The announcement that Daddy Yankee made just a week ago that he was leaving music to dedicate himself to preaching the word of Christ has caused a great surprise. In fact, the 46-year-old rapper coined the term reggaeton in 1971, a genre in which the lyrics are the antithesis of any religious message.
The Puerto Rican artist who used to say that women or cats like gasoline will now bless them with holy water. But Daddy Yankee’s decision is not an isolated fact in the world of music, especially reggaeton. Two years ago, in a concert in Miami, Farruko apologized for the lyrics of his songs: “God is a just being, he allowed me what was bad and what was good and wants to use me as instrument for everything that may have many doubts”, he announced. Other singers of Latin rhythms such as El General or Héctor el Fatherfa time also left songs for prayers.
The Dominican Juan Luis Guerra, in the mid-nineties, was one of the most recognized bachata figures worldwide, but despite his successes he was not happy. He confessed that he had heard God’s call and converted to Christianity: “Then I accepted Jesus and he came to give me much more than peace; he gave me life in abundance”. After a few years away from music, he returned, although he confessed that his priority is the spiritual life, and that all the successes he has achieved since then “are provided for me by Jesus, my Lord and savior”.
In the eighties, a very young Mexican girl who sang Ese amor ya no se toca became very popular in Spain. But a decade later he embraced the Evangelical Church, changed the lyrics of his songs to dedicate them to God and started giving talks about faith. With the arrival of 2000, Yuri returned to pop music, although he continues with his task of spreading the love of Christ.
Cat Stevens is another example of a musician who temporarily abandoned his career for faith. In 1977 he converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. After years dedicated to teaching it, he returned to music in 2006 under the name Yusuf.
In Spain there is the case of Peret, the father of Catalan rumba and author of hits such as Una lágrima cayó en la arena or Borriquito. In 1982 he became Brother Peter in the Barcelona section of the Philadelphia Evangelical Church. For nine years he was dedicated to this task, until in 1991 he returned to music.
Who did not return to the cinema was Dolores Hart, co-star with Elvis Presley in Loving you and King Creole. She was nominated for Tony Awards and Golden Globes, but in 1963 at the age of 25 she broke with Hollywood and businessman Don Robinson, whom she was to marry, and became a nun in a Benedictine abbey in Connecticut . At 85 years old, she is the only nun with the right to vote at the Oscars.
Mondeño was a very popular torero from Cádiz in the late fifties and early sixties, and even appeared in some films. In 1964 he surprised many people when he decided to cut his tail to enter a convent as a friar, although two years later he returned to the arenas. In 1970 he retired.
There are also many examples in sport, such as the Catalan Carlos Ballbé, who participated in the 2012 Olympic Games as a field hockey player. Four years later, he was ordained a priest in the church of Santa Maria de Mataró. And now, at the age of 38, Father Litus is responsible for the Pastoral Office of Sports, of the Episcopal Conference.
