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Few people have the stories—or the storytelling ability—of writer David Ritz. As biographer and ghostwriter, he's told the stories of famed artists like Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, the Neville Brothers, and Aretha Franklin. With a new book, Messengers (Doubleday, 2006), Ritz presents the voices of those who have joined him in writing a recent chapter of his own story—the story of his life as new Christian. The book brings together his Christian faith, his gifts as a ghostwriter, and the music he loves.

The story of this particular book is intertwined with the story of how you came to faith. Would you share your story?

My work as a writer has always come out of my passion about what I want to know and what I want to learn. I got interested in Christianity as a young boy, because I fell in love with gospel music. I grew up in the golden age of gospel, listening to Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, Sam Cooke, and the Soul Stirrers. Part of me loved it and wanted to believe in Jesus, and just take it on face value. But because I grew up in a highly intellectual Jewish environment, my default position was to approach the music as a cultural anthropologist or an ethnomusicologist.

I'd think, Oh, this interesting music from this ethnic group, and, here's what it's borne out of. Early on, a mentor of mine who loved gospel music told me it was suppressed sexuality and had nothing to do with anything that's real in terms of its spiritual content. I continued to have that attitude for a long time.

It seems like your career as a ghostwriter became an important part of your journey to faith.

My first book was the autobiography of Ray Charles, and that's how I discovered that my talent was for ghostwriting. And the more books I did, the more I enjoyed it.

Once I was on a panel at a writer's conference, and someone called me a hack because I'd written so many ghostwritten books. After I excused myself to the men's room and prayed up, I came back and asked: Who wrote the Bible? Weren't they ghostwriters, through the Holy Ghost? That was a great moment for me, because it made me feel like my gift to channel people's voices was the gift that the people who wrote the Bible had. I felt that they were able to channel the voice of God in a certain way, and that ghostwriting was an important calling.

I think the process of being a ghostwriter is something like surrendering to God. We give ourselves over to God, and, our whole aim is to do God's will. When you're a ghostwriter, you're serving other people, and allowing your audience to hear those people.

Your career as a ghostwriter brought you into contact with Marvin Gaye.

Marvin was an idol of mine, and he started talking to me about Jesus. And when he was right [before he became deeply involved with drugs], he was this very divine, aristocratic kind of brother. Really sweet, and very smart, and very deep. To hear him talk about Jesus made a huge impression on me. He could really preach, but in this very whispery way. He loved his music so much, and I always felt Jesus in his music.

When I met Ray Charles, his perspective was, ''If the Jews don't believe in Jesus, then I don't either, 'cause if he couldn't convince his own people, then why should I be convinced?' Toward the end, he kind of changed and embraced Jesus.

But Marvin always believed in Jesus. And never had doubts, even when he was crazy, even when he took a wrong turn and died the death of a drug addict.

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May (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50