No one thought Adolphe Sax would make it past childhood after his myriad near-death experiences. But he did — and invented an instrument that revolutionized the music world.

Hit on the head with a brick. Swallowed a needle. Drank sulfuric acid. Fell face-first on a searing skillet. These were just a few near-misses in the life of Adolphe Sax, an incredibly accident-prone child who was born in Belgium in 1814 and one of 11 children in his family to make it to puberty (barely).
Lucky for the world he did, because the Looney Tunes-esque clumsy boy would become the man to forever change the face of music, from the blues joints of New Orleans to the jazz clubs of Paris and the music of Kenny G: the inventor of the saxophone.

The Early Notes Of Adolphe Sax’s Life

Born into a family of tradesmen, Antoine-Joseph or Adolphe Sax’s father was originally a carpenter. He was so gifted with wood, in fact, that he was tapped by William I of Orange, the ruling monarch of the region at the time, to create proper instruments for the Belgian military.
Sax the younger grew up in this musical environment in which he thrived. Jo Santy, of the Museum of Musical Instruments in Brussels, noted how a young Sax could use his father