Anthony Thomas "Tony" DeBlois is a blind American

autistic savant Savant syndrome () is a rare condition in which someone with significant mental disabilities demonstrates certain abilities far in excess of average. The skills that savants excel at are generally related to memory. This may include rapid calcu ...

and musician.

Early life

Tony DeBlois was born on January 22, 1974. Weighing less than two pounds, he was premature and had to be supplied with large amounts of oxygen. Large amounts of oxygen cause blindness, and the physicians during this time were unaware of this. Consequently, Tony became blind at just a few days old. He began to play piano at the age of two. At first, DeBlois studied in the Texas School for the Blind in Austin, Texas, then the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts, but in 1989 was awarded a summer scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Later, he was admitted as a full-time student and graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

in 1996.

Career

DeBlois specializes in jazz but can play just about any other type of music as well. A savant, he plays 20 musical instruments and has held concerts worldwide but also has his own band, Goodnuf. He can play about 8,000 pieces from memory. A TV movie was made on Tony DeBlois' life, entitled "Journey of the Heart" (1997) starring

Cybill Shepherd Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama ''The Last Picture Show'' (1971) alongside Jeff Bridges. ...

as Janice DeBlois, Jeremy Lelliott / Chris Demetral (as young Tony), Blake Heron as Tony's younger brother Ray, and with an appearance of Tony DeBlois himself playing piano at the end of the movie. It was produced by Ronnie D. Clemmer and Richard P. Kughn.

References

El Paso Times, Sept. 20, 1980

External links

Tony DeBlois's page
American multi-instrumentalists American pianists Autistic savants Blind musicians Living people People on the autism spectrum 1974 births American male pianists {{US-pianist-stub