One of his best known songs is Save Me, and he has spent numerous stints in jail during his battle with drug addiction, but singer Jelly Roll was on his best behaviour when he met Pope Leo XIV over the weekend.
The singer was among the stars who performed at the Grace For The World concert at St Peter's Square on Saturday, which marked the end of a two-day summit at the Vatican.
Jelly Roll, 40, who previously met Prince Harry, later shared a photo of his meeting with the pontiff on Instagram, writing "From rock bottom to holy ground," and a bible passage, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."
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It could not be a more stark turn around in fortunes for the US born rapper and country music singer, who was reportedly jailed up to 40 times for drug offences before turning his life around.
Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and showed musical promise as a child, learning both the guitar and piano, before he started using drugs at 14.
He spent his teenage years and some of his 20s in and out of jail for various offences including possession and aggravated robbery. He had success as a hip hop artist before he reinvented himself as a country music star.
During the Grace for the World event, he performed Hard Fought Hallelujah, his song with Brandon Lake.
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He shared a video of the performance on Instagram, where he drew praise from the likes of country music star Brandon Lake, who wrote, "Crushed it! This is what our world needs right now more than ever. Thanks for leading us Jelly!" and Tech N9ne who wrote, "Wow bruh bruh!"
The event was directed by Pharrell Williams and Andrea Bocelli, who also performed alongside Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Teddy Swims and others.
The concert was the first at the location in 2000 years.
It marked one of Jelly Roll's first overseas performances, with the star's criminal past leaving him unable to leave the US, while other countries would not allow him to enter.
He touched on the matter of trying to perform internationally during a chat with Jon Bon Jovi for Interview magazine last year.
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"I'm so excited [to perform outside the US]. We're figuring out the final pieces of some legal puzzles for me to get overseas," he said.
"It's funny, America has finally agreed to let me leave and give me a passport, but some countries won't let me come because of my felonies.
"We're working on that. I think it's going to work in my favour."
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