Posted on
We are seeing more and more famous vegan musicians vegan singers in the industry. Cutting out meat and dairy and replacing it with natural, whole food sources can be beneficial. Although it’s vital to eat a balanced diet with vitamins, nutrients and minerals.
Clean eating and a healthy lifestyle are vital for an artist. So which celebrities eat a plant-based diet – and how does it help them? Read on to find out which of the big names in music have made the change to veganism.
Vegan musicians
A plant-based diet focuses on foods that are almost completely derived from plants. Meals are made from vegetables, legumes, nuts, grains and fruits, and animal products (including dairy items) are eliminated. As milk, cheese and cream are known to clog up the vocals, cutting them out often improve singing.
Increasing numbers of singers are turning plant-based and vegan and find the diet helps maintain energy on stage and while touring. Some of the best-known singers today follow a clean diet . Many find the lifestyle really helps fuel their performances.
These famous musicians reveal how it helps them and how they stick to a vegan diet as a singer.
Vegan singers
Billie Eilish
In 2018, the singer-songwriter said on YouTube: “Becoming vegan wasn’t like a huge deal for me because meat was never a thing in my life. It wasn’t like I missed meat — it wasn’t like I had something to miss”.
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus is perhaps best known for her days as a teen idol, starring as Hannah Montana. But since then, she’s gone on to become a successful singer, actress, and an outspoken vegan singer and campaigner. Cyrus often makes the headlines with her vegan campaigns. Since turning vegan in 2015, the 26-year-old singer has ditched her outlandish statement outfits on stage and opts for simple pieces that are free of animal products.
She regularly uses her social media to protest for animal rights among her 83 million followers. When marrying long term partner Liam Hemsworth, Cyrus even had a vegan wedding where her guests were served a plant-based buffet of vegan banana pudding and corn muffins.
Jason Mraz
Jason Mraz, known for his hits “I’m Yours” and “I Won’t Give Up” follows a strict vegan diet. In 2008, he stepped up his healthy lifestyle and started an almost entirely raw food diet.
Mraz tried the raw food diet in support of his bandmate, who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and was advised to go raw to help his health. He then “got hooked” on the lifestyle – which centres around eating natural foods that are uncooked and unprocessed.
Speaking to the Vegetarian Times, Mraz says it’s easy to sustain a raw diet when on the road touring.
“I pack Vitamineral Green by Health-Force Nutritionals, Nutiva brand hemp protein powder and coconut oil, and fresh bee pollen, which I’ve been lucky enough to get at farmers’ markets. And I always travel with plenty of nuts.”
Ellie Goulding
After six years as a vegetarian, Ellie Goulding revealed she wanted to become vegan in 2018. She combines a plant-based lifestyle with running to keep fit and healthy.
Goulding revealed in an interview with LiveKindly, “If you don’t need meat to survive, I don’t see why you have to have it. Also, it makes you feel tired, it makes you feel lethargic, and your body finds it hard to process so much meat all the time.”
The acclaimed singer has healthy smoothies packed with vegetables for breakfast, adding vegan protein powder to fuel her workouts and provide energy for the day. Goulding also paired up with Jamie Oliver in 2016 to create a recipe for a Monster Vegan Burger.
Sia
Sia is infamous for concealing her face from her audience. But her vegan lifestyle is something she openly celebrates, announcing she was going completely vegan in a tweet in 2014. The Golden-Globe nominated singer starred as a celebrity narrator in the vegan documentary, Dominion, which was released last year. She is a vocal campaigner for the welfare of animals and has also paired up with PETA to campaign for the end of animal homelessness .
Ariana Grande
The multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning singer has been vegan since 2013. She follows an almost Macrobiotic Japanese diet, eating lots of daikons, adzuki beans, and lotus. Grande substitutes animal-based products in her meals with meat replacements like sweet potato, tofu, and raw vegetables. Blueberries are her favourite go-to snack. These food groups provide her diet with protein, carbohydrates and vitamins to stay energised on stage.
As well as clean eating, Grande also has a personal trainer, Harley Pasternak. In an interview with Look, Grande reveals: “I try and live a healthy lifestyle; eating right, exercise and sleep are all so important. I try and stay really active all the time. I like to hike when I can and being on stage is a great workout.”
Heavy metal vegan musicians
Rob Zombie
Despite his gothic surname, the frontman of the heavy metal band White Zombie is a devoted vegan and an avid PETA supporter. Zombie is probably the most famous vegan metal musician in the rock world. Rob Zombie has followed a plant-based diet for over 30 years and has also directed films like Halloween and House of 1000 Corpses to raise awareness of the effects of a high meat diet.
Architects
Brighton based metal band, Architects, are an all-vegan band. Their openly political songs spread awareness about injustice in society and in 2012, the grouped partnered up with PETA2 to do a photoshoot bearing the message: “Liberate yourself. Go Vegan.”
In a recent interview with Clash, the band’s vocalist Sam Carter explained that being a vegan in the music industry can help create a movement. He said: “The thing that makes me more proud is influencing people’s attitudes and changing things within the music industry, what people eat, their ethics and the way they think.”
Vegan rappers
RZA of Wu-Tang Clan
The American rapper from Wu-Tang Clan uses the band’s music as a way to promote his ethics to his fans, including veganism. The band’s latest album “A Better Tomorrow” showcases RZA’s hope for the world to become a better place. Talking openly about being a vegan musician to animal rights organisation PETA, RZA explains that he uses his music and status as a singer to encourage fans to follow his lead and go vegan. The rapper decided to become vegan because he believes that it doesn’t make sense to put “dead flesh” into a “live body.”
Jay Z
Beyoncé and Jay-Z are two of the most high profile celebrities using their platform of fame to encourage fans to adopt a plant-based diet. Jay Z is the most famous vegan rapper on the planet and says that becoming vegan is a matter of global importance.
Which celebrities eat a plant-based diet?
Veganism and animal rights activism go hand in hand. A lot of famous faces use their celebrity status to help campaign for animal rights, using their social media presence and concerts as a platform to spread awareness.
Madonna
Often referred to as “The Queen of Pop”, Madonna is known for her meticulous exercise regimes and healthy eating. The pop icon follows a strict, vegan macrobiotic diet according to The Cut. It’s rumoured that Madonna has her own nutritionist and chef who go on tour with her. They prepare meals centred around organic vegetables, soy products, nuts and pulses.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Madonna’s personal trainer revealed that the star eats six small meals a day, consisting of grains, protein bars and fruits and vegetables. This boosts her metabolism and gives the singer enough energy to work out six times a week, even while touring.
Leona Lewis
Since winning the X Factor in 2006, Leona Lewis has gone on to become an actress, model, and Broadway sensation. But she’s reported to have said that she would give up all of her success and fortune tomorrow if it meant a global ban on animal testing. The pop singer has been a vegetarian since the age of 12 and is an outspoken advocate of animal rights.
In 2008, she rejected a million-pound offer to open the Harrods sale when she discovered the store still sells real fur products. Lewis has also worked in partnership with the Body Shop and created her own line of cruelty-free beauty products. She first made the switch to veganism in 2012.
Which celebrities are vegetarians or vegans?
Changing to a plant-based diet can have an amazing restorative effect on the environment, something Stevie Wonder is passionate about. Cutting meat from your diet can purify the air and reduce energy consumption among many other environmental benefits. The 19-time Grammy winner says he occasionally misses eating meat, but he feels good not eating animal products. He started as a vegetarian and switched to become a vegan in 2014, for health and environmental reasons.
Becoming a vegan singer
Not only does veganism help protect the planet and the animals on it, but it can also offer major health benefits. Vegan singers reap advantages from a vegan diet – cutting out dairy and processed, fatty foods can improve vocal health and keep you energised on stage.
If you don’t want to go as far as a fully plant-based diet, you could choose to cut out meat. Or limit your intake of it. Beyoncé’s personal trainer revealed that the superstar singer follows a plant-based diet most of the time and doesn’t eat meat on certain days of the week.
A vegan or vegetarian singer’s diet
Jared Leto, the lead singer of rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars credits a vegan lifestyle, exercise, and plenty of sleep as his means of survival during long stints on the road touring. His technique was proven successful when he won PETA’s Sexiest Vegan award in 2014. The 47-year-old has been eating a plant-based diet for around 20 years.
He follows a low-fat animal-free diet to stay in shape and hasn’t eaten dairy products since being a teenager. In an interview for the Rolling Stone, Leto described himself as a “cheagan” though. He explains the term as a “cheating vegan.” He said: “I don’t eat meat ever. But if someone’s mom made a cookie and handed it to me, I’d probably take a bite, or if I’m in Alaska and there’s wild salmon out of the river, I’d probably eat it.”
Of course, this list is by no means exhaustive. There are many more vegans in the industry and there will be more who convert to the lifestyle (as well as those who covert back to eating some animal products). If you do decide to opt for a vegan or vegetarian diet, you must ensure you get enough nutrients. Choose items with plenty of vitamins and minerals and eat foods rich in protein – like nuts and beans. This will replace that which would usually be found in animal products. It might be helpful to take a good quality supplement too. Veganism might not suit everyone.
Any diet or lifestyle should always put your personal health and wellbeing first.
Related Questions
- Is YG vegan?
Rapper YG converted to veganism for a few months for health reasons but decided not to stay with a plant-based diet long term. Cutting out animal products for a time can be useful as a form of detox.
- Who is the most famous vegetarian?
Singer-songwriter and Beatles icon Paul McCartney has been a long time advocate for vegetarianism. His late wife Linda McCartney started her own range of vegetarian foods and the star still stands by a meat-free lifestyle.
Who are your favourite vegan musicians and singers? Do you follow a plant-based diet? Perhaps you’ve cut down on your meat intake recently. Let us know in the comments below and add your recipes for vocal health.