Christian Lead Singer of St. Paul & the Broken Bones Sells Song to '50 Shades of Grey' After Thinking Film Was a Rom-Com

How did a Christian band find their song in the raunchy hit, 50 Shades of Grey? They though it was a rom-com, of course! Paul Janeway, the lead singer of St. Paul & the Broken Bones, recently spoke to Mother Jones about how the bands song, “Call Me,” ended up in the sexiest movie of the year.

St. Paul & The Broken Bones is a seven-piece soul band based out of Birmingham, Alabama. After releasing their first EP in 2012, they have appeared on Letterman and performed at Bonnaro. The groups full length album, Half the City, was released in 2014 and was produced by the keyboardist from the Alabama Shakes.

St. Paul isn’t a Christian band in the traditional way. They sing sultry covers of gospel and soul songs and perform their own original music. However, Janeway, learned to sing at his Pentecostal-leaning church and his goal in life was to be a preacher -- at least until he followed his musical dreams instead. So, how did this preacher turned singer end up with a song in 50 Shades of Grey? Well, by accident, of course!

“When they presented the licensing opportunity, they presented it as: It's going to be a huge movie, they want to put a decent amount of the song in the movie in a nonsexual scene,” Janeway said to Mother Jones. I knew it was a book, but I had no idea what it was. So I was like, sure, big movie, good exposure. I'll be in this romantic comedy. Which is what I thought it was: a romantic comedy. It's a good way to make money in the music business, you know. Then I saw a preview for it, and I was like, "Oh, sh*t. Oh, no. What have I done?"

However, Janeway didn't take the slip-up too seriously. He told the website that he found the situation pretty humorous but was glad that the song was featured in a nonsexual scene, not for his sake, but for his families sake. He also says that he doesn’t have any morality guilty about the situation because the band is not featured in the movie, just their song and for a short amount of time at that.

Check out St. Paul & the Broken Bones’ “Call Me” down below.