Entries Beginning with J
He didn't really seem to be affected by it, but he was blind and played guitar. [Editor's note: Sorry, G, I had to edit your post because Jeff Healey died in 2008.]
G
Jeff was diagnosed early in his childhood with retinal blastoma, a form of eye cancer that robbed him of his eyesight. He learned to play the guitar in his lap.
Celeste
Jerry Garcia:
Partial disnemberment of his right middle finger The finger was accidentally cut off in a woodcutting accident at a young age.
Ryan
In "Open Book," Jessica Simpson has admitted to trauma from sexual abuse she endured as a girl, from a female friend, and to having become a heavy abuser of alcohol, if not a full-blown alcoholic, to attempt to dull the trauma from which she still suffers. Her alcohol abuse is in remission; her sexual trauma still remains less than fully resolved.
Parker Gabriel
Jim Pike: Long-term laryngitis
For approximately ten years, starting in the mid 1970's, he was able to communicate with his wife by writing notes on paper. He eventually regained his voice and resumed his singing career. He originally sang with the Lettermen until he lost his voice. After his voice returned, he sang with the New Four Preps and presently is a member of reunion along with another former Lettermen member and one other singer.
Barry Disbrow
He's had it since birth.
Indy Gent
Joacim Cans: Legally blind
Joacim is the lead singer of Sweidsh powert metal band HammerFall.
Chandra
Joe Long:
Partial paralysis of his left hand An industrial accident to his left hand forced him to give up his serious music training on the stringed bass which could only be played right handed. He was able to learn to play the bass guitar left handed by using his good right hand to form the notes on the guitar's fingerboard and was able to pluck the strings with his bad left hand. He was the Four Seasons' bass player from 1965-1975.
Barry Disbrow
Bach slowly lost his eyesight in the last few years of his life but managed to compose music until he died in 1750.
Alan the Ottoman
He had surgery for that condition when he was a little kid.
StarRocker
John Mann (Spirit Of The West): Altziemers
John Mann lives in a care home. He uses an iPad when he performs due largely in part to his inability to remember the lyrics to his songs.
Celeste
He suffered a heart attack at the age of 42.
Tarzan
John Popper: Partial Heart Attack
It's been a tough year for John Popper. After undergoing an angioplasty procedure to circumvent a potential heart attack, the Blues Traveler frontman suffered the loss of BT bassist/friend Bobby Sheehan. As if that weren't enough, Popper had to deal with the finishing touches of his recently released solo debut, Zygote. Despite the highs and lows -- or perhaps because of them -- Popper maintains a wry sense of humor and insightful perspective.
Mickey D.
John Rutsey: Type 1 (Juvenile) Diabetes
after touring the Canadian club circuit for a few years Rush finally got booked for several foreign dates - all over the U.S.A. The strain of touring (compounded by his Type 1 diabetes) was too much a strain for Rutsey and he quit Rush on friendly terms. He was soon replaced by Neil Peart. Rutsey didn't just quit the band, he left the music business altogether - taking on a new line of work. Sad to say, he died of a heart attack in his sleep - due to diabetes complications.
I've Seen Rush Live 3 Times!
At the end of his life in 2003 it was reported that Johnny Cash had passed away from Alzheimer's diseas.
Celeste
Unlike Celeste said, Johnny Cash didn't die from Alzheimer's nor he had it. He died from complications of diabetes. He was intellectually still quite active on his last days, having done his last concert just two months before his death.
Susanna Viljanen
Shy-Drager's syndrome is a neurological syndrome which degenerates the autonomic neural system. On his last years, Johnny Cash suffered from it. Unlike Celeste mentioned, he didn't have Alzheimer's.
Susanna Viljanen
Johnny Winter is an albino. He cannot stand strong sunlight.
Susanna Viljanen
Jonas Berggren: Cleft palate
He was born with the condition and had to have surgery to correct it. The condition was a blessing in disguise for him because it made have a strong personality with a good sense of humor, hence the Joker, and had few fears. Due to his size, he was rarely picked on since he was soft spoken and could defend himself.
Archer
Jonathan Knight, the oldest member of the New Kids On The Block, revealed on the Oprah Winfrey show that he suffered from severe panic attacks and anxiety.
Celeste
Jonnie Ray: Partial deafness
He was deaf in his left ear from the age of 12 due to an accident during a Boy Scout trip and wore a hearing in there for the rest of his life
dayna
Jordan, unlike his brother Jonathan, suffered from performance anxiety. He says that he read several books on meditation and has learned how to relax before he performs.
Celeste
He was blinded at birth due to congenital glaucoma.
El Cabong
Though it was never conclusively diagnosed, Garland is believed to have had scoliosis, an abnormal side-to-side curvature of the vertebral chain, or spine, of backbones. This might have contributed to her persistent weight problems and even given her breathing difficulties that gave her voice the ragged quality it had in her last years.
Parker Gabriel
Same as Elton John, she had surgery done to remove potentially cancerous nodules from his vocal cords in 1997. But the surgery wasn't a full success, so she was unable to sing in a decade, and even now, she stopped doing musicals. She filed a lawsuit because of this in 1999.
Rocky Mak
The lead singer of Blue October has suffered from depression and has been put in a mental institution on several occasions.
Travis
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Indy Gent. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.