Schizophrenia Series-Disabled Legend Meera Popkin

Meera Popkin is a star of Cats and Miss Saigon on Broadway and in London's West End. Meera Popkin was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Meera Popkin's life went from centre stage and limos to waiting tables at Wendy's, but she's now back and is doing well. "I've had quite a year. I thought the highlight would be getting married. I thought the highlight would be having my baby girl. Now it looks like the highlight is being completely recovered from schizophrenia. Did I ever have it? Was I misdiagnosed? Am I the one in a thousand that recovers from this illness? These are the questions my doctor is asking."

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Schizophrenia Series-Disabled Legend Peter Green

Peter Green, Peter Allen Greenbaum, was born on 29 October 1946, in Bethnal Green, London. Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and founder of the band Fleetwood Mac.

A figurehead in the British blues movement, Peter Green inspired B. B. King to say, "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats." Peter Green's playing was marked with a distinctive vibrato and economy of style, as well as a unique tone from his 1959 Gibson Les Paul. A result of the guitar's neck pickup magnet being reversed to produce an 'out of phase' sound. Peter Green used a Fender Stratocaster on the track "Albatross", and used a National resonator guitar on "Oh Well Part I".

Petr Green played lead in Peter Bardens' band, Peter B's Looners, in 1966. After a 3month stint, he had the opportunity to fill in for Eric Clapton in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers for 3 gigs. Upon Eric Clapton's permanent departure not long after, he was hired full-time.

Peter Green made his full album debut with the Bluesbreakers with A Hard Road. It featured 2 compositions by Peter Green, "The Same Way" and "The Supernatural". The latter was 1 of Peter Green's 1st extended instrumentals, which would soon become a trademark.

In 1967, Peter Green decided to form his own blues band, and left Mayall's Bluesbreakers after appearing on just 1 album (just as Eric Clapton had done).

The name of Peter Green's new band was Fleetwood Mac. Originally billed as "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac"; it originated from the band's rhythm section that comprised Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. In the mid 1970s the re-organised band topped the charts with mainstream pop/rock, but initially it was a straight-up blues-rock band playing blues classics and some original material. Peter Green wrote the song "Black Magic Woman" that was eventually picked up by Santana. Peter Green was the leader of the group throughout its initial period of success in the late 1960s, with hits including "Oh Well", "Man of the World", "The Green Manalishi" and the British Charts #1 hit, "Albatross".

Following the release of "Albatross" and his consequent rise in fame, Peter Green struggled with success and the spotlight. After a gig in Munich while touring Europe, Peter Green binged for 3 days on LSD. In his own words, he "went on a trip, and never came back."

Communard Rainer Langhans mentions in his autobiography that he and Uschi Obermaier met Peter Green in Munich, where they invited him to their "High-Fish-Commune". They were not really interested in Peter Green. They just wanted to get in contact with Mick Taylor; Langhans and Obermaier wished to organise a "Bavarian Woodstock." They wanted Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones as the leading acts of their Bavarian open air festival. They needed the "Green God" just to get in contact with The Rolling Stones via Mick Taylor.

Peter Green's personality changed drastically after the episode: he began wearing a robe, grew a beard, and wore a crucifix on his chest (this last despite having been raised Jewish). Peter Green's use of LSD may have incited his schizophrenia. Peter Green quit Fleetwood Mac in 1970, performing his final show as a member on 20 May 1970. Peter Green recorded a jam session The End of the Game and faded into obscurity, taking on a succession of menial jobs. It was during this period that Peter Green sold his trademark 1959 Sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard to Irish guitarist Gary Moore.

Peter Green had a brief reunion with Fleetwood Mac when Jeremy Spencer left the group (Peter Green flew to the USA to help them complete the tour) and he was also an uncredited guest on their 1973 Penguin album on the track "Night Watch". Peter Green also appears on the track "Brown Eyes" from 1979's Tusk.

Peter Green was diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental illness commonly characterised by hallucinations and paranoia, and he spent time in psychiatric hospitals undergoing electroconvulsive therapy in the mid-1970s. Many sources attest to his lethargic, trancelike state during this period. In 1977, he was arrested for threatening his accountant, Clifford Davis, with a rifle, but the exact circumstances are the subject of much speculation, the most popular being that Peter Green wanted Clifford Davis to stop sending money to him. After this incident he was sent to a psychiatric institution in London. This was prior to his re-emergence as a recording artist with PVK Records in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Peter Green suffered a relapse in 1984 and effectively lived the life of a tramp-like recluse for 6 years until he was rescued by his brother Len and his wife, going to live with them in Great Yarmouth and regaining some of his former health and strength.

Apart from his solo work in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he contributed to "Rattlesnake Shake" and "Super Brains" on Mick Fleetwood's solo album, The Visitor, and recorded various sessions with a number of other musicians. Despite some attempts by Sunburst Gibson at a German trade show to start talks about producing a Peter Green signature Les Paul, Peter's instrument of choice at this time was in fact a Sunburst Gibson 'Howard Roberts' Fusion, very often seen accompanying him on stage in recent years.

A 1990s comeback saw Peter Green form the Peter Green Splinter Group, with the assistance of fellow musicians including Nigel Watson and Cozy Powell. The Splinter Group released 9 albums between 1997 and 2003. It was in the latter part of this period that Peter Green picked up a black Sunburst Gibson Les Paul again. Peter Green signed and sold this ebony Les Paul.

A tour was cancelled and recording of a new studio album stopped in early 2004, when Peter Green left the band and moved to Sweden. Shortly thereafter he joined The British Blues All Stars, but their tour in 2005 was also cancelled. Peter Green has said that the medication he takes to treat his psychological problems makes it hard for him to concentrate and saps his desire to pick up a guitar; whether there will be any more public ventures remains to be seen.

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Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Series-Disabled Legend Stanley Sadie

Stanley Sadie CBE was born on 30 October, 1930 and died on 21 March, 2005 at his home in Cossington, Somerset, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), which had been diagnosed only a few weeks earlier.. Stanley was a leading British musicologist, music critic, and editor. Stanley was editor of the 6th edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980), which was published as the 1st edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Stanley was educated at St Paul's School, London, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read music under Thurston Dart (BA, MusB 1953, MA 1957, PhD 1958). Stanley doctoral dissertation was on mid 18th century British chamber music. After Cambridge, he taught at Trinity College of Music, London (1957-1965).

Stanley then turned to music journalism, becoming music critic for The Times (1964-1981), and contributing reviews to the Financial Times after 1981, when he had to leave his position and The Times because of his commitments to the Grove and other scholarly work. Stanley was editor of The Musical Times 1967-1987.

From 1970 Stanley was editor of what was planned to be the 6th edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980). Stanley oversaw major changes to the Dictionary, which grew from 9 volumes to 20, and was published as the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, and is now referred to as the 1st edition under that name. Stanley was also an important force behind the 2nd (or 7th) edition (2001), which grew further to 29 volumes. Stanley also oversaw a major expansion of the Grove franchise, editing the 1 volume Grove Concise Dictionary of Music (1988), and several spinoff dictionaries, such as the New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (3 volumes, 1984), the New Grove Dictionary of American Music, (with H. Wiley Hitchcock, 4 volumes, 1986), and the New Grove Dictionary of Opera (4 volumes, 1992). Stanley also edited composer biographies based on the entries in Grove.

Outside his work on the Grove Dictionaries, Stanley was a renowned Mozart scholar, publishing several books. Stanley also was instrumental in saving the Mayfair house where George Frideric Handel once lived, turning it into the Handel House Museum.

Stanley was president of the Royal Musical Association (1989-94), and of the International Musicological Society (1992-97).

Stanley married twice. Stanley's 1st wife, Adele, by whom he had 2 sons and a daughter, died in 1978. By his 2nd wife, Julie Anne, also a musicologist, he had a son and daughter. Stanley was survived by all 5 of his children and Julie Anne.

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Dementia Series-Disabled Legend Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on 6 February, 1911 and died on 5 June, 2004. Ronald Reagon was the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and the 33rd Governor of California from 1967 to 1975. Born in Illinois, Ronald Reagan moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s. In July 1989, the Reagans took a trip to Mexico, where Ronald Reagan was thrown off a horse and taken to a hospital for tests. The Reagans returned to the U.S. and visited the Mayo Clinic where they were told President Reagan had a head concussion and a subdural hematoma, and was subsequently operated on. Doctors believe that is what hastened the onset of Alzheimer's disease, an incurable neurological disorder which ultimately causes brain cells to die, and something Reagan was diagnosed with in 1994.

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What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder, specifically, an anxiety disorder. OCD is manifested in a variety of forms, but is most commonly characterized by a subject's obsessive drive to perform a particular task or set of tasks, compulsions commonly termed rituals.

The phrase "obsessive-compulsive" has worked its way into the wider English lexicon, and is often used in an offhand manner to describe someone who is meticulous or absorbed in a cause.

People who suffer from the separate and unrelated condition obsessive compulsive personality disorder are not aware of anything abnormal with them; they will readily explain why their actions are rational, and it is usually impossible to convince them otherwise.

Although obsessive-compulsive disorder commonly occurs in many patients with Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome, little is known about the obsessions and compulsions of Tourette's syndrome and whether they differ from those seen in pure obsessive-compulsive disorder.

It is for this reason there is some overlap between this category and our Famous People with Tourettes Syndrome list.

The tic disorder Tourette's Syndrome (T S) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are genetic and/or autoimmune neurological syndromes1,2,3 which are comorbid (In medicine, comorbidity describes the effect of all other diseases an individual patient might have other than the primary disease of interest) in 40-75% of patients initially diagnosed with either disorder, with comorbidity (In medicine, comorbidity describes the effect of all other diseases an individual patient might have other than the primary disease of interest) likeliest to occur in their childhood-onset forms.

Epilepsy Series-Disabled Legend Richard Burton

Richard Burton was born on 10 November, 1925 and died on 5 August, 1984. Being at one time the highest paid Hollywood actor, Richard was well known for his distinctive voice. Richard was crippled all his life by epilepsy and was extremely deep into alcoholism to try and prevent the seizures. Eventually this led him to manic depression but he would never go to see a doctor because he did not trust them one bit. At times he seemed to be more scared of being crazy then having epilepsy. Throughout his entire life he had never went to get diagnosed by a doctor.

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Cerebral Palsy Series-Disabled Legend Ruth Sienkiewicz Mercer

Ruth Sienkiewicz Mercer was born in Northampton, Massachusetts. She was a healthy baby, but was afflicted with a severe bout of encephalitis at the age of five weeks. At thirteen months, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy resulting from the encephalitis. Her control over her entire body, except for her face and digestive system, was severely impaired; though not completely paralyzed, she could not care for herself or communicate through speech as most people know it. Due to her inability to communicate normally, she was diagnosed as an imbecile at the age of five.

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Spina Bifida Series-Disabled Legend Bruce Payne

Bruce Martyn Payne was born on 22 November, 1960 in London, England. Bruce is an English actor and producer. Payne's first major film role in 1982 with Michael Blakemore's Privates On Parade in which he played the singing and dancing Flight Sergeant Kevin Cartwright. At the age of 14 he was diagnosed with a slight form of Spina Bifida. At age 16 he had a two year ordeal with the disease which required surgery to rectify. Bruce was held up in his hospital bed for 6 months after conquering the possibility of becoming paralysed.

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Tourettes Syndrome Series-Disabled Legend Dan Ackroyd

Dan Aykroyd was born on Dominion Day at the Ottawa General Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Dan was diagnosed with tourette's and asperger syndromes at an early age, but the symptoms seem to have disappeared when he was around 14. The diagnosis of Asperger syndrome did not exist in the 1960s, when Aykroyd was a preteen. It involved mostly grunting and physical tics through nervousness.

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