Five musicians who have become my heroes - and you should know them too

Growing up going to gigs around Auckland, I always wished there were more disabled musicians getting up on stage. While I loved seeing legendary bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Blink 182, I also wanted to see successful artists who could become role models for me.

So I’ve trawled the internet in search of some musicians with disabilities, and maybe they’ll become influential to you as well.

Rick Allen

Rick Allen, also known as ‘The Thunder God’, is the drummer for English glam metal giants, Def Leppard. He joined the band when he was 15, and by his 21st birthday, they were on top of the world. On New Year's Eve in 1984, Allen lost his arm in a car accident. At first, doctors tried to reattach the arm but ended up amputating it after it got infected. Allen was determined to stay behind the drums with Def Leppard, and designed a custom electronic accessible drum kit, with foot pedals to replace what he used to do with his left hand. The band’s next album, Hysteria, became the biggest album of their career, featuring anthemic songs like Pour Some Sugar On Me, Love Bites and the title track Hysteria. They are still touring after 46 years together and recently finished a worldwide stadium tour with Motley Crue.

Dean Zimmer

Dean Zimmer was born with arthrogryposis and has played drums for over 30 years. Before he had a drum set, Zimmer would practice sitting in his wheelchair, bashing out rhythms with his bare hands on his legs in front of him. While attending a school for disabled kids, Zimmer learned to play on a proper kit. His band has opened for acts like Eddie Money, Styx, Kansas and Thin Lizzy. 

Brandon Mendenhall

Brandon Mendenhall was born in 1983 with cerebral palsy. Despite some doubts from his family about his musical abilities, his grandmother gave him $1000 to buy his first guitar. Mendenhall had to hide his first guitar from his grandfather, who didn't want him to be a musician because he didn't want him to go through the heartbreak of being unable to play. He got into metal as a teenager, specifically the nu-metal band Korn. One of the highlights of Mendenhall's career was when his band wrote a song with Korn guitarist, Munky. His band, The Mendenhall Experiment, performed alongside Korn at the Aftershock Festival in California in 2016. Mendenhall was also featured in a 2019 documentary about his life called Mind Over Matter. 

Cory Newman 

New Zealand musician Cory Newman has been the vocalist for Gisborne punk band Sit Down In Front since 2017. He has cerebral palsy and performs sitting in a wheelchair. Newman’s voice has been compared to Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols by music magazine Ambient Light. In 2019, Sit Down In Front made it to the National Final of Smokefree Rockquest. A couple of years later, they released a song called Pixie Caramel, with Kiwi music legend Tiki Taane who also featured in the music video.

Andrew Hewitt 

Andrew Hewitt, born with cerebral palsy, is a world-renowned drummer who has played for over 40 years. Originally from Australia, Hewitt has toured internationally and gives drum lessons to other disabled Australian drummers. An accident almost ended Hewitt's career when he was thrown out of his wheelchair on a tour bus in Hollywood, resulting in a broken collarbone and a fractured left wrist. After nine months of training and physio, Hewitt could continue drumming. Similarly to Rick Allen, Hewitt uses a slightly modified drum kit due to limited movement in his foot needed to play the kick drum. To solve this problem, Hewitt uses a trigger pad with a kick drum sample, which he plays with his hand.

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