The Story Behind Vince Gill and Amy Grant’s Pre-Romance First Duet “House of Love”

It wasn’t long after they performed together for the first time in 1993, on the TV holiday special, Christmas With Vince Gill, that Amy Grant and Vince Gill started working on their next collaboration. Shortly after the Christmas special, they collaborated on the duet “House of Love,” the title track from Grant’s 1994 album, which topped the Christian chart and peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200.

Written by Wally Wilson, Kenny Greenberg, and Greg Barnhill, “House of Love” centers on some of the heartbreak and hopes around love.

Well, I’ll bet you any amount of money

He’ll be coming back to you

Ooh, I know there ain’t no doubt about it

Sometimes life is funny

You think you’re in your darkest hour

When the lights are coming on in the house of love

House of love

You’ve been up all night

Thinking it was over

He’s been out of sight

At least for the moment

But when something this strong

Gets a hold on you

The odds are 99 to one

It’s got a hold on him too

Well, I’ll bet you any amount of money

He’ll be coming back to you

Ooh, I know there ain’t no doubt about it

Sometimes life is funny

You think you’re in your darkest hour

When the lights are coming on in the house of love

When the lights are coming on in the house of love

[RELATED: 4 Songs You Didn’t Know Vince Gill Wrote With Wife Amy Grant]

More Gill-Grant Collaborations

The recording sessions for “House of Love” were the first time Grant and Gill had a chance to spend time together. At the time, both were married to other people but became fast friends before realizing their feelings for one another.

“I knew from the tips of my toes that he was unlike anybody I had ever met,” said Grant of her feelings for Gill early on. “I related to him on such a cellular level [and] was just so overwhelmed by him as a person that I finally came up behind him and wrapped my arms around him and said, ‘I’ve needed to do this all night.’ He went, ‘Woah! Woah! Woah!’ It was weird. It was all caught on film, too.”

Years before they would finally get together as a couple Gill also wrote “Whenever You Come Around” from his 1994 album When Love Finds You with Grant in mind—The face of an angel, pretty eyes that shine / I lie awake at night wishing you were mine—which went to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Grant also co-wrote “If I Had My Way” on When Love Finds You, and Gill later covered Grant’s holiday song “Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song)” in 1998. That year, Gill divorced his wife of 18 years, Janis, and Grant followed in 1999, leaving her husband of 16 years, fellow Christian artist Gary Chapman. Gill and Grant married on March 10, 2000, and have continued to work together as husband and wife on one another albums.

[RELATED: 5 Songs You Didn’t Know Vince Gill Wrote for Loretta Lynn, Alabama, Rosanne Cash, and Other Artists]

Faith and Love

In 2000, the couple wrote two more songs together for Gill’s ninth album Let’s Make Sure We Kiss Goodbye, including “When I Look Into Your Heart” and “Look What Love’s Revealing,” which describes how faith helped them get through their divorces.

More than a decade later, both co-wrote “Threaten Me With Heaven” for Gill’s 12th album Guitar Slinger in 2011. The song was co-written by Gill and Grant, along with Grant’s touring guitarist Will Owsley and musician Dillon O’Brian. The song was later dedicated to Owsley, who took his life months after its release. Gill performed the song at Owsley’s funeral and when it was nominated for a Grammy for Country Song of the Year in 2011, he took Owsley’s son to the awards ceremony.

Gill also wrote the 2019 single “Why My Amy Prays” about his wife. The lyrics highlight the couple’s differences with her deeper Christian faith and his lack thereof.

“That’s kind of what the song’s about, as much as it is lifting her up,” said Gill of the song. “It’s about being vulnerable enough to say, ‘She may be that—me, not so much.’”

Photo: Vince Gill and Amy Grant at rehearsals for the TV taping of “Women Rock! Girls & Guitars” in 2000, New York City (MediaPunch/Shutterstock)