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

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It's common knowledge that pianist Glenn Gould and the lead singer of the Vines both had Asperger's Syndrome, but can any of us think of any others?
This topic occured to me after I read the wikipedia article on Tom Shear of the one man band Assemblage 23, who, although not diagnosed, seemed very much like he had Asperger's Syndrome.

There is a huge benificaial factor of aspergers in the underground electronica sceen

Devin Townsend.

Diagnosed with bipolar, but to me he seems to show many asp qualities.

I have a funny feeling about the guitarist from Tool too, though I'm not sure of course.

Possibly trent reznor.

Merely a suggestion, I could be far off.

Jonathan Davis, lead singer of Korn.

Gary Numan, who sang "Cars", has an official diagnosis.

Tim

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

I also nominate Goo Goo Dolls and Keane due to lyrical content

There are a lot of musicians who discuss feeling like an outcast in their work, but not everyone who is "different" or "an outcast" is automatically aspie. Some are just geeky or gothic or just plain weird....

Don't forget emo.
And some of them are just going out of their way to look "different" and feel superior to everyone else as a result.

I vote for Leonard Cohen


just a sample -

'I'm drawn to the monastic and the military...'

Leonard, why did you never get married?
'too scared....'


plenty more but listen to the songs

Aside from Gary Numan, and the kid from The Vines who are concerned, here are the contemporary musicians that I suspect have/had an ASD:

Virtuoso Guitarist Eddie Van Halen
Listen to him in an interview, and you'll understand.

Virtuoso Guitarist Buckethead
His music almost always follows themes of aliens, Zombies, or schlock 50's 'B' movie themes, Erratic behaviour, and the fact that he's turned down gigs with bigger stars because he refuses to get rid of the mask and KFC chicken bucket. He is virtually anonymous offstage.

Keyboard player Ray Manzarek, formerly of The Doors
See above comment on EVH, he's practically the same, except he mumbles more, is reclusive and "Difficult" to work with, according to some Live Sound engineers.

Psychadelic guitar player Helios Creed, of the band of the same name, and the underground cult band Chrome.
Musical themes are quite similar to that of Buckethead. Lived in a converted schoolbus in SF from 1988 to 1991, also fairly monotonous voice. Many people consider him to be an Acid Casualty/ Pot burnout, despite the fact that his usage of both is fairly minimal.

Keyboard player/Drummer Damon Edge, Founder of the band Chrome. Was quite reclusive and hated playing live, even though the band had a very large european fan base in the late 70's and early 80's. Monotonous voice, also during his later French incarnation of Chrome, instructed the hired musicians to play as passionlessly, and as robotically as possible. Found dead of suicide in 1995.

Bassist John Wardle, AKA Jah Wobble, PIL, Afrika Brian Eno,Invaders of The Heart, Etc,etc
A year after picking up a bass guitar at the behest of Johnny Lydon, he was voted the best New Bassist by an english Music magazine. In the mid 80's he walked away from a promising and lucrative career as a session player to work for the London Undergound subway system. He also has a very explosive temper, like all of the above was prone to alcohol abuse.

I think Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) might possibly have Asperger's Syndrome. Just based on his music - the very bizarre, alien, and outlandish feeling some of it has - plus his obsessive attention to detail and complexity. Also I get a vibe from his ambient work which seems like he has a very active "inner world" in his head. Aside from the music I've heard he is quite eccentric through interviews but its never possible to know what to believe from those. I'm still learning a lot about Asperger's so I could very well be way off on this.

Anyway this thread is really interesting to me since I'm a musician myself and music in general is one of my major obsessions.

I agree, richard d james (aphex twin) is very obsessive, in fact I think he is a genious.

I have a feeling that Ray Davies of the Kinks has AS.

Syd Barrett, Kurt Cobain, Bob Dylan.

I know someone already mentioned the Vines, but I feel like going into more detail because they were my obsession from 2003-2005. He kicked a photographer's camera and broke it during a show in Australia, so he had to go to court. During it, he mentioned that he was recently diagnosed with AS. I also read somewhere that Tony Atwood diagnosed him, but I'm probably mistaken.

I think someone suggested Stefan Großmann from Absurd Minds on the forum a while back.
I do love their music and while some of my electronica friends like it too, it seems as I understand it while they say they don't.

I didn't know about Assemblage 23, but I can definitely see how that could be so.
Interesting lyrics.