List of people with synesthesia
This is a list of notable people who have claimed to have the neurological condition synesthesia. Following that, there is a list of people who are often wrongly believed to have had synesthesia because they used it as a device in their art, poetry or music.
Estimates of prevalence of synesthesia have ranged widely, from 1 in 4 to 1 in 25,000 – 100,000. However, most studies have relied on synesthetes reporting themselves, introducing self-referral bias.
Media outlets including Pitchfork have critically noted the considerable numbers of musical artists from the 2010s onwards claiming to be synesthetes, observing that "without literally testing every person who comes out in the press as a synesthete, it's exceedingly difficult to tell who has it and who is lying through their teeth for cultural cachet" and that claims of experiencing synesthesia can be employed "as an express route to creative genius".
Synesthetes
| Name | Type | Lifespan | Country | Profession | Notes | Source |
| Richard Feynman | grapheme-colour | 1918-1988 | United States | Physicist | "When I see equations, I see the letters in colors. I don't know why. I see vague pictures of Bessel functions with light-tan j's, slightly violet-bluish n's, and dark brown x's flying around." | |
| Georg Tobias Ludwig Sachs | Grapheme-colour | Physician | Possibly first documented case | |||
| Frank Iero | Chromesthesia | b. 1981 | United States | Singer-songwriter, guitarist | ||
| Tilden Daken | Multiple | 1876-1935 | United States | Artist | Painted to orchestral music. | |
| Syd Barrett | Multiple | 1946-2006 | United Kingdom | Singer-songwriter, guitarist, artist | ||
| Suzuka Nakamoto | Sound to color | b. 1997 | Japan | Singer | ||
| Vladimir Nabokov | Grapheme-Color | 1899-1977 | Russia/United States/Switzerland | Novelist, poet | ||
| Alessia Cara | Multiple | b. 1996 | Canada | Singer-songwriter | ||
| Beyoncé | Chromesthesia | b. 1981 | United States | Singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress | ||
| Charli XCX | Chromesthesia | b. 1992 | United Kingdom | Singer-songwriter | ||
| Jennifer Cook | Multiple | b. 1975 | United States | Author | ||
| Marilyn Monroe | Taste to colour | 1926-1962 | United States | Actress | ||
| Jack Coulter | Chromesthesia | b. 1994 | United Kingdom | Artist | ||
| Marina Diamandis | Multiple | b. 1985 | United Kingdom | Singer-songwriter | ||
| Patricia Lynne Duffy | Unspecified | b. 1952 | United States | Author | Wrote Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens, the first book by a synesthete about synesthesia. Co-founded the American Synesthesia Association. | |
| Mary J. Blige | Sound to colour | b. 1971 | United States | Singer-songwriter, actress | ||
| Billie Eilish | Multiple | b. 2001 | United States | Singer-songwriter | ||
| Kanye West | Multiple | b. 1977 | United States | Rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, fashion designer | ||
| Nikola Tesla | Chromesthesia | 1856–1943 | Austria/United States | Inventor | ||
| Eves Karydas | Chromesthesia | b. 1994 | Australia | Singer-songwriter | ||
| Duke Ellington | Chromesthesia | 1899–1974 | United States | Composer, pianist, bandleader | ||
| David Garner | Chromesthesia | 1954- | United States | Composer | ||
| David Hockney | Chromesthesia | b. 1937 | United Kingdom | Artist, stage designer, photographer | ||
| Greg Jarvis | Sound to shape | b. 1944 | Canada | Musician | Founded the Canadian Synesthesia Association. | |
| Ramin Djawadi | Chromesthesia | b. 1974 | Germany | Film score composer | ||
| Billy Joel | Multiple | b. 1949 | United States | Singer-songwriter, composer, pianist | ||
| Bloem de Ligny | Multiple | b. 1978 | Netherlands | Singer | ||
| Franz Liszt | Sound to color | 1811–1886 | Hungary | Composer, pianist | ||
| Lorde | Sound to color | b. 1996 | New Zealand | Singer-songwriter | ||
| Adi Meyerson | Unspecified | b. 1991 | United States | Composer, Double Bassist | ||
| Olivia Rodrigo | Sound to colour | b. 2003 | United States | Singer-songwriter | ||
| Tori Amos | Sound to color | b. 1963 | United States | Singer-songwriter | ||
| Ida Maria | Sound to color | b. 1984 | Norway | Singer-songwriter | ||
| Marian McPartland | Sound to color | 1918–2013 | United Kingdom/United States | Jazz pianist | ||
| Bea Miller | Sound to color | b. 1999 | United States | Singer-songwriter, actress | ||
| Stephanie Morgenstern | Multiple | b. 1965 | Canada | Actress, filmmaker | ||
| Finneas O'Connell | Multiple | b. 1997 | United States | Musician, record producer, actor | ||
| Frank Ocean | Sound to color | b. 1987 | United States | Singer-songwriter, producer, artist | Released Channel Orange in 2012, an album themed around his own synesthesia | |
| Adil Omar | Multiple | b. 1991 | Pakistan | Singer-songwriter, record producer | ||
| Andy Partridge | Multiple | b. 1953 | United Kingdom | Singer-songwriter, musician | ||
| Itzhak Perlman | Sound to shape | b. 1945 | Israel/United States | Violinist, conductor, music teacher | ||
| Jon Poole | Sound to color | b. 1969 | United Kingdom | Musician | ||
| Osmo Tapio Räihälä | Shape to sound | b. 1964 | Finland | Composer | ||
| Maggie Rogers | Sound to color | b. 1994 | United States | Singer-songwriter, record producer | ||
| Jean Sibelius | Unspecified | 1865–1957 | Finland | Composer, violinist | ||
| Holly Smale | Emotions to color | b. 1981 | United Kingdom | Writer | ||
| Carol Steen | Multiple | b. 1943 | United States | Artist | Co-founded the American Synesthesia Association. | |
| Daniel Tammet | Unspecified | b. 1979 | United Kingdom | Author | ||
| Brendon Urie | Multiple | b. 1987 | United States | Singer | ||
| Sabrina Vlaškalić | Multiple | 1989–2019 | Serbia | Classical guitarist | ||
| Solomon Shereshevsky | Fivefold | 1886-1958 | Russian Empire/Soviet Union | Journalist, mnemonist | ||
| Richard Wagner | Sound to color | 1813–1883 | Germany | Composer, theatre director, conductor | ||
| Pharrell Williams | Sound to color | b. 1973 | United States | Singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer | ||
| Richard D. James | Unspecified | b. 1971 | Ireland | Musician, record player, composer, remixer, DJ | ||
| Hans Zimmer | Chromesthesia | b. 1957 | Germany | Composer, music producer | ||
| Olivier Messiaen | Chromesthesia | 1896-1979 | France | Composer, pianist, organist | ||
| Awsten Knight | Sound to color | b. 1992 | United States | Singer-songwriter, producer | ||
| Sarah Kraning | Sound to color texture, and movement | b. 1992-93 | United States | Visual Artist | ||
| J57 | Sound to color | b. 1983 | United States | Musician | ||
| Peter Steele | Chromesthesia | 1962-2010 | United States | Singer-songwriter | ||
| Ryan Met | Chromesthesia and sound to shapes/textures | b. 1994 | United States | Musician, Songwriter, Singer, Producer | ||
| Jack Met | Chromesthesia | b. 1997 | United States | Musician, Songwriter, Singer |
Pseudo-synesthetes
- Alexander Scriabin probably was not a synesthete, but, rather, was highly influenced by the French and Russian salon fashions. Most noticeably, Scriabin seems to have been strongly influenced by the writings and talks of the Russian mystic Helena P. Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society and author of such works as Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine. The synesthetic motifs found in Scriabin's compositions – most noticeably in Prometheus, composed in 1911 – are developed from ideas from Isaac Newton, and follow a circle of fifths.
- Arthur Rimbaud may or may not have been a synesthete. He wrote a poem about vowels all having colours, but he might not have actually perceived graphemes in colour.