Following a lengthy struggle with cancer, Jeff Healey, Canadian jazz blues and rock guitarists died Sunday March 2 in St. Joseph’s Hospital, Toronto. He was 41, and leaves his wife, Cristie, daughter Rachel (13) and son Derek (three), as well as his father and step-mother, Bud and Rose Healey, and sisters Laura and Linda.Funeral and memorial arrangements are pending.Robbed of his sight as a baby due to a rare form of cancer, retino blastoma, and he started to play guitar when he was three.
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".
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 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, Healey also played trumpet and clarinet during live performances.
Though known primarily as a guitarist, Healey also played trumpet and clarinet during live performances.
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. 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.
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. 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.
I always loved how he played music. In Roadhouse there is a part where bar patrons throw bottle and Jeff ducked which I found funny some how. Thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family. May he be in Heaven playing at the right hand of G-d. May he rest in peace.
(Info for this post is from Wikipedia)
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