Although I was raised in a house of all girls," recalls Grant, "my mother said the cardinal sin is looking in a mirror once you've left home." The winsome singer, who last year shed her "yuppie Christian" gospel tag with a crossover No. 1 single, "Baby Baby," is strictly a low-maintenance beauty. "I'm oblivious to the way eyebrows are being plucked now," says Grant, 31, whose fresh face, freckles and curly hair make the phrase all-American seem like a cheap ad slogan. "I can't tell you what's currently in fashion; my best clothes are leftover stuff from album-cover shoots. And I usually bum as much makeup as I can from video shoots." Simplicity suits her. When not touring, the Grammy winner and her songwriter husband of nearly 10 years, Gary Chapman, 34, retreat to their farm near Nashville, where she enjoys "cooking, singing and being a mom" to Matt, 4, and Millie, 2. (A third child is due in November.)
As a teenager, Grant "was smitten with Bette Midler and crazy about Cher and Carole King. To me, that was attractive—funny, vivacious, original." Even today she is no exterior girl. "I know when I feel prettier than when I don't, but it might have just as much to do with having had a great romantic night with my husband as it does to waking up with a puffy face or not a puffy face."
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