# Musicians Whose Personality Drastically Changed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2020, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004 "2020-01-06T00:54:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/21 "2020-01-07T14:43:46Z")
> [@phantom\_lamb](#): > > Bob Dylan I think? I’ve never met Dylan, but the people \*I’ve talk to who have all describe the same person: A quiet guy who rarely even talks or gets upset, but wants everything done his way. Apparently Bob is who he is and nobody can change that. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/22 "2020-01-07T16:29:34Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I haven’t seen him since his “conversion,” but he changed his religion to the Muslim faith and his name to Yusuf Islam, and mostly dropped out of the music scene. I’d say that was a significant change. Definitely a significant change, but did his _personality_ change? ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/23 "2020-01-08T00:03:11Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I haven’t seen him since his “conversion,” but he changed his religion to the Muslim faith and his name to Yusuf Islam, and mostly dropped out of the music scene. I’d say that was a significant change. I haven’t noticed any personality change, though. If someone would have converted to Christianity, I doubt anyone would say a thing about it. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/24 "2020-01-08T00:59:30Z")
Charlie Daniels. Ballad of the Uneasy Rider is a hippie song. Now he’s a trump republican. He even rewrote the song to be more right wing. Ted Nugent. Wild man who bragged about getting out of the draft by literally shitting his pants. Now he’s a chicken hawk republican gun totin’ asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/25 "2020-01-08T01:00:59Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > I haven’t noticed any personality change, though. > > If someone would have converted to Christianity, I doubt anyone would say a thing about it. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Definitely a significant change, but did his _personality_ change? All I know is he [Cat Stevens] hasn’t called me to write piano/vocal arrangements again. At least not since I wrote a dozen for him ca. 1976. Obviously his personality has changed. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/26 "2020-01-08T01:48:39Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > All I know is he [Cat Stevens] hasn’t called me to write piano/vocal arrangements again. At least not since I wrote a dozen for him ca. 1976. Obviously his personality has changed. :rolleyes: He stopped putting out music in 1978. He resumed releasing music and has 4 albums out starting in 2006 , last one came out in 2017. And he got into the R&R Hall of fame in 2014. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/27 "2020-01-08T02:16:34Z")
Duff McKagen. Went from strung-out junkie to author and financial consultant. Once sold his touring Bass, with hard case for $100. Or so I hear. Wiki says he’s worth $40 million now. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/28 "2020-01-08T04:31:51Z")
Michael Hutchence (INXS), after a head injury. It wasn’t much talked about while he was still alive, but that injury marked a major shift in his personality, going from being someone who was pretty lively and easygoing to being constantly angry. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/29 "2020-01-08T04:33:21Z")
Dion DiMucci, yeah! With Dion & the Belmonts, he was straight, clean - TEENAGER IN LOVE, yada yada. (I like the version that goes, “Each night I ask the judge who sets bail / Why must I be-e a teenager in jail?” Then he started shooting heroin, hanging with streetcorner doo-wops, got funky, and did THE WANDERER, RUNAROUND SUE, etc. Let’s not explore Pat Boone’s death-metal phase. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/30 "2020-01-08T16:58:36Z")
I’m assuming overcoming alcohol or drug addiction doesn’t count as a “personality change”, otherwise we’d have a list a mile long… ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/31 "2020-01-08T17:20:34Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > Did Cat Stevens change much? He always seemed like a nice, relaxed guy. I would say going from writing Peace Train to calling for the death of Salman Rushdie was a bit of a change. ---
**Author:** ![Frank\_Burly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frank_burly/32/24_2.png) [@Frank\_Burly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank_Burly)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/32 "2020-01-09T04:53:12Z")
Peter Green went insane and joined a cult after the first Fleetwood Mac album. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/33 "2020-01-09T05:03:53Z")
> [@Frank\_Burly](#): > > Peter Green went insane and joined a cult after the first Fleetwood Mac album. After the fourth. Bad acid supposedly really did change his personality. Jeremy Spencer did much the same after the fifth, maybe without the profound personality change. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/34 "2020-01-09T05:38:21Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > Did Cat Stevens change much? He always seemed like a nice, relaxed guy. He’s not in the public eye a whole lot these days. When members of the press baited him into explaining/defending the _fatwa_ against Salman Rushdie, he got a bit testy. Possibly, anyone in that position might do the same, but this was one of his few moments in front of a TV camera, so my view could be skewed. Still, converting to Islam marks a pretty major life change (He did it in 1977 and it coincided with his career disappearing for a while), up there with getting a facial tattoo. You can’t really say “Aside from that one little thing, he’s the same guy I’ve always known.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/35 "2020-01-09T05:46:21Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I’m assuming overcoming alcohol or drug addiction doesn’t count as a “personality change”, otherwise we’d have a list a mile long… Most musicians get pretty familiar with booze and drugs before they get famous. I guess it’s only noticeable if they started out as famous child prodigies, or got famous via _American Idol_. ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/36 "2020-01-09T10:43:50Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > All I know is he [Cat Stevens] hasn’t called me to write piano/vocal arrangements again. At least not since I wrote a dozen for him ca. 1976. Obviously his personality has changed. :rolleyes: Cool. Itzo? Or Numbers? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/37 "2020-01-09T11:52:07Z")
Nigel Kennedy. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/38 "2020-01-09T13:35:06Z")
> [@Frank\_Burly](#): > > Peter Green went insane and joined a cult after the first Fleetwood Mac album. He and Danny Kirwan, and I don’t think it was a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/39 "2020-01-09T22:08:44Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > He’s not in the public eye a whole lot these days. When members of the press baited him into explaining/defending the _fatwa_ against Salman Rushdie, he got a bit testy. Possibly, anyone in that position might do the same, but this was one of his few moments in front of a TV camera, so my view could be skewed. Still, converting to Islam marks a pretty major life change (He did it in 1977 and it coincided with his career disappearing for a while), up there with getting a facial tattoo. You can’t really say “Aside from that one little thing, he’s the same guy I’ve always known.” “Baited”? He should explain it! And then he should apologize. And then go away permanently. As far as such things go with people I’ll never meet, I have not forgiven Yusef for that. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004/40 "2020-01-09T23:11:23Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Nigel Kennedy. ?? I thought he was ALWAYS a twit. He changed? How? BTW one of the crappiest recordings I ever regretted buying (it was cheap, thankfully) was some concerto where his fiddling sounded LITERALLY to have been phoned in - the orchestra was fine but he might have been on a 1924 AT&T headpiece. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-whose-personality-drastically-changed/846004.md?page=3)