10 musical geniuses who didn’t let disability stop them

The musical geniuses who had to deal with disability on the path to greatness.

The music world is full of creative people, capable of coming up with songs and symphonies that make life wonderful but some are even more impressive.

Seeing your favourite band or orchestra in concert is inspiring, and we all have someone whose next album we can’t wait for.

The mystery is how they come up with so many beautiful tunes or dream up those unforgettable lyrics and melodies.

But, for these 10 incredible people, even blindness, lost limbs or being wheelchair-bound didn’t stop them.

1. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Many music lovers’ greatest composer of all time, Beethoven began to lose his hearing at the age of 26.

Severe tinnitus meant he had ringing in his ears, so loud that he struggled to hear his own piano over it, and he went into his shell, avoiding conversations where possible.

Experts now reckon it could have been typhus that brought it on, or an auto-immune disorder, while others blame Ludwig’s habit of putting his head in iced water to keep himself awake!

2. STEVIE WONDER

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8r92A7ndnZk

A genius on harmonica in his youthful days, a mean drummer, a wizard on keboards, and one of the most soulful voices on Earth.

How has Stevie done all he has, despite being blind from birth?

Born six weeks premature, that allied to the conditions in his incubator led to his retinas becoming detached.

Within a few years, though, he was mastering multiple instruments well enough to do street corner shows.

He’s often joked about his blindness, but many a musician has observed his fingers flying across the keyboard and felt utter envy.

Hits like Isn’t She Lovely, written by a man who couldn’t see his new baby daughter, Aisha, have made him a true superstar.

And Superstition, Living For The City and You Are The Sunshine Of My Life aren’t bad either!

3. RICK ALLEN

Many a rock band has sung about being tough guys and this man really is one of them.

Drummer with Def Leppard, Rick had his left arm amputated after a horrific car smash, on the last day of 1984.

Given six months to recuperate, he was actually back drumming with Def Leppard in about six weeks.

Using his left foot to hit the snare, he has continued to defy all the odds.

4. DJANGO REINHARDT

Considered by many to be the greatest, most-innovative guitarist ever, Django had more than difficult scales and chords to master.

Severe burns in a fire left him able to use just the index and middle fingers of his left hand.

Did he give up the guitar? No, he just invented a whole new way of playing.

And it was so good that even today, top guitarists with a full complement of five fingers simply can’t do what he did.

5. RAY CHARLES

Known simply as The Genius, Ray was born in 1930 Billy Joel said: “It may be sacrilege, but I think he was more important than Elvis.”

Glaucoma meant Ray began losing his sight at four, was completely blind by seven, but had his life turned around by piano lessons at school.

It was all Beethoven, Bach and Mozart, but when he left school, he played piano at the Ritz Theatre, Florida, and by 16 he was living on the poverty line.

After Atlantic Records heard and signed him, he would make some of the all-time great records, and even in modern rock polls, he is up there with the very best.

6. CURTIS MAYFIELD

Producer, songwriter, guitar man, singer, he had two huge careers, as a solo artist and with The Impressions.

Curtis was also inducted into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall Of Fame twice and he was one of the main men as black American music evolved from old style to soul, funk and disco.

It all changed, or could have, when stage lighting crashed down on him at an outdoor concert in New York, in 1990.

Left paralysed from the neck down, his guitar days were over in a flash. His songwriting, however, continued as if nothing had happened, lying on his back in the studio to record his vocals.

7. ROBERT WYATT

The 69-year-old, born in Bristol, plays drums, percussion, piano and other keyboards, guitar, bass, and trumpet.

And he sings. And he is wheelchair-bound. And he is a genius!

Robert was at the peak of his powers in 1973, gaining popularity with groundbreaking band Soft Machine and further success solo and with others, when he fell from a window at a party in Maida Vale.

Paralysed from the waist down, he has used a wheelchair since. A very popular, genuinely nice bloke, Pink Floyd put on concerts to raise funds for him, and he has paid us all back with some wonderful records since.

Top Of The Pops didn’t fancy him doing his hit, I’m A Believer, as a wheelchair “was not suitable for family viewing”.

Imagine them trying that today! Robert, raging, got his way and it was indeed televised.

Another amazing musical giant.

8. EVELYN GLENNIE

Born to a well-known accordionist, the Aberdeenshire lass started losing her hearing at eight.

Profoundly deaf by 12, it didn’t get in the way even slightly.

Evelyn says simply that hearing music is misunderstood by the rest of us, and she just “hears” it with different parts of her body.

9. IAN DURY

Having contracted polio at seven, Ian spent months in plaster in hospital, and had a hard time at a school for disabled children.

That didn’t stop him writing joyful music, though.

Ian died aged just 57, but what a character he was, with songs like Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, What A Waste and Reasons To Be Cheerful.

10. KENNY G

The last thing a saxophonist would want is asthma or is it?

Well, it didn’t stop Kenny G.

He has sold over 75 million records featuring him on soprano, alto and tenor saxes and flute.

You’ve heard him in orchestras, movies, hit singles, you’ve heard him back Sinatra, Whitney Houston, Andrea Bocelli and Dudley Moore.

All from a man who was turned down for music college and told his serious asthma would prevent him making it big.