‘That’s Where The Real Strength Comes From’: Dennis Quaid Releases Gospel Album

Dennis Quaid has returned to something he loved long before he became a movie star: music — and his new gospel album is a testament to him regaining his faith.

In the album, Quaid, 69, references his struggles over the years with drugs, rehab, and relationships. He has been married and divorced three times, been addicted to cocaine, and went through a rehab period in the 1990s. He is now married for the fourth time to Laura Savoie, who is 40 years younger than him.

“God is in my wife and I’s relationship and it’s another thing that I never really had before,” he told Extra. “’She and I have such a beautiful relationship, and we pray together.” In 2020, he told People that meeting his wife was “love at first sight,” adding, “We’re both Christians, and right from the start God has always had a hand in the relationship. I think that’s where the real strength comes from.”

Quaid’s song “On My Way to Heaven” deals with his struggles with drug addiction.

“I had a band back then and it was the night that we were performing at the Palace Theatre in Hollywood and we got a record deal, but we broke up because I was just a mess,” he recalled. “I went home and really had this white-light experience and I saw myself continuing down this road and being either dead or in jail or losing anything I really cared about. So, I checked myself into rehab and gutted through it.”

“I spent a couple years physically recovering from all that,” Quaid said of his struggle with drugs. Of his faith, he declared, “It’s always been there. …  Sometimes the lights were off. Or I was running away from it a lot. I tried to do it my way for so long with other things you’re looking to fill that hole with. I was addicted to cocaine for quite a while. I went into rehab for that and got clear of that. They say you need a higher power to overcome that.”

Quaid’s career first soared after his role in “Breaking Away” in 1979. The next step in his ascension toward stardom came in 1983’ “The Right Stuff,” followed by “The Big Easy” in 1985 and then his turn as rocker Jerry Lee Lewis in “Great Balls of Fire” in 1989. A string of starring roles in films followed, including “Wyatt Earp,” “The Parent Trap,” “Frequency,” and “The Rookie.” His 2002 role in “Far from Heaven” garnered him the New York Film Critics Circle Award for best supporting actor.

In 2009, The Guardian listed him on its list of the best actors to never receive an Academy Award nomination.