Skip to content
  • About us
  • Music
  • Celebrities
  • TV and Movies
  • Fashion
  • Entertaiment
  • Life Style
  • Travel and Health
Style Focus

Style Focus

  • About us
  • Music
  • Celebrities
  • TV and Movies
  • Fashion
  • Entertaiment
  • Life Style
  • Travel and Health
  • Toggle search form
  • The 12 Best Women’s Workout Shorts for Every Type of Activity, From the Gym to the Trails Uncategorised
  • Who released the cranes on the night of Ivan Kupala?
    Who released the cranes on the night of Ivan Kupala? music
  • Eurovision 2024: Reviews and rankings by the Wiwi Jury Uncategorised
  • Iceland’s Væb will RÓA over to the London Eurovision Party 2025 Uncategorised
  • singer Vizhytsa presents her new song
    “Everyone in the world knows that the most beautiful girls have the hashtag MADE IN UA,” – with these lines, singer Vizhytsa presents her new song Uncategorised
  • 2024 Golden Globes Red Carpet Arrivals Uncategorised
  • Singer Sabrina Carpenter breaks UK chart record Uncategorised
  • BuDhaGirl’s Jessica Jesse Is Making Mindfulness Chic With Bangles That Double as Daily Rituals Uncategorised

Daddy Yankee is the latest star to trade the charts for church

Posted on 6 December 2023 By Admin No Comments on Daddy Yankee is the latest star to trade the charts for church
Daddy YankeeGetty Images
By Mark Savage
BBC Music Correspondent

Puerto Rican superstar Daddy Yankee has announced he’s giving up music to devote his life to religion.

The star, known for UK chart hits like Despacito and Gasolina, revealed the news to fans at the final show of his La Última Vuelta (Last Lap) world tour.

“Living a successful life is not the same as living a life with purpose,” the 46-year-old rapper told the crowd.

“For a long time, I tried to fill an emptiness… that nobody could fill,” he added, saying faith had saved him.

“That’s why tonight I recognised and am unashamed to tell the world that Jesus lives in me and that I will live for him.”

It’s an abrupt change for one of the leading voices in reggaeton, the sexually-charged, street-smart style that emerged in Panama and Puerto Rico in the 1990s, blending reggae music with Latin American dance hall music and hip-hop.

Yankee, born Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez, has been one of the genres’ biggest ambassadors, scoring international hits with sensual, propulsive hits like Barrio Fino, Con Calma and Rompe.

After releasing his first solo record in 1995, he became the best-selling Latin artist of the 2000s, and collaborated with everyone from Justin Bieber to Snoop Dogg, Janet Jackson and the Jonas Brothers.

He announced the decision to bow out in March, with the release of his first studio album in a decade – humbly titled Legendaddy – and the promise of his biggest-ever tour.

Daddy Yankee

Getty Images

As he finished his last-ever show at the packed Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, the star thanked his fans for their support and urged them “follow Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life”, as a group of drones flew over the stadium, forming the shape of a cross.

He is not the first reggaeton star to eschew music for a life of faith – following in the footsteps of artists like El General, Héctor El Father, Julio Voltio and Jomar El Caballo Negro.

Last year, the Purto Rican rapper Farruko used a concert in Miami to apologise for the vulgar lyrics in his tracks and spoke at length about his religious beliefs.

But it’s not just reggaeton. Here are five other stars who left behind a successful career to devote their life to God.

1) Al Green

Al Green

Getty Images

Known for soulful love songs like Let’s Stay Together and Tired Of Being Alone, Al Green had a religious epiphany in Disneyland, of all places.

One night, after playing a concert in the theme park, he woke up in his hotel room feeling strangely serene and shouting “Hallelujah!”

Over the next few years, he wavered between his million-dollar career and a desire to sing gospel music – but finally decided he needed to turn his life around when a spurned girlfriend poured boiling food over him and shot herself.

In 1976, Green established the Full Gospel Tabernacle church in Memphis, where he still preaches to this day.

2) Cat Stevens / Yusuf

Cat Stevens

Getty Images

It was a near-death experience while swimming in Malibu that convinced Cat Stevens to devote his life to Islam.

“I was an Englishman. I didn’t know it wasn’t wise to go out at that time of day and take a swim, so I did,” he told Desert Island Discs in 2020.

“I decided to turn back and head for shore and, of course, at that point I realised, ‘I’m fighting the Pacific.’

“There was no way I was going to win. There was only one thing to do and that was to pray to the almighty to save me. And I did.”

After converting, he changed his name to Yusuf Islam and released a series of religious-themed albums, including recordings intended to teach children the basic tenets of his faith.

He returned to pop in 2006, and recently played a triumphant set in Glastonbury’s Legends Slot.

3) Ma$e

Ma$e

Getty Images

Harlem rapper Ma$e was known as Puff Daddy’s favourite sidekick, lending his sleepy, easy-going flow to tracks like Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down, Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems and Mariah Carey’s Honey.

His debut album, Harlem World, topped the US charts in 1997, at the peak of the short-lived “jiggy rap” era. It contained the hit singles What You Want and Feel So Good which focused on Ma$e’s lavish lifestyle, luxury cars and lyrical prowess.

“Girl, I wanna give you carats ’til you feel you a rabbit,” he observed on What You Want.

But after his second album failed to catch fire, the rapper told New York DJ Funkmaster Flex he’d found the Lord and was giving up the rap game instead of “leading people, friends, kids and others down a path to hell”.

“A lot of people said, ‘You should wait to talk about this.’ But God wouldn’t have given it to you on Sunday if He didn’t need you to do it on Monday,” he said.

Reverting to his birth name, Mason Durell Betha, he became a pastor and now leads a church in Atlanta.

4) Little Richard

Little Richard

Getty Images

Not everyone sticks it out. Little Richard went from taking part in orgies and snorting $1,000 of cocaine a night to a quiet period of religious devotion, before heading back to a life of excess.

Born in 1932, he was one of the first true rock stars, breaking out with his 1955 song Tutti Frutti, followed by hits like Slippin’ and Slidin’ and Good Golly Miss Molly.

His songs were energetic, riotous and laced with innuendo – but the singer struggled to reconcile his lifestyle, and his homosexuality, with his religious beliefs.

At the height of his career in 1957, during a show in Australia, Little Richard announced he was quitting rock and roll. He cut his hair, got married and became a traveling evangelist – then enrolled in a theological school in Alabama to study gospel music.

He released the King Of The Gospel Singers album in 1961, but was tempted back to rock and roll a year later. For the rest of his life, he was torn between the pulpit and the pull of the stage.

“Although I sing rock and roll, God still loves me,” he said in 2009. “I’m a rock ‘n’ roll singer, but I’m still a Christian.”

5) Brian ‘Head’ Welch

Brian Welch

Getty Images

With songs like Freak On A Leash and Rotting In Vain, American nu metal band Korn didn’t seem to have much of a grip on a life of piety.

But in 2005, guitarist Brian “Head” Welch realised his life had reached a crossroads. After years of addiction to prescription drugs, alcohol, meth-amphetamines and sleeping pills, he turned to a higher power for help.

“I really wanted God to take away my addiction to drugs,” he said. “I was like ‘Jesus, if you’re real, take away my addiction.’ I felt Him come into my life, and that’s when everything changed.”

He quit the band and was baptised in the River Jordan, then travelled to poverty-stricken areas of India to build orphanages.

Welch later admitted he had been “over-zealous” after his initial conversion, saying he got “obsessed” with religion “just like I was obsessed with drugs”.

The comments received negative feedback from Christian websites, who felt he had renounced his faith – but the musician later reaffirmed his beliefs, saying: “I have an amazing relationship with God and I know where that stands. So I’m very confident in that, so I don’t gotta really worry about it for temporary controversy.”

Related Topics

  • Religion
  • Music

Adblock test (Why?)

Uncategorised

Post navigation

Previous Post: Wonka reviews: Critics say Timothée Chalamet film is a treat
Next Post: Norway on Israel’s Eurovision participation: “We are following what the EBU decides”

Related Posts

  • The band "My Conflict" released the first horror video in Ukraine
    The band “My Conflict” released the first horror video in Ukraine Uncategorised
  • ‘Screamingly funny’ Tony Slattery dies aged 65 Uncategorised
  • Brighton Pride: Girls Aloud, Mika and S Club are all set to slay! Uncategorised
  • Moldova announces 32 live audition participants for Eurovision 2024 selection Uncategorised
  • Host Jo Koy’s jokes fall flat and six other Golden Globes moments Uncategorised
  • Victoria Beckham Closes Her Paris Fashion Week Show on Crutches With a Kiss for David Beckham Uncategorised

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Man guilty of stalking TV presenter Myleene Klass
  • Germany: Chancellor Friedrich Merz says he’d support Eurovision withdrawal if Israel is excluded
  • Queen leads tributes to ‘wonderfully witty friend’ Dame Jilly Cooper
  • First celebrity leaves Strictly after dance-off
  • New music this week: Songs from KEiiNO, Lord Of The Lost, The Black Mamba and more

Recent Comments

No comments to show.

Archives

  • October 2025
  • September 2025
  • August 2025
  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • March 2022
  • November 2008

Categories

  • announcements
  • Events
  • Fashion
  • music
  • Persons
  • Uncategorised
  • “We were born to create”: Julia Sanina on her Eurovision journey and a new era for The Hardkiss Uncategorised
  • Kourtney Kardashian Matches With Travis Barker at 2023 Emmys in First Red Carpet Appearance Since Son’s Birth Uncategorised
  • One Love: How Kingsley Ben-Adir became Bob Marley on the set of Barbie Uncategorised
  • ‘Groping’ and ‘touching’: Fresh claims against Gregg Wallace Uncategorised
  • Esa diva! Melody wins Benidorm Fest 2025 after topping public vote Uncategorised
  • My kids saw my pain on set, says Angelina Jolie Uncategorised
  • Strictly Come Dancing: Brian Cox turned down show as he’s ‘too old’ Uncategorised
  • Haydn Gwynne: Drop the Dead Donkey and The Windsors star dies aged 66 Uncategorised

Copyright © Style Focus

Powered by PressBook News WordPress theme