CCM star Amy Grant leaves Word Records for EMI CMG

AFTER 30 years with Warners-owned Word Records, CCM pioneer Amy Grant has left the label to sign with EMI Christian Music Group's Sparrow label. The deal will include all of Amy's back catalogue as well as new music. The singer told Billboard, "I had a great run with Word and still love the people there. But I feel like EMI is uniquely outfitted to do great things for the catalogue. And I've known Bill Hearn (president/CEO of EMI CMG) and his father (Billy Ray Hearn, chairman of EMI CMG) for over 25 years. There's a comfort level there."

Said Bill Hearn, "We really have a passion and mission for Amy's catalogue. We're going to repackage and remaster all 16 of her catalogue titles and release them all together on 14th August both physically and digitally as well as a suite of mobile products for the cell phone. There's never been a 'Baby, Baby' ringtone. Imagine how popular that could be."

In October EMI will release a new greatest hits package with at least one song form each of Grant's studio albums. There will also be a special edition which will include a DVD of the singer's music videos and other content.

Grant's departure form Word is the end of an era for the 56 year old company. Grant has sold more than 30 million albums there and won six Grammy Awards and 21 Dove Awards. Grant is on tour this summer with her husband country star Vince Gill and the Del McCoury Band.

She's working on a book for Waterbrook Press, due out this autumn titled Mosaic, A Collection Of Poems, Stories And Other Writings. When asked by Billboard about the direction of the next album, Grant said, "It's probably too early to say. I've been working really hard to do this (book) project and that's all I have thought about."