Django Reinhardt

Here is  one of the greatest - Django Reinhardt, a French gypsy who died at 43 years of age and survived a serious fire when he was 18. The fire resulted in his right leg being paralyzed and the third and fourth fingers of his left hand badly burned. He re-learned how to play the guitar using only his first two fingers for single note passages and was able to use last two for chords. Django along with the violinist Stephane Grapelly formed the Hot Club of France in 1934 and later travelled and performed with Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Louis Armstrong and even Dizzy Gillespie and others.