Happy Mother's Day!

Matisyahu

Career: Jewish reggae artist

Grew up in: White Plains, where he was known as Matt Miller in high school

Mother: Rochelle Leiber-Miller of White Plains
Maybe it's because of her training as a social worker, or maybe she's just a really good Jewish mother, but Matisyahu's mom never lost faith that her son would find his way back to the family — and find his own true heart along the way. Despite drugs.

Despite epic battles between them. Despite dropping out of school and hitchhiking aimlessly around the country as a hippie.

"Me and my mom were very close," Matisyahu remembers. "That period of my pulling away was very difficult. When I was running around the country, it was pretty intense for her."

When he landed back home at some point, burned out and penniless, Rochelle and her husband, Bob Miller, got him cleaned up and into a wilderness school in Bend, Ore., that pointed him toward a different, more spiritual journey. "My mom played a big part in helping me get healthy and become more responsible, to find a place in the world that was right for me," he says.

"She did what she did and it's had a big effect on who I am, and I'll always be grateful to her for that."

Over the next few years, he discovered a fervor for Hasidic Judaism and a huge talent for entertaining people with his open, big-hearted lyrics and one-of-a-kind voice that rocks to the same Bob Marley sound he so adored in high school.

These days, he loves seeing his mom as the adoring grandmother of his three boys. "Once I had kids, I saw the joy I was able to give her through my kids," he says. "One of my favorite things in the world is bringing my kids over to see her — it's come full circle."