HOT GALLERY: These Musicians Found Religion—Some of Them Will Surprise You!

Mohammad Abdul Aziz, a.k.a. Jermaine Jackson, converted to Islam back in 1989. He took a trip to the Middle East with his sister Rebbie; when they arrived in Mecca, he says, he had an instantaneous conversion. “I was searching for completeness.... It was a calling that I felt was in my heart.” Along with his famous siblings, Jermaine was raised a Jehovah’s Witness. Now, he says, “I am so proud to be a Muslim.”

“People accuse me of being a hypocrite,” Dave Mustaine, the founder and lead guitarist and vocalist of Megadeth (and the original lead guitarist of Metallica), told the Twin Cities Star Tribune of some of his heavy-metal lyrics. “Well, who needed a life-changing experience more than somebody like me?” Having been treated for drug addiction and alcoholism in the early 2000s, Mustaine endured a freak accident that caused nerve damage in his left arm; he didn’t know when—or if—he’d be able to play guitar again. Mustaine, who grew up a Jehovah’s Witness, was born again. He hasn’t shied away from speaking his mind on his faith or on his conservative political views. When asked whether he supports gay marriage, Mustaine told Seattle Weekly, “I’m Christian. The answer to that would be no.” Mustaine has also declined to allow Megadeth to appear on billings with other bands whom he deems un-Christian. “I have to draw the line and stand for my beliefs, or they aren't beliefs at all, are they?” Mustaine wrote about one widely publicized incident. “I don’t expect anyone to fully understand this.”

In 2007, Busta Rhymes—who grew up in Brooklyn with his Seventh-Day Adventist Jamaican-immigrant parents—said in an interview, “I live my life by Islam,” and went on to say that he prioritizes “being in tune with your spirit.” Given his beliefs, the release of his 2008 song “Arab Money” met with considerable controversy, including accusations of racism and criticism from many Muslims who were incensed that he used verses from the Quran in a decidedly secular song. Busta defended the song, saying, “We ain’t tryin’ to be disrespectful.... We are actually acknowledging the fact that the Arabian culture, a Middle East culture, is one of the few cultures that value passing down hard work riches that’s been built amongst the family.”

Undisputedly the most recognizable and revered reggae artist of all time, Bob Marley was only 36 when he died of cancer. His songs—including “One Love,” “Get Up Stand Up” and “War”—were not only great music; they spoke to social justice (and injustice) in Jamaica and beyond. The politics described so vividly in his lyrics were closely to his Rastafari beliefs. Although Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq spoke publicly after Marley’s death about having baptized him in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church about a year earlier, Marley’s conversion was kept mostly under wraps during his life. (There is a close correlation between the two faiths, but with several fundamental distinctions.) “Bob was really a good brother, a child of God, regardless of how people looked at him,” Yesehaq said in an interview. It remains controversial to this day, as he is still so closely associated with Rastafari.

Shock rocker as born-again Christian? Alice Cooper is living proof. The guy who brought us Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, the anthemic “School’s Out,” and lyrics like “I love the dead before they’re cold/ Their bluing flesh for me to hold” is, in fact, a devoted Christian. Born Vincent Furnier, Cooper grew up in the church; both his father and his grandfather were evangelists. But when he formed a band, he realized that there was a dearth of villains in the music scene. So he consciously constructed the ultimate bad-guy image, even while his early music had a very Christian message—turning away from Satan (whom Cooper describes as “the slickest car salesman you ever saw”). After years of alcoholism and rehab, Cooper straightened out his life with the help of his faith. “I’m the perfect example of the prodigal son,” Cooper said on a Christian TV show. Cooper founded the faith-based Solid Rock organization, which gives kids a productive, creative alternative to drugs and violence. Still, the violent imagery in his stage show (guillotines and all) may seem, you know, kind of at odds with his Christianity. But he doesn’t see it that way. “Alice is a character,” he told the Houston Press. “And between me and the Lord, the Lord knows that.”

It’s not as though Al Green was a stranger to religion before he became a Baptist minister. As a young boy, Al Greene (he dropped the “e” as a solo artist) was in a gospel group with his brothers—he only moved on to secular music after his father kicked him out of the Greene Brothers when he was discovered listening to “profane” music (Jackie Wilson, to be precise). He then formed a pop group before going solo and producing legendary R&B songs like 1972’s “Let’s Stay Together.” In 1974, Green’s girlfriend Mary Woodson tossed boiling-hot grits on his back, stormed off into a bedroom, and shot herself with his gun. Her death shook Green to the core, and he vowed to dedicate himself to God, becoming an ordained Baptist minister two years later and buying a church building that became the Full Gospel Tabernacle, where he still preaches. You can watch him in action in this excerpt from the 1984 documentary Gospel According to Al Green.

What happens to a musician who, in his 20s, becomes part of the most popular band the world has ever known? If you’re Ringo Starr, you go wild for a while, collaborate with lots of other musicians... and search for God. Starr attended an Evangelical Anglican church as a child but has only rediscovered the importance of religion in his life in recent years. “Being on this quest for a long time, it's all about finding yourself,” Starr told the Los Angeles Times. “For me, God is in my life. I don't hide from that.... I stepped off the path there for many years and found my way [back] onto it, thank God.” Starr continues to record and tour with varying lineups of his All-Starr Band.

As a child, Sheila E. attended a Catholic church out of obligation, not faith. After finding success as a protégé of Prince’s with hits like “The Glamorous Life” and “A Love Bizarre” and touring nonstop, she suffered several medical crises—including a partially collapsed lung and extreme exhaustion. “I actually thought I was going to die,” she told Religion Today. “My body shut down, I shut down, I was really scared.” So she turned to God, and now, she says, “I’m getting the best of both worlds—good Word and good praise and worship.... It’s totally changed my life.” Her Elevate Hope Foundation provides music and art therapy to abused and abandoned children; here she is performing at the Saddleback Church. Her website even has a section dedicated to her Ministr-E—including testimonies and prayer requests.

In the '80s, pioneering rappers Run-DMC took over the video airwaves with hits like “It’s Tricky” and “Walk This Way”—and became the emblem of rap music for the MTV generation. Despite all of Run’s success with the group, at what he described as a “turning point” in his life, Run sought more spiritual fulfillment through Zoe Ministries. “I started going to church and became an usher,” Run told New York magazine. “I went from that to a deacon, then a minister, then an ordained father. I’m a very intense person. As hard as I went out and rapped, when I’m in church, I’m gonna church it that good.” Run and his wife have five children; their life (including the tragedy of losing a baby at birth) was chronicled on their reality show Run’s House. Rev. Run also offers his daily faith-based insights and wisdom to nearly 4 million Twitter followers.

Brian Welch turned to God because he needed help. As the lead guitarist of Korn, he developed a serious drug and alcohol problem that ended up tearing his marriage apart and putting his daughter, Jennea, at risk. Through a Christian friend, he started to learn about the faith and, he says, wondered “Could there really be a God?” He went to church, snorted some speed, read the Bible, and had what he described as a “miracle” salvation. His autobiography Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story chronicles this journey.

Few contemporary musicians are as universally revered as Prince. He’s influential as a singer, songwriter, mentor, and activist for artists’ rights. In addition to sexy lyrics and dance moves onstage, Prince was once known for his proclivity for wearing rather, uh, revealing clothes (skip to the 1:39 mark for the full moon). But in the early 2000s, after a series of heartbreaking events including the deaths of both his son and his parents, he became a Jehovah’s Witness and all that changed. Now he even goes door-to-door asking people if they’d like to talk about God. “There’s an incredible peace in my life now and I’m trying to share it with people,” Prince told the U.K. Mirror. He has also turned his considerable talent and charisma toward worship—check him out praising Jehovah at the 2005 NAACP Image Awards.

The acclaimed musician and actor Mos Def actually turned to Islam quite a while ago—as a teenager—but, as of this year, decided to adapt a new name that reflects more “the self that I see and know myself as.” You can call him Yasiin Bey now. When Bey and his old Black Star partner Talib Kweeli appeared on The Colbert Report recently, Stephen Colbert, as usual, asked just the right question: “Why would you not be Mos Def anymore? He’s a famous guy who sells records.” Bey explained that it’s a nom de plume, a la Mark Twain.