Jamie Grace Harper on Better Mornings Atlanta

We just loved 20 year old Jamie Grace Harper when she came on the show this morning to perform during the 9am edition of Better Mornings Atlanta.
When she was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, at 11 years old, a GRAMMY nomination was the furthest thing from her mind. But a few years later came a Twitter contact from Christian music star and record label owner TobyMac, who had been following the teenager’s music postings on YouTube for more than three years.
Fast-forward a few months and “Hold Me,” the song the Lithonia native composed on her dorm room floor at Atlanta-area’s Point University, a four-year liberal arts Christian university, garnered the top spot across an unprecedented three different radio charts. Recently, the self-described “weird kid with Tourette” learned she has earned her first GRAMMY nomination for “Best Contemporary Christian Music Song.”
Tourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics. “I missed lots of school, lost my hair and, by the age of 14, just wanted to stay in my room all day,” Harper said. Noticing her discouragement, Jamie Grace’s grandfather gave her a drum set and guitar. “Even though I didn’t know what I was doing, the second I hit those drums, I seriously felt life coming back!”
Then, moved by a teen conference speaker who had overcome great adversity, “I thought, ‘I’ve cried enough. Even with Tourette, God has a purpose for me. I love to sing. I have a story, and I’ve got to share it.’ “
Harper shares her story with thousands of middle and high school girls each year through the national Revolve Tour, as well as through her own nonprofit mentoring program called GraceTalk, which she started at the age of 15. Jamie Grace credits her struggles with Tourette, the support of her parents – pastors in Stone Mountain – and her major of child and youth development at Point University, for helping her understand the insecurities many youth in her audience are facing.
The 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards will take place Feb. 12, 2012. Jamie Grace’s latest single, “You Lead,” recently hit No. 2 on the CHR Chart. She released the EP “Christmas Together” Nov. 29 and will travel on Newsong’s “Very Merry Christmas Tour” through Dec. 20.

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