[Indie Band] Belle and Sebastian Frontman: "Living with ME makes me feel like a non person "

[frozenborderline]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...rliament-scotland-msps-holyrood-b2177301.html

He's also an OMF ambassador. He's one of one of most prominent famous people with our illness. Albeit more mild than a lot of us bedridden folks. But apparently early on he went thru periods like that and it influenced a lot of his music about frailty and sickliness .

Not as explicitly about ME although things like the early "get me away from here I'm dying" really sound like a wispy frail chronic illness patient. Actually a lot of the early stuff sounds like that but that song in particular has lyrics that fit that idea. But later in nobody's empire , he sort of "came out" and made a song so explicitly about this marginalized chronic illness and his history with it. It's very beautiful indie pop and I recommend people check it out.

He could be a good spokesperson for this disease. Probably a lot of Belle and sebastian fans don't know this about him.

 

[Zebra]

@frozenborderline

I've been a Belle & Sebastian fan since their first few albums, and I had no idea that one of the band members had ME/CFS!!! Thank you for sharing this article.

It's difficult to imagine someone with ME/CFS being able to go on world-wide tours to promote each album, but I don't know anything about the origin of his illness, what treatments he's had, etc. Maybe in the near future I'll poke around the Internet looking for more info.

I do appreciate that he is not "hiding" his ME/CFS from the public and is actively advocating for the ME/CFS community. Good on him!

 

[hapl808]

It's difficult to imagine someone with ME/CFS being able to go on world-wide tours to promote each album, but I don't know anything about the origin of his illness, what treatments he's had, etc. Maybe in the near future I'll poke around the Internet looking for more info.

I could have (and did) do a lot when I was more 'mild', even though we know that mild can still be somewhat debilitating. I felt sick all the time, but traveled constantly for work nonetheless. Just every day felt like a PEM episode (which just felt like constant exhaustion back then, as I never gave myself enough time to truly recover).

 

[Zebra]

Good point @hapl808. I did a lot more the first 2 to 3 years of my illness as well.

Also, I found an article from CNN that goes into more detail about Stuart's illness journey, including origin, remission, and how he's doing now.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/05/heal...och-belle-sebastian-turning-points/index.html

I will be listening to my Belle & Sebastian albums with an ear toward ME/CFS inspired lyrics. Wow!

 

[sometexan84]

Holy crap, I love Belle and Sebastian, and I had no idea! Thx for sharing

 

[sometexan84]

I will be listening to my Belle & Sebastian albums with an ear toward ME/CFS inspired lyrics. Wow!

Same

 

[Gingergrrl]

He is an OMF Ambassador since 2018 and there were a few threads about it back then. I like their music, too

https://forums.phoenixrising.me/thr...doch-from-the-band-belle-and-sebastian.61453/