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The 10 Most Creative Musicians Who Survived Serious Accident Injuries

When you’re on tour and performing, accidents happen. That’s just the nature of live performance. Some musicians have overcome serious accident injuries to go on to great success, and at the same time, their inspirational stories offer hope to those who are going through similar situations. In this article, we look at 10 musicians that overcame serious accident injuries like no other.

What Are The Most Creative Ways Artists Have Found To Cope With An Injury?

Some artists have been creative with their recovery by expanding their creative skills or resorting to different mediums such as painting or sculpture. Others have even used these incidents as inspiration to create a piece of art from their experience and share that depiction with others.

10 Creative Musicians Who Survived Serious Accident Injuries

Chris Cornell

When Chris Cornell of Soundgarden was only twenty-one, he was hit by a car while riding his bike to a club in Seattle. This accident left him with a shattered hip that required surgery and the use of a cane for the rest of his life. Despite this, Cornell was one of the most successful artists in rock music and top 5 best selling artists overall.

John Lennon

John Lennon was one of the most well-known musicians globally, but he was also one of the most controversial actors. Lennon has been through many different trials! In 1966, when he was 25 years old, he had just returned from touring with The Beatles and was involved in a car accident which left him paralyzed from the waist down and unable to walk again. He did not lose hope, though and continued to complete his album Imagine, which became an international success and is still considered one of the best albums ever recorded by music critics today.

Jimmy Hendrix

When Jimmy Hendrix was 19 years old, he tripped over his guitar cable backstage at a concert in Ohio and broke his collar bone during an intense performance on stage that night – it didn’t stop there, though! During later performances, Hendrix would play without using any strings or playing “acoustic” songs with just an amplifier feedback solo that created this unique sound that changed rock music forever!

Jay-Z

Jay-Z’s 2008 car crash caused numerous injuries, including a broken jaw, two displaced fractures in his pelvis, and a fractured skull. Despite these injuries, he continued to perform and make music. In an interview, Jay-Z spoke of the accident: “It cost me some money; it cost me some pain; I had to sleep on a bunch of people’s couches for a while.” Jay-Z has released many new songs since.

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand was involved in a severe accident in October 2003 when her chauffeur drove into the back of another vehicle while driving in New York City. She sustained multiple breaks, internal injuries and major head trauma that required brain surgery, but she has since recovered remarkably well. Her story is one of determination that has helped her push through the difficult times with support from friends and family members. She has performed many times since the crash, to relieved and appreciative fans around the world.

Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr is a musician and singer best known as the drummer and lead vocalist for The Beatles from 1962 until 1970. He also had a successful solo singing career in 1972-1986 and has continued his musical career since then, even releasing his first album in 1997 in 2010 called “Y Not.”

On November 29, 1966, while on tour in Germany, Ringo Starr’s car hit a patch of black ice on an unpaved road outside of Bielefeld, and he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a ditch. Starr sustained serious injuries, including a skull fracture and lost six teeth due to the crash. However, he recovered after spending several days unconscious in intensive care due to brain swelling caused by his injury.

The day after the accident, Ringo appeared at a press conference using crutches and said: “If I don’t make it, who will?”

Wyclef Jean

The musician and actor were shot in the leg during a robbery in New York City. He was taken to New York’s Roosevelt Hospital, where he suffered a bullet wound to his left leg. After surgery, he has continued to release new music.

Les Paul

The inventor of the solid-body guitar suffered severe injuries when his plane crashed in 1948, causing him to lose his legs and sense of smell. He persisted in his passions and even hosted a Tv show “​​Les Paul and Mary Ford at Home” in the 1950s.

Ludwig van Beethoven

The composer sustained severe injuries after falling down a flight of stairs when he was only 18 years old. He developed pneumonia from his injuries, but continued creating masterpieces – and eventually died of heart failure at age 31.

Adam Ant

In 1987, at age 32, Ant fell from the stage at London’s Hammersmith Odeon while performing “Goody Two Shoes” and fractured his skull and jawbone.

What Are Some Of The Best Ways To Find Inspiration When You’ve Been Through An Accident?

The most important thing is not limiting your creativity when you’ve been through a serious accident. Ask any car accident attorney, and they can tell you that the recovery after an accident is a process. You’ll want to develop what you were doing before the accident, but there are infinite ways to be creative, and you should always think outside the box. Artists like Lady Gaga and Bjork have been creative in their recovery process by taking on different mediums to express themselves that they would not have otherwise done. Other artists like “Frankly Speaking” have found inspiration in their experience and created a piece of art based on it.

Conclusion

Creative people can thrive in even the most challenging circumstances, and we see this time and time again. These creative folks show that outside circumstances never limit true passion, from musicians who have managed to create music through the most extreme of injuries to painters who have found their creative spark despite a life-changing accident.