Musicians who have (or may have?) Asperger's Syndrome.

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Craig Nicholls (The Vines) and Adam Young aka Owl City.

People who I suspect have A.S.
- Bjork - She attacked that reporter that time, almost in a form of an A.S. meltdown.
- Beth Gibbons - Singer of Portishead; always appears shy and awkward, says very little on stage, melancholic lyrics and doesn't give interviews.
Kate Bush - Very much the same as Beth Gibbons, doesn't do interviews (but I don't think she is).

Famous people do that a lot.

Great topic!

Elvis Costello. Please tell me yes, I'm not crazy!

All right, here's the real musician I wanted to post about:

Donnie Vie of Enuff Z Nuff.

It makes me tremble to type his name, he's so talented.

She has a few other quirks, plus I'm not quite sure how often that stuff really happens.

Do you mean you're not sure how often she has meltdowns, or how often do famous people have meltdowns?

Not famous people having meltdowns, famous people attacking reporters in meltdown like incidents. The only other one I can think of off the top of my head is when Craig Nichollis kicked a reporter's camera, and guess what he got diagnosed with.

Guess I'm not sure what makes the distinction between famous people attacking reporters, and doing it in an AS-like fashion. I'm not saying she isn't, or that I don't suspect artists of being AS myself.

Well I don't know either as I'm just taking the phrase from the other person.

Adam Young, aka Owl City has AS. Michael Jackson was also suspected. Same with Beethoven

Don't believe it.

My nominees as per the lyrical content:
John Lennon (Great candidate - songs "Imagine" and "Working Class Hero")
Ozzy Osbourne - a lot of lyrics stating a feeling of difference
David Bowie - Specifically, the song called "Conversation Piece" which should be the Aspie theme song if there ever was one


John Lennon, possibly but definitely ADHD qualities from what I've gathered from reading, studying videos of him, and from what family members said about him.

David Bowie, possibly but OMG Ozzy, most likely in my opinion.

I've seen surely a hundred interviews of him and and a long time studied John Lennon.
He definitely had aspergers syndrome or at least something with really similar symptoms.
he lived in his own world and was never interested in the world the otherones saw. In fact that doesn't mean that I think that one of these worlds is the "real" one.

he once did said he only had 2 friends in his life he said nowhere man was a song with wich he identified or watching the wheels he mentions everyone tells him he shouldn't act the way he does in working class hero mentions he can't understand the system how everyone else acts the fool on the hill ''he realizes they're the fools'' ''he never gives an answer but he does see the world spinning round (the things around him what people do)'' and he was diagnosed with dyslexia i don't really believe it was so i mean he was a genius after all.

YES he was a genius literally with a very high IQ and a very nonconformist attitude. Family members and friends have said he probably had ADHD but all of those symptoms could all be a part of AS. I relate to him and his songs very well esp Watching the Wheels. I understand the lyrics completely and feel they speak of my life and I'm a female aspie. I also believe he was an underachiever and he was definitely an outcast. LOVE HIM regardless!

The guitarist from the band below has Asperger's.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdlkYymTCxY[/youtube]

Of course, except for those who are self-declared / out as Aspies, it's possible that none of the people we list are on the spectrum. But speculating kind of makes being a fan more fun, doesn't it?

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who may have had the experience of performing music without any conscious awareness of doing so. This happened to me during a music exam a long time ago.
I took my seat at the piano and suddenly couldn't seem to make any sense of the keyboard, as if I had never seen one before. I sat silently for a few minutes staring at it and the examiner quite kindly said "take your time, just start when you are ready". The next thing I remember is him saying, "you can go now". I left the room thinking that I had not played a single note and lived in utter shame for 3 weeks.

Then the examiner's report arrived - I was astonished to read that I had given a performance he described as "absolutely flawless" and I passed with distinction. But the emotional strain of this really affected me badly and I tried to speak about it but was ridiculed. I gave up piano then and have never played since. I am still haunted by that experience over 50 years later.

I'm sorry you were so devastated! What a horrible thing to have lost something as wonderful as playing music because of such a bewildering experience. This was a terrible loss.

I've never had such an experience. But I'm saddened by what happened to you, because I also had various factors rob me of being a musician at various times when I was a kid. One of them was when I was in 6th grade and couldn't practice my saxophone, which I was just learning to play that year, without having to hear my sister shrieking and pleading with my mother, saying things like, "Does she have to play?" I'll grant that no new musician sounds great. But my teacher said I was one of the best beginning band students that year, so how bad could I really have been? After all the hounding and harassment, even though I was playing up in my room, with the door shut, my parents couldn't get me to practice anymore. I still loved the instrument and the things we got to play, but I was too distressed about being heard to be able to do it anymore. I went on the play in 7th and 8th grade, but almost exclusively in band class and performances, where I could blend in and hide amongst the other instruments, never at lessons and very rarely at home, where I would stand out and be heard alone. After 8th grade, I never played my saxophone again. I was really hurt over this.

My sister had sensory issues nobody knew she had, let alone understood, so I feel some sympathy for her. But she was older than I and could've left to visit friends, go for a walk, or hang out at the nearby plaza or something. She wasn't stuck at home. Furthermore, when my younger sister took up violin, nobody was allowed to complain, even though she practiced in the middle of the living room at first. So, even though my sister may truly have been in pain, there was no reason for my mother to allow me to be put in pain as well, and to have my musical development stunted, by letting my sister go on at such high volume, for so long, whenever I played.