Let’s talk success stories today!  The history of music is filled with people who overcame amazing odds, disabilities, and other disasters without ever giving up on their music.

If you’re feeling down and need a little musical inspiration, why not remind yourself how bad some other people have had it?

Rick Allen

“Who’s the best one-armed drummer in rock?” might sound like the setup to a joke, but it wasn’t to Rick Allen of British hair metal band Def Leppard.  After losing his left arm in a 1984 car wreck, Allen just kept on rocking!  He might not be able to pull off tricks like Mike Portnoy, but many fans don’t even know about his disability.

Tony Iommi

Like Rick Allen, Black Sabbath’s bassist faced the end of his musical career when an industrial accident removed several of his fingers above the last knuckle.  Rather than quit, Iommi constructed new fingertips for himself!   Then, after loosening his bass strings to compensate, he inadvertently created the low growling rumble that made his band famous.

(Talk about an Iron Man…)

Ludwig Van Beethoven

To this day, many regard Ludwig Van’s glorious Ninth as the enduring pinnacle of orchestral composition and a real source of musical inspiration.  What’s frequently forgotten is that Beethoven was almost entirely deaf by this time, and actually composed his Ninth Symphony by putting his head on the piano to “read” the vibrations!   He even conducted its premiere performance, despite not being able to hear the orchestra.

Stevie Wonder

One of the single most important figures in American music from the 60s onward, Stevie Wonder was instrumental in th

e development of Motown, funk, fusion, and 80s pop, as well as a variety of humanitarian efforts.  In fact, he was a recording success at the age of twelve despite having been born blind!

Keith Richards

OK, so everything wrong with Keith Richards is ultimately his own fault.  I mean, we’re talking about someone who’s done every drug in existence, regularly, and looks like a walking corpse.   Yet he just keeps… on… going…

If that’s not beating the odds, what is?