Dennis Quaid Releases First Gospel Album and Credits Return to God for Saving Him from Addiction: 'A White Light Experience'
Hollywood star Dennis Quaid has released a gospel album that he says was inspired by his recovery from addiction and a desire to tell his story of redemption.
Quaid, 69, recently released “Fallen: A Gospel Record for Sinners” on streaming services. The album is available for purchase in a hard copy, but has also been uploaded in its entirety to YouTube here.
Thirty-three years after he recorded a Christian single as a way to tell his mother he was doing all right after having spent years addicted to cocaine, he told People magazine last week what motivated him to put together a collection of classic hymnals and original songs.
“I’m grateful to still be here, I’m grateful to be alive really every day,” the award-winning actor told the outlet.
Added Quaid, “It’s important to really enjoy your ride in life as much as you can, because there’s a lot of challenges and stuff to knock it down.”
Quaid’s battles with addiction are well-documented. He told CNN’s Larry King in 2002 he had previously used two grams of cocaine on a daily basis.
“Cocaine at that time was considered harmless,” Quaid said. “You know. I remember magazine articles in People magazine of doctors saying, it is not addicting. It is just — alcohol is worse. So I think we all fell into that. But that’s not the way it was.”
The “Wyatt Earp” star told People this week he fought off his demons and found his roots in the process.
He explained that he was raised in a Christian family but that he lost touch with his faith somewhere along the way to superstardom.
“I grew up at the Baptist church; I love the hymns that I remember from being a kid,” Quaid said. “The songs are self-reflective and self-examining, not churchy. All of us have a relationship with God, whether you’re a Christian or not.”
But his path in life included a stop at rehab, which he referred to as “cocaine school,” wherein he felt at one point he was close to losing everything.
He added, “I was in a band… and we got a record gig… They broke up the night they got it, and they broke up because of me, because I was not reliable.”
As a solo artist, Quaid said he quit using drugs and filled the void left behind with the faith he had abandoned.
He also recorded 1990’s “On My Way to Heaven” which he said was a way to let his mother Juanita know he was going to turn his life around.
He also studied scripture and began to prioritize faith in his life. That journey has also strengthened his marriage to his fourth wife Laura Savoie.
Quaid told Extra on Thursday that he and Laura pray together, which is something he had never done with any of his former wives, including Hollywood star Meg Ryan — who he was with from 1991 until 2011.
“God is in my wife and I’s relationship,” he told the entertainment industry outlet, adding, “and it’s another thing that I never really had before.”
“She and I have such a beautiful relationship, and we pray together,” Quaid said.
But a marriage blessed by God could not have come to fruition until the actor had found a place for God in his life.
“That’s when I started developing a personal relationship,” Quaid told People of finding sobriety. “Before that, I didn’t have one, even though I grew up as a Christian.”
On his recovery from drug addiction, The Texas native said, “It’s a struggle.”
“We’re all looking for the joy of life, and drugs give that to you and alcohol and whatever it is for anybody give that to you really quick,” he said of his past.
Quaid added, “Then they’re fun and then they’re fun with problems, and then they’re just problems after a while. That’s really what we’re looking for, the joy of life, which is our gift, actually, the relationship with God that we all have. It’s at the bottom of it, the joy of being alive.”
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