When Rock Stars Became Christian

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[00:00:02][singing] [music] >> Rock stardom often looked like endless parties, louder amps, and bigger temptations. Then the strangest plot twist happened. Some of the scene's most recognizable voices publicly turned to faith. Today, we count down 10 times rock stars became Christian. Subscribe and ride along for more true music history twists.

[00:00:28]>> [music] >> Number 10, Little Richard.

[00:00:37]BY LATE 1955, Tutti Frutti had entered the Billboard rhythm and blues chart, climbing its way to number two by early 1956, and crossing over to the pop side, too.

[00:00:49]Released on Specialty Records, it turned Richard Penniman into rock's original wild man, and it set [music] the stage for nearly everyone who came next.

[00:01:05]Then in October 1957, at age 24, he shocked audiences by walking away from rock and roll and calling it devil music. He enrolled at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama to study theology in the Seventh-day Adventist tradition. For years, he recorded and performed gospel instead of hits. The shockwave reached artists who openly worshipped his sound, including the Beatles, James Brown, and later [music] Prince.

[00:01:39]Number nine, Bob Dylan.

[00:01:43]>> [music] >> On November 1st, 1979, the Fox Warfield Theater in San Francisco became ground zero for a career detour nobody expected. At age 38, Dylan launched a 14-show run built around brand new gospel material, and fans who came for classics did not get them. The moment played like a revival meeting with hecklers in the back row.

[00:02:11]>> [music] >> The switch had a paper trail. Slow train coming hit stores on August 20th, 1979 on Columbia Records. Produced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett, featuring Mark Knopfler on guitar, it reached number three on the Billboard 200, peaked at number two in the United Kingdom, and went platinum in the United [music] States. "Gotta Serve Somebody" won the 1980 Grammy for best male rock vocal performance. Decades later, Nick Cave still praised the record's intensity.

[00:02:50]>> [music] >> Number eight, Brian Head Welch.

[00:02:58]>> [music] >> In the late 1990s, few albums sounded bigger than Follow the Leader. Released August 18th, 1998, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with at least 268,000 copies sold in its first week. The record was built by Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald Fieldy, "O'Malley" and Welch. Produced by Steve Thompson, Toby Wright, and Korn.

[00:03:32]>> [music] >> On February 22nd, 2005, Korn's management announced Welch had left, saying he had chosen the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior. Weeks later, early March 2005 footage of his Jordan River baptism made the faith pivot impossible to miss. His memoir, Save Me from Myself, arrived July 1st, 2007, turning his story into a public testimony. Korn's influence also echoed through bands like Linkin Park and Slipknot.

[00:04:09]>> [music] >> Number seven, Dave Mustaine.

[00:04:18]>> [music] >> In 2005, a backstage billing dispute turned into a headline about faith.

[00:04:28][music] Mustaine, already known for Countdown to Extinction, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and went double platinum, publicly pushed back on sharing a bill with bands he viewed as satanic. In a May 2005 message, he described full-on satanic acts and explained why he objected.

[00:04:51]>> [music] >> The decision tied directly to his conversion story. After a major arm injury and a band hiatus, Mustaine became a born-again Christian in 2003, then began rethinking older lyrics. For years, [music] he avoided playing The Conjuring, later explaining, "Only because there's a hex in it." By 2018, it returned to set lists, but the controversy remained part of his public faith arc. His riff still shaped metal generations, including Pantera, Lamb of God, and Trivium.

[00:05:28]>> [music] >> Number six, Blackie Lawless.

[00:05:37]>> [music] [singing] >> In the 1980s, W.A.S.P. was built for maximum outrage, maximum volume, and maximum headlines. Their early image collided with the Parents' Music Resource Center, and no title symbolized the fight more than Animal [ __ ] Like a Beast. To many fans, that era defined the band as permanent shock rock.

[00:06:05]>> [music] >> Then the storyline changed. In a 2009 interview, Lawless said, "I will never play Animal again." framing it around his born-again Christian beliefs. For years, the vow held, and it became part of his modern reputation. Then, on October 28th, 2022, at House of Blues Las Vegas, the band brought the song back in part, stunning long-time followers. The whiplash helped explain why Lawless influenced later theatrical hard rock figures like Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie.

[00:06:49]>> [music] >> Before we continue, which turn felt the most unforgettable? The gospel tour shock, or the metal era line in the sand? Did you remember hearing these stories on classic rock radio, or reading them in old music magazines?

[00:07:05]Drop a comment and let us know where you are watching from. Number five, Kerry Livgren.

[00:07:12]>> [music] >> By the late 1970s, Kansas was arena royalty. Leftoverture went four times platinum in the United States, and Point of No Return peaked at number four on the Billboard 200, and also went quadruple platinum. Behind the scenes, main songwriter Kerry Livgren hit a turning point in 1979, at age 30, and his new Christian faith quickly entered the lyrics.

[00:07:43]>> [music] [singing] [music] >> The most obvious flashpoint became Hold On, released September 1980 on Kirshner Records. It peaked at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, and Livgren wrote it to persuade his wife to embrace Christianity, too. Band chemistry suffered, and the faith shift split fan opinion. Soon, he moved on to explicitly Christian projects, including the band AD. Kansas' blend of prog ambition and big hooks still inspired artists from Dream Theater to Neal Morse.

[00:08:21]>> [music] >> Number four, Alice Cooper.

[00:08:30]>> [music] >> In June 1972, School's Out pushed shock rock into the mainstream. The single hit number one in the United Kingdom and number seven on the Billboard Hot 100.

[00:08:45]The album reached number two on the Billboard 200, proving the theatrics also sold records. Then, Billion Dollar Babies arrived February 27th, 1973, and hit number one on the Billboard 200, turning a horror show into pop culture dominance.

[00:09:04]>> [music] >> Offstage, Cooper's most dramatic change was quieter. After years of alcoholism, he later [music] described himself as a born-again Christian, a phrase that baffled casual observers who only knew the guillotine act. In November 1995, he and Chuck Seval founded the Solid Rock Foundation in Arizona, using benefit [snorts] concerts and golf events to fund youth programs.

[00:09:32]>> [music] >> The legacy reached beyond sales, influencing stage-first rock acts like Kiss and later shock driven performers like Marilyn Manson.

[00:09:42]>> [music] >> Number three, Dan Peek.

[00:09:54]>> [music] >> America did not tiptoe into the 1970s.

[00:09:59]They owned the radio. A horse with no name hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972 and Sister Golden Hair did it again in June 1975.

[00:10:11]Dan Peek's harmony vocals and guitar were part of that soft rock gold rush and the band's lifestyle followed the usual tour excess script.

[00:10:22]>> [music] >> Then he left. Shortly after the February 1977 release of Harbor, Peek stepped away, renewed his Christian faith, and aimed his career in a new direction.

[00:10:37]>> [music] >> By 1979, he was on Pat Boone's Lamb and Lion Records working with producer Chris Christian on All Things Are Possible.

[00:10:46]The title single peaked at number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sat at number one on Christian stations for 13 weeks.

[00:10:54]His crossover path helped open doors for later mainstream friendly Christian stars like Amy Grant and Michael W.

[00:11:02]Smith.

[00:11:04]>> [music] >> Number two, Richie Furay.

[00:11:14]>> [music] >> For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967 and it became an eternal snapshot of a tense era. Furay's voice and writing then helped launch Poco, basically inventing the California country rock roadmap that the Eagles later drove to superstardom. In 1997, Buffalo Springfield entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

[00:11:46]>> [music] >> Furay's faith pivot did not stay private. After releasing Christian albums, he became full-time senior pastor at Calvary Chapel in Broomfield, Colorado in 1983, serving until he retired in 2017. Even his honors kept stacking up. Poco was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame on January 9th, 2015. His journey became [snorts] a template for artists who wanted both harmony and testimony, [music] influencing scenes tied to Linda Ronstadt, the Eagles, and later Americana revivalists.

[00:12:27]>> [music] >> Number one, Lou Gramm.

[00:12:35]>> [music] >> Few voices defined early 1980s radio rock like the one on Foreigner 4. The album spent 10 weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold over 6 million copies in the United States.

[00:12:53][music] Then I Want to Know What Love Is Turned Into a Worldwide Moment, hitting number one in the United Kingdom on January 15th, 1985 and reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 2nd, 1985.

[00:13:15]In 1994, Gramm became a Christian, later describing the church he found as a come-as-you-are place grounded in scripture. The faith turn read differently after his health crisis. In April 1997, he was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor and underwent surgery. Yet, the story landed as resilience, not retreat.

[00:13:40]>> [music] >> Gram remained a symbol of that era's melodic power, the kind of blue-collar vocal influence heard across Journey, Bon Jovi, and REO Speedwagon.