Gemini is governed by the planet Mercury, the sign of loudmouths, braggarts, show-offs and over-communicators. But these natives are also highly intelligent, quick witted, light-hearted and playful, yet almost always contrarians. You say black, they say white. They like nothing so much as a good argument.

Extroverted and introverted, aggressive and passive, friendly and moody, they resent it when you tell them you understand them

When Gemini native Morrissey was asked if he was thin, his reply was: “Only in a room full of fat people.” Witty and self-deprecating, he has an impish sense of humor. When fans staged a 40th birthday party for him at Los Angeles’ Roxy Theater, he didn’t attend and instead had a pal drive him to the venue, where he had his photo taken under the marquee announcing the bash.

The symbol of the sign is the twins, which perfectly sums up the dual nature of these natives. In fact, you could say that a Gemini is its own evil twin (as well as it good one!).

When you think you’ve figured these sign-dwellers out, they do an about-face without notice and become someone else altogether. Extroverted and introverted, aggressive and passive, friendly and moody, they resent it when you tell them you understand them.

Think Bill Callahan, who named his first band (which was only him) Smog, so he was assured he didn’t have to reveal himself and for most of his career would only conduct interviews through email.


Then there’s Prince, who wouldn’t allow his voice to be taped, and the answers the mighty master of misdirection and mystery Bob Dylan gave in interviews that were argumentative and willfully oblique, giving a Playboy writer in 1966 only the slightest clue to the meanings of his songs: “I think any major key deals with romance,” Dylan told the reporter. And the minor keys? “The supernatural,” the great bard simply said.

They are quietly metaphysical, and often very devout — remember Prince becoming a Jehovah’s Witness and Dylan a Christian? Or Stevie Nicks’ belief in the old religions, penning Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon” as an ode to a Welsh witch, a tune that bandmate Mick Fleetwood called “an exorcism.”

High intellectual and accomplished, Geminis hate to be bored, and more so, hate to be boring

Looking inward, Kanye West told Interview Magazine in 2014 “I’d be biased to think that the community of Geminis is the most consistently in tune with what their spirit is telling them to do or why they have breath in their lungs.”

Sun Ra certainly was in tune with his spirit. Born Herman Poole Blount, he often recounted an experience he had with extra terrestrials when he was in school. He believed he was taken to Saturn, and was instructed to return to Earth and communicate the music of the spheres and peace to Earth dwellers. He changed his name to Sun Ra after the Egyptian god of the sun, began free improvisation, using the newly invented Moog synthesizer, and became an innovator of Afrofuturism — and would never acknowledge any ties to his former identity.

But there’s a long trail of Gemini musicians and their alter egos — and name changes. From Siouxsie Sioux, born Susan Janet Ballion on May 27, 1957, to Robert Zimmerman, aka Bob Dylan.

High intellectual and accomplished, Geminis hate to be bored, and more so, hate to be boring. You’ll find many restless creators born under this sign who are on first name basis with their muses, and rarely, if ever, suffer writer’s block.

Once a Gemini is on a roll, there is no way to stop them. Like Kanye West, after his near-fatal car crash in 2002, who turned the mishap into a song called “Through the Wire,” which he performed while still recovering from the accident, struggling to spit out rhymes with his jaw wired shut. West might be one of the most prototypical Twins, even bragging about it in “I’m Good”: “I’m a Gemini with two sides and two rides…” It’s that reoccurring power of two — although conceivably Kanye has far more than two cars these days.


Still keeping with the duality, Geminis tend to work best with a collaborator. Or better yet a foil. [Paul McCartney](http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/paul-mccartney) was pushed to greater heights of creativity by having to keep up with the eccentric genius of his songwriting partner [John Lennon](http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/john-lennon). While no one mouthed the word “competition,” in hindsight, and the admissions after the break-up of The Beatles, it was clear that it was. [Noel Gallagher](http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/noel-gallagher) was never so fine as when he was battling with his brother Liam in Oasis, all but dominating the charts during the ascendancy of Brit Pop.

Geminis are relentlessly inventive. Take for instance Les Paul. He started out as a guitarist, but any accomplishments he made as a musician were overshadowed by his achievements as an innovator. He pioneered the solid body electric guitar in 1941 and was one of the first to experiment with overdubbing and multi-track recording, no doubt so he could use double tracking to duet with himself — and along the way made way for the advent of a harder rock and roll sound. Equally inventive was spring baby Miles Davis who all but invented jazz-fusion with the groundbreaking, Bitches Brew, turning his back on be-bop and earlier jazz traditions for this new form.


Over thinkers and sometimes at war with themselves, it’s no surprise that Gemini has an over abundance of musicians who suffer from bipolar disorder or outright depression, and sometimes disappear from view, like former Fugee [Lauryn Hill](http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/lauryn-hill).

Nick Drake, facile, poetic and impressionistic, unfortunately didn’t overcome his demons and took his own life in 1974 two years after the release of his final album Pink Moon.Brian Wilson was diagnosed as a schizophrenic but thankfully, after a decade of living under the psychological tyranny of Dr. Eugene Landry, Wilson’s care was taken over by his wife Melissa, and he regained his mental health in the late ’90s and tours to this day.

Finally, if nothing else proves the existence of astrology, it’s the fact that Gemini rules the hands, and there are an inordinate amount of drummers born under this sign, including the mightiest drummer of them all — Led Zep’s John Bonham — as well as The Band’s Levon Helm, the Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts, The Clash’s Topper Headon, Depeche Mode’s  Alan Wilder, Cheap Trick’s  Bun E. Carlos, Motörhead’s Pete Gill, Alice In Chain’s Sean Kinney, Stone Temple Pilot’s Eric Kretz, The Stroke’s Fabrizio Moretti, Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain, Duran Duran’s John Taylor, and Autolux’s Carla Azar. Bang a birthday gong, Geminis!