Jeff Healey, actually born as Norman Jeffrey Healey, was
born on March 25, 1966. He passed away of cancer on March 2, 2008. Jeff Healey
professionally known for his talents even being blind. He was a Canadian jazz
and blues-rock guitarist and vocalist.
Jeff Healey, born in Toronto, Ontario, was raised in the city's west end. His
father was a firefighter. Jeff Healey lost his sight when he was one year old,
due to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes which he suffered from throughout
his life and which ultimately killed him. His eyes had to be surgically removed,
and he was given artificial replacements. He began playing guitar when he was
three, developing his unique style of playing the instrument flat on his lap.
When he was 17 he formed the band Blue Direction, a four-piece band which primarily
played bar-band cover tunes. Among the other musicians were bassist Jeremy Littler,
drummer Graydon Chapman, and a schoolmate, Rob Quail on second guitar. This
band played various local clubs in Toronto, including the Colonial Tavern.
Shortly thereafter he was introduced to two musicians, bassist Joe Rockman
and drummer Tom Stephen, who formed a trio and made their first public appearance
at The Birds Nest, located upstairs at Chicago's Diner on Queen Street West
in Toronto. The new band received a write-up in Toronto's NOW magazine, and
quickly were playing almost nightly in local clubs such as Grossman's Tavern
and the famed blues club Albert's Hall. At this point, Jeff Healey and the band were
featured in a movie, Road House, which was inspired when its creator saw Healey
playing. With the resulting stardom, they soon signed with Arista Records and
in 1988 released See The Light, which included the hit single "Angel Eyes".
The song "Hideaway" was nominated for the "Best Instrumental"
Grammy Award, and in 1990 the band won the "Entertainer of the Year"
Juno Award. Other hits have included "How Long Can a Man Be Strong"
and a cover of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".
Jeff Healey was never particularly enamored with the world of rock music, however,
and soon left it for music he preferred, vintage jazz. He had been sitting in
with traditional jazz bands around Toronto since the beginning of his music
career.
In his later years, he released three CDs from his true passion, traditional
American jazz from the 1920s and 1930s. He was an avid record collector and
amassed a collection of well over 25,000 78 rpm records. For many years Jeff Healey
played his music-at Healey's on Bathurst Street in Toronto, where he played
with a rock band on Thursday nights, and with his jazz group, Jeff Healey's
Jazz Wizards, on Saturday afternoons. The club moved to a bigger location at
56 Blue Jays Way and it was named Jeff Healey's Roadhouse. Though he had lent
his name and often played there, Jeff Healey did not own or manage the bar.
Though known primarily as a guitarist, Jeff Healey also played trumpet and clarinet
during live performances. He also appeared on Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan's
CD/DVD Gillan's Inn. He can also be seen playing the electric guitar with Stevie
Ray Vaughan in SRV's rock video Look At Little Sister.
Jeff Healey had, from time to time, hosted a CBC Radio program entitled My Kind
of Jazz, in which he played records from his vast vintage jazz collection. He
hosted a program of the same name on Toronto station CJRT-FM, also known as
JAZZ.FM91.
He had also been touring with a group called the Jazz Wizards, playing American
jazz from the 1920s, 1930s and early 1940s.
They had been planning to perform a series of shows in Britain, Germany and
Holland in April 2008.
Jeff Healey discovered and helped develop the careers of other artists, including
Amanda Marshall and Terra Hazelton.
On January 11, 2007, Jeff Healey underwent surgery to remove cancerous tissue
from both lungs. In the previous eighteen months he had two sarcomas removed
from his legs.
Jeff Healey was married with two children.
On March 2, 2008 Jeff Healey died of cancer at St. Joseph's Health Centre in his
home town of Toronto at the age of 41. His death came a month before the release
of his new album, Mess of Blues, which will be his first rock album in eight
years.
Discography |
* 1988: See the Light |
* 1989: Road House
Soundtrack |
* 1990: Hell to Pay |
* 1992: Feel This |
* 1995: Cover to Cover |
* 2000: Get Me Some |
* 2002: Among Friends |
* 2004: Adventures
in Jazzland |
* 2006: It's Tight
Like That |
* 2008: Mess of Blues |
