According to musical legend, one day back in 1971, Fleetwood Mac star Jeremy Spencer popped to the shops to buy a magazine and never returned. Hours turned into days, and his worried bandmates contacted the police, who began a frantic search for the guitarist. At the time, the British rock group was made up of Spencer, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and Christine McVie, as Peter Green had left the year before.

While on a tour of the U.S., the group had taken a break in Los Angeles, California, before they headed across the country to Texas. Not far from their hotel was an area notorious for being home to various ‘God Squads’ who would line the street asking people to come and repent with them.

It was near here that police eventually found Jeremy living at the headquarters of the notorious Children of God cult, later renamed the Family. Gone were his long locks and Western clothes, and in their place was a shaved head and tunic. He even had a new name, Jonathan.

He told his team that he was leaving not only the band but his previous life in general, including his wife and two children in London. He reportedly told Clifford Davis, Fleetwood Mac’s manager, “Jesus will take care of them.”

Naturally, news of Spencer’s abrupt exit from Fleetwood Mac to become a “religious zombie” was all fans and the media could talk about. Drummer Mick Fleetwood told a reporter at the time: “His [Spencer’s] head was shaved and he had a different name. Basically, he was like a zombie.”

Spencer’s then-wife, Fiona, and their children Jez and Heidi, moved to be with him, and so began their life in the Family. More than 35 years after he left Fleetwood Mac, the musician addressed the incident and cleared up some of the rumours surrounding his change of appearance. He revealed that his hair had been cut very short, not shaved, because the band was headed to a part of Texas where long hair could have got them in trouble.

Speaking to Classic Rock about his state of mind at the time of his sudden exit, he said: “The way I left was wrong and a mistake. I should’ve told them right away, but I was desperate. The night before I left, we were all in Mick [Fleetwood’s] hotel room. He was very distraught, listening to this live recording of the band before Peter [Green] left.” 

At a certain point in the track, Spencer blurted out his true feelings, telling them that he thought it sounded ‘like s***’. He went: “I went to my room and just prayed to God to somehow get me out of this. Also, they were getting into cocaine. To me, that was a Stones-type drug, and the feeling of invincibility that it gave you just seemed wrong to me.”

He also revealed that after he left Fleetwood Mac for the Children of God, he often prayed that the band would be very successful. With him and Peter Green gone and the later addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1974, the group did achieve propelled to international chart-topping stardom.

Jeremy is still very much part of The Family International along with his second wife, Dora, and regularly participates in missionary activities, performs studio recordings for the group, and illustrates Family publications for children. He and Fiona split in 1978 and have five children together, Jez, Heidi, Mareshah, Ben and Nat, although none of their kids are members of the religion. Fiona also has three daughters from her second marriage and one of them is still a member of The Family International, taking on a senior position within the cult.