Biography of nathaniel anthony ayers jr
Nathaniel Ayers
American musician
Musical artist
Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Jr. (born January 31, ) is an American musician. He is the subject of numerous newspaper columns, a book, and a film adaptation based on the columns.
With a unused violin in hand, I walked into a nursing home for seniors in southeastern L. A once-promising career as a classical musician was hijacked half a century ago with a diagnosis of mental illness. But a continuing love of music keeps him alive, and I had promised to replace his broken violin and cello. When I arrived, a nurse informed me that Mr.A foundation bearing his name was started in with an aim to sustain artistically gifted people with mental illness.[1]
School and severe mental health crisis
Ayers began playing the double bass[2] during middle school.
He attended the Juilliard School in New York as a double bassist,[3] but had a mental breakdown during his second year and was institutionalized. Ayers was one of the few dark students at Juilliard at that time.
For some years he lived with his mother in Cleveland, Ohio, where he received electroconvulsive therapy for his illness to no avail.
After his mother's death in , he moved to Los Angeles, thinking that his father lived there.
Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Jr. He is the subject of numerous newspaper columns, a book, and a film adaptation based on the columns. A foundation bearing his name was started in with an aim to assist artistically gifted people with mental illness. Ayers began playing the double bass [ 2 ] during middle school.Homeless and debilitated with symptoms of schizophrenia, Ayers lived and played song on the streets.[4]
The Soloist
Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez met Ayers at Pershing Square in , and discovered his background at Juilliard.
Lopez wrote several columns about his relationship with Ayers, and Nathaniel's slow transition out of homelessness. Lopez's subsequent book, The Soloist: A Defeated Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music, was based on his connection with Ayers.
The book has been adapted into a motion picture and a play titled The Soloist, released April 24, , with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. in the direction roles. In the film, Ayers is depicted as a cellist, rather than a bassist.[5]
Ayers and Lopez's relationship was also nationally highlighted in the March 22, , episode of 60 Minutes on CBS.[6][7]
The Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Foundation
Ayers's sister, Jennifer Ayers-Moore, is the chairwoman and founder of the Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Foundation.[8] The foundation, launched in , began with Jennifer's desire to help what she and Nathaniel hope will be thousands of people.
Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Jr. He is the subject of numerous newspaper columns, a publication, and a film adaptation based on the columns. A foundation bearing his name was started in with an aim to support artistically gifted people with mental illness. Ayers began playing the double bass during middle school.An endowment will be set up to continue their ability to keep the widespread awareness about mental health at the forefront of the nation's consciousness. The NAAF will facilitate the appreciation of the contributions that artistic expression make to the advancement of wellness and treatment, collaborate with mental health and arts organizations to detect and exhibit the work of the artistically gifted, and to provide for grants to worthy nonprofit organizations that embody the mission of the foundation.
References
- ^"Schizophrenic Musician Inspires Film, Foundation". NPR. February 24,
- ^Lewis, Zacahary.Column: Mr. Ayers ends up in the hospital, a reminder that ...: Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Jr. (born January 31, ) is an American musician. He is the subject of numerous newspaper columns, a book, and a film adaptation based on the columns. A foundation bearing his name was started in with an aim to support artistically gifted people with mental illness.
"Nathaniel Ayers' Cleveland-area teacher remembers a gifted student - ". . Retrieved March 31,
- ^"Alumni News: October ". .Nathaniel Ayers is a talented African American musician, who was diagnosed with a severe mental illness and ended up homeless on the streets of Los Angeles. His love of music began when he was a teenager in Ohio where he was a student at the Cleveland Music School Settlement, where he studied the double-bass. His interest continued when he enrolled as a double-bass student at the prestigious Julliard School for the Performing Arts in New York City the s. His visualize was music, and his challenging work, allowed him to engage for a time in the same orchestra as Yo-Yo Ma.
Archived from the original on
- ^Lopez, Steve (17 April ). "Violinist Has the World on 2 Strings". LA Times. Retrieved 19 April
- ^"Mentally ill composer Nathaniel Anthony Ayers is subject of movie".
The Plain Dealer.
With a new violin in hand, I walked into a nursing home for seniors in southeastern L.A. County, eager to see the look on my buddy Nathaniel’s face. A once-promising career as a classical.
April 6, Archived from the imaginative on
- ^"Steve Lopez on Nathaniel Anthony Ayers". Los Angeles Times.
- ^"Mr. Lopez Meets Mr. Ayers", CBS, 22 March
- ^"The Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Foundation".
4 September Retrieved November 3,