Halloween Topic - Musicians and deals with the Devil


As the superstitious believe, if a musician is too young to be so talented and successful they must have purchased their talent and fame in exchange for their soul. The most famous of these of course is Robert Johnson, but that’s just in American culture. I was thinking of a living and celebrated classical musician who is also young, beautiful and incredibly knowledgeable about classical music, especially American composers, and for a moment I had to genuinely wonder if her talents came from other-worldly pacts.

What musicians would you place in this category? So good and so young that you have trouble believing it?

Composers and even musical instrument makers are fair game here.

erik_squires

Showing 4 responses by erik_squires

@danoroo Though not strictly about the supernatural, Oh Brother Where Art Though? touches on the subject, and is overall a great survey of American music.

@tylermunns 

You are going to have to help me out here.  I grew up with Stevie Wonder and to me it just sounded like any other pop.

Educate me, without gushing too much, what made SW special to you please.

According to WHRB we can also put Niccolo Paganini into the list of suspiciously gifted artists.

Speaking of instrument makers, great story about the invention of the saxophone: