• 1983-

  Michael SweetVocals1982-

  Robert SweetDrums1982-

  Oz FoxGuitar1983-

  Tim GainesBass1983-2017

  Perry RichardsonBass2017-
• Stryper is a Christian glam-metal band. The Michael and Robert Sweet are brothers, and were both born again in 1975.
• They were originally called Roxx Regime. They changed the name to Stryper after a passage in Isaiah 53:5: "With His stripes we are healed."
• Their Christian message is a constant theme in their music. It was the Sweet's mother who convinced them to perform overtly Christian material when they formed the band.
• Stryper's look is built around yellow and black stripes which show up on their instruments, their stage setup, and their clothing.
• They throw bibles into the crowd at their shows. Michael Sweet told Songfacts: "People used to leave the bibles on the ground, and then we started putting Stryper stickers on them and they were never left again. Because they were a little memento. And we figured if it's just a souvenir and that's how they view it, maybe someday they'll read it. Sure enough, we get story after story of people that say a year or two or three of collecting dust, I opened it up and read it."
• Randy Jackson of American Idol fame played bass on their song "Shining Star."
• Their original guitarist was Bruce Johannesson, who later changed his name to C.C. DeVille and joined the band Poison.
• The Sweet brothers were inspired to spread their Christian message after watching Jimmy Swaggart on TV. But the televangelist spoke out against Stryper when they hit it big: Swaggart devoted a chapter of his 1987 book Religious Rock 'n' Roll: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing to slamming the band. The next year, Swaggart was caught with a prostitute in a Louisiana motel.
• In the 2009 movie Whip It, Ellen Page's character wears a Stryper concert T-shirt.
• After the temporary breakup of Stryper in 1993, Michael Sweet released two solo albums, but got discouraged with his record label. He moved from California to Massachusetts to work at his father-in-law's business, which was a campground in a cranberry bog. He recalled to Beyond The Turntable: "I worked in the bogs for about five years. Put on hip waders get out there corralling berries. It was cool! I had a great time doing it. It was a change I desperately needed. I'm not a farmer to save my life. But I just enjoyed getting out there and working."
• Ever since Michael Sweet heard Judas Priest's cover of the Joan Baez folk song "Diamonds & Rust" on the radio, their frontman Rob Halford has been his favorite metal vocalist. "My sister was taking me to school and dropped me off and I heard that and I'm, like, 'What in the world is this?' After school, I went out and found the album, bought it, listened to it. And it changed me as a vocalist," Sweet told Metal Edge magazine.
  
  "I started practicing high notes. I developed my upper register on my own. I didn't go to a vocal coach for that. And I used to do techniques and try different things and I eventually built up and developed my lung capacity," he continued. "And that was based on Halford, and I have him to thank for that. Eventually, I took a few vocal lessons, but for the most part, Rob Halford really shaped me as a singer."

Comments: 2

• Chad Eicher from Apple Creek, OhioNever saw Stryper in concert before. However, if some people want to claim that Stryper is satanic, that's their choice. To me, "Honestly" is absolutely beautiful. I would perform that song with them along with "To Hell With The Devil", "Calling On You", "Soldiers Under Command", "Sing Along Song" And "Makes Me Wanna Sing" cause I know the words to those songs.
• Sherry from Middleboro, MaSaw Stryper back in 1988. Still the LOUDEST concert I ever went to.

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