You may still have plenty of time to become a prodigy if you’ve taken your first steps before you make your first foray into music, but Brendan Lemieux will have gotten the jump on you.

Brendan, now 21, was whistling Beethoven before he could walk.

“My mom told me that I was whistling at 14 months,” says Brendan, who picked up a pair of drumsticks at age three and has been playing ever since.

The motivation behind his proficiency is also unique. Brendan, who has the rare genetic condition Williams syndrome, suffered from the sensitivity to loud noises that often accompanies this disorder. Although it might seem paradoxical, playing the drums helped him overcome the physical illness that used to accompany loud noises.

While there is no doubt that Williams syndrome has its downside, including heart defects and joint problems, Brendan’s heightened sociability and musical abilities also result from the disorder.

“I view it as a gift,” he says. “If I hear a song 10 times and I put a pair of headphones on, in two days I could have the song mastered and ready.

“I view music as a way of living life,” he adds. “It’s just so important to me.”

Equally helpful is his family’s musical background. Both Brendan’s mom Anne Lemieux and his sister Sarah have taught guitar and Sarah has recorded two CDs.

“Music definitely runs in the family,” he notes.

Brendan, who lives in Madison with his mom and his stepfather Timothy Pocock, also owes his success to the support of State Senator Ed Meyer and State Representative Deb Heinrich, who helped get his career on track. A 2006 graduate of Daniel Hand High School, Brendan studied music at the Berkshire Hills Music Academy in Massachusetts and currently studies jazz at the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven.

From playing country for the last three years at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee with a group of other musicians affected by Williams syndrome to filling in on drums at Toad’s Place in New Haven for the rock band State Radio, Brendan has explored a vast range of instruments in a broad array of styles—although bass guitar and especially drums take the forefront.

“I will probably never, ever stop playing drums,” he emphasizes. “It’s my favorite instrument.”

And last but definitely not least, Brendan has found a measure of fame. In 2007, he signed onto MTV’s How’s Your News?, a reality TV show centered around a group of adults with disabilities who travel the country as a news team and a band.

Perhaps his biggest performance was a sold-out show of 700 people in New York City, when the How’s Your News? band opened up for State Radio.

“It was the first time in my life I went crowd surfing—much to my parents’ dismay,” says Brendan, who plays bass guitar in the MTV band. “We pretty much rocked the foundation of that place.”

In addition to traveling across the country from Los Angeles to New Orleans to Austin and beyond, Brendan has interviewed celebrities ranging from professional skateboarder Ryan Sheckler to magazine publisher Hugh Hefner and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White.

We just go for it, none of it is scripted,” says Brendan. “It’s really fun because you never know what’s going to happen.

“I never thought that something like that would happen to me,” he continues. “I’ve been to places that I never thought that I would go.”

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