Leslie Lemke
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Leslie Lemke (born 1952) is an American blind autistic savant musician.
Leslie Lemke was prematurely born 1952 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with glaucoma, cerebral palsy and brain damage. Doctors had to remove his eyes. His mother gave him up for adoption and a county nurse named May Lemke adopted him. In early life he expressed capacity for total recall of conversations.
At the age of 14, May Lemke found Leslie playing in the middle of the night, to a tune he had recently heard on a television. His adoptive mother encouraged his talent for playing music and by 1980 Leslie performed concerts in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Fame gained him invitations to TV programmes such as CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes.
May Lemke contracted Alzheimer's disease and died November 6 1993.
Leslie Lemke has toured in the USA, Scandinavia and Japan but also plays for free on various occasions. He is more animated when he plays. In addition to playing music he hears verbatim, he also improvises and composes his own music - despite the fact that he has had no musical education.