On Oct. 18, 1974, Al Green was scalded with a pot of boiling grits by a girlfriend named Mary Woodson while in the bathroom of his house in Memphis, TN. Woodson then retreated to Green’s bedroom where she shot and killed herself with Green’s own gun. I’m not making this up.

While undergoing multiple skin grafts amid a monthslong recovery, Green took what became known as “the grits incident” as a sign from God, leading one of the greatest soul singers of the ’70’s to renounce pop superstardom and become an ordained minister – the Reverend Al Green – dedicating the next 20 years of his music career to Gospel recordings.

Let’s stay together? Not always.