4 Rock Stars Who Found God—and How It Impacted Their Music

Religion and spirituality are deeply personal things that can significantly impact the lives of those who convert in their later years. For these four rock stars, their relationship with God changed them as people, as well as their music. Let’s take a look at four rock stars who found God later in life, and how their conversions changed their music for good.

1. Lou Gramm

Foreigner’s famed frontman suffered from a brain tumor back in the 1990s. After experiencing a bout of vision issues and memory loss, Lou Gramm found out that he needed to have emergency surgery to remove the tumor.

After the traumatic experience, Gramm quit Foreigner and became a born-again Christian. Many of his live performances after that fateful experience featured a blend of Foreigner classics and Christian rock tunes.

2. Bob Dylan

Out of all of the rock stars who found God on this list, Bob Dylan is probably the most well-known instance. Dylan’s religious transformation was pretty extreme, considering he was a protest singer who famously criticized any and all leaders. In 1979, he toured in promotion of his gospel album Slow Train Coming and famously refused to perform old songs. He would also preach to his audiences during this tour.

Around the mid-1980s, Dylan returned to Judaism, though he still doesn’t play many of his hits from the 1960s and 1970s.

3. Leonard Cohen

Born to a Jewish-Canadian family in the 1930s, Leonard Cohen converted to Buddhism in the 1970s. He learned much about his spirituality under the guidance of zen master Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi and found that the spiritual path helped him deal with his depression.

In the 1990s, Cohen opted to leave music altogether to become a monk, though he did have to return to music in the wake of his manager embezzling most of his wealth. Despite living a Buddhist lifestyle for years, he requested to be laid to rest with an Ashzenaki Jewish rite.

4. Dave Mustaine

Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine famously became a born-again Christian years ago. Unlike similar musicians, he didn’t opt to leave his band; rather, he became quite particular about the bands he chose to tour with. He eventually eased off of refusing to tour with bands he considered “satanic”, and now lives a life in which he can “sense harmony between [his] spiritual and artistic lives.”

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives

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