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Leslie Lemke (born 1952) is a US 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 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 a middle of a night, to a tune of a music he had recently heard from a television. Stepmother encouraged his taste to play music and by 1980 Leslie had a concert in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Fame gained him invitations to TV programs like CBS Evening News and the 60 Minutes.
May Lemke contracted Alzheimer's disease and died November 6 1993.
Leslie Lemke has toured in USA, Scandinavia and Japan but also plays for free in 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 of the fact that he has no music education.
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