Color Magazine Online

Living with a disability is difficult and presents hurdles in life that few understand. Dealing with that disability when you live your life on stage is even more difficult. Such is the case for up-and-coming musician Phil Putnam. Phil has Tourette Syndrome (TS), a genetic neurobiological disorder that affects the brain in the form of rapid impulses. These impulses come too quickly for the brain to process and manifest as verbal and motor tics. The tics - such as jumping, sniffing, eye blinking and involuntary shouting - are uncontrollable. Many with TS are able to cope by surrounding themselves by people who understand the disorder. This is not the case for Putnam who tours the world performing music as a solo artist.

Even though Putnam's career requires spending much of this life in the spotlight, he was never deterred from his passion because of his disorder. "Adolescence was a real carnival for me. I was the kid who could curse and get away with it, but I was also viewed as a novelty, rather than a person," he explained. "But Tourette's has never held me back from being a professional musician. In fact, it was a significant part of why I fell in love with music." Phil quickly learned to answer ignorance with education, and he found the means to educate in his passion for music.

"I'm not dealing with Tourette's just so I can keep what I've learned to myself. The value of the challenges, for me, is in reaching out to others in musical and practical ways and my career grants me the privilege to do that."

To date, Phil has released seven CDs and the video for his song, "I'm No Prize" - which entered MTV's Top 10 Click List at No. 2 and secured the No. 1 spot at MTV's LOGO Network - has receive widespread acclaim. He will continue his North American tour over the next few months, concluding in Philadelphia, before heading to London and Paris later this year.

"I've learned, because of my Tourette's, that the only way to go through something is to go through it. Not around it, under, over or beside it. We can skirt an issue now, but it'll come back around. The best way to do it is to go through it and the best time to do it is now."

To learn more about Phil Putnam visit www.philputnam.com.

To learn more about TS visit the National Tourette Syndrome Association website, www.tsa-usa.org.