Point of Grace is an all-female contemporary Christian music vocal group. The current trio consists of Shelley Breen, Denise Jones, and Leigh Cappillino. The group started out as a quartet in 1991, with original members Breen and Jones, as well as Terry Jones and Heather Payne. Terry Jones left in November 2003 to spend more time with her family after the birth of her third child, with Cappillino joining in March 2004 for their 2004 release I Choose You. In June 2008, Payne announced her retirement from the group to spend more time with her family.
The group has had more than 24 number one songs, mainly on the Christian adult contemporary chart, has sold millions of records throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, won 11 Dove Awards and has earned three Grammy Award nominations.
Point of Grace was formed at Ouachita Baptist University (OBU) in Arkadelphia, Arkansas by Denise Masters, Terry Lang, and Heather Floyd, who knew one another from Norman, Oklahoma and sang together in a 14-member female vocal group called The Ouachitones. The three women formed a trio within the group, and were singing a cappella after a sound check when an onlooker suggested that they should do something together. Shelley Phillips from Little Rock, Arkansas came to OBU on a scholarship in vocal performance and was singing in a group called the Praise Singers, made up of four women and four men, who traveled around the country performing. She was a roommate and sister of Masters in the Chi Delta, and when Masters, Lang, and Floyd decided to form a trio, Phillips suggested that she join to form a quartet.
The group called themselves Say So, taken from Psalm 107:2 ("Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.") The group shared their own management, with Floyd responsible for publicity and album sales, Lang for finances, Phillips for booking, and Masters in charge of music; they also carried and set up their own equipment before performances. They performed every weekend for the rest of that year, then recorded an independent album. They attended the 1992 Music in the Rockies Christian Artists Seminar in Estes Park, Colorado, at which they won the Overall Grand Prize in the Group competition with a performance of "He's The Best Thing." The group subsequently received interest from major record labels, and signed with Word Records, moving to Nashville, Tennessee to record their self-titled debut album.
Point of Grace's debut single "I'll Be Believing" became the group's first number one song. The album's next five singles also reached the top of the charts, a record that has not yet been equaled. In 1994, they were named New Artist of the Year at the 25th GMA Dove Awards and embarked on a national tour with Wayne Watson, for whom they sang backup after opening each concert. After that tour ended, they began doing concerts on their own. Their follow -up album The Whole Truth was released in 1995 and produced more number one songs. The next five years would see Point of Grace produce more consecutive number one songs than any other act in Christian music and has released three Christmas albums.
More information on Point of Grace at Wikipedia:
Discography
Say So (1992) (cassette independent release)
No Changin' Us (2010)
Home for the Holidays (2010)
Turn Up the Music: The Hits of Point of Grace (2011) (compilation album)
A Thousand Little Things (2012)
Directions Home (Songs We Love, Songs We Know) (2015)
Recollections (2017) (compilation album)
Beautiful Name - Hymns and Worship Songs (2018)
Sing Nöel (2021) (compilation album)
Turn Your Eyes (Songs We Love, Songs We Know) (2023)
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