas including commercial photogr ...

– photography

Music videos

Music videos were released for "Angels" in 1984 and "It's Not a Song" in 1985.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

End-of-decade charts

Certifications and sales

Accolades

GMA Dove Awards A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards ceremonies presented annually and have been held in Nashville, Tennessee excep ...

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

References

{{Authority control Amy Grant albums 1984 albums Albums produced by Brown Bannister Myrrh Records albums