Guitarist Jeff Healey Dies at 41

[Zoneboy]

Link (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080302/jeff_healey_080302/20080302?hub=TopStories)

Legendary blues and jazz guitarist Jeff Healey has died, his publicist said Sunday. The Canadian rock musician had battled cancer his entire life.

"It was something he fought with considerable bravery," his publicist, Richard Flohil, told Newsnet late Sunday.

Healey, 41, had also lost his eyesight to a rare form of the disease, Retinoblastoma, at the age of one.

The musician had performed with such acclaimed guitar players as B. B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins and George Harrison.

His full name was Norman Jeffrey Healey and he passed away Sunday in the city of his birth, Toronto, at St. Joseph's Hospital.

Healey first began playing guitar at the age of three and formed his first band while still a teenager, according to his website. He played with a very distinctive style, with laying his guitar flat across his lap.

One of his best-known songs, "Angel Eyes," came from the Grammy-nominated album See the Light.

His blues band, simply called the Jeff Healey Band, has sold more than 1 million albums in the United States. But along with rock and blues music, Healey was also an accomplished jazz musician.

In his final years he had hosted a jazz program on Jazz-FM in Toronto, playing rare tracks from his vast collection of more than 30,000 78-rpm records.

Healey leaves behind his wife, Cristie, 13-year-old daughter Rachel and three-year-old son Derek.

[Dean Winchester]

that's sad, 41 is so young. I knew he was blind but didn't know it had to do with cancer. At least he lived life to the fullest, "Angel Eyes" was a really big hit

[Zoneboy]

A very talented guitarist/singer taken from us way too young, Loved his appearance in Road House also.

Angel Eyes (http://youtube.com/watch?v=QYz_LHKrgDY)

[Skywalker]

Wow, he was so young. :( I can't say I'm familiar with most of his music, but "Angel Eyes" is a great song. R.I.P. Jeff.

[Mikado]

He used to come here to Welland EVERY year to do a free concert, he was a great musician :crying:

Not to mention when i saw him live with the Vinyl Cafe concert show in 2006....he mentioned that he was fighting cancer and was going to beat it :(

[ABlairican Pie]

OMG, that is so sad. I remember almost twenty years ago, he was very talented, and could play very well in spite of his blindness. He just sat with the guitar lying flat on his lap and played away. He could really rock. He had some other good songs like "See the Light", "I Think I Love You Too Much", and even a cover of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", in addition to "Angel Eyes".

[Zoneboy]

This has been a really sad week in the music world. Larry Norman, Stephen Garrett, Mike Smith, Buddy Miles and now Jeff Healey. Five deaths in the last 6 days and all immensely talented in their respective fields.

:rip:

[Pus$y Galore]

OMG, that is so sad. I remember almost twenty years ago, he was very talented, and could play very well in spite of his blindness. He just sat with the guitar lying flat on his lap and played away. He could really rock. He had some other good songs like "See the Light", "I Think I Love You Too Much", and even a cover of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", in addition to "Angel Eyes".
What's also pointent is that George Harrison played with him on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and now cancer has taken both of them.

Jeff was a wonderful guy who kept live music alive in Toronto. His club is one of the last places for live bands to play.

The lead guitarist from my brother's band used to jam with Jeff about 20 years ago. It was through that that I got to meet him a couple of times. I'll remember his sense of humour along with his talent.

Angel Eyes has already been one of my favourite songs and now it's so appropriate. Although Jeff lost his sight when he was 1, he had angel eyes and now is with the angels.

And I'm sure his guitar is weeping this morning - along with the many friends and fans he had all over the world.

Sleep peacefully, dear friend. It will be one helluva jam session with Jimi and George.

[TJL]

A very talented guitarist/singer taken from us way too young, Loved his appearance in Road House also.

Angel Eyes (http://youtube.com/watch?v=QYz_LHKrgDY)


What a bizzare coincidence.

Last night a bunch of my friends got together and did a "movie night" at one of our local hangouts and we watched Road House.

[ABlairican Pie]

What's also pointent is that George Harrison played with him on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and now cancer has taken both of them.

Jeff was a wonderful guy who kept live music alive in Toronto. His club is one of the last places for live bands to play.

The lead guitarist from my brother's band used to jam with Jeff about 20 years ago. It was through that that I got to meet him a couple of times. I'll remember his sense of humour along with his talent.

Angel Eyes has already been one of my favourite songs and now it's so appropriate. Although Jeff lost his sight when he was 1, he had angel eyes and now is with the angels.

And I'm sure his guitar is weeping this morning - along with the many friends and fans he had all over the world.

Sleep peacefully, dear friend. It will be one helluva jam session with Jimi and George.Oh yeah, that's right, George Harrison did play with him on that album. I have a Guitar World Issue from 1990 of him on the cover focusing on the blues (something they'd never do again, back about twenty years ago, the blues was undergoing a serious revival, just when we lost another great man, Stevie Ray Vaughan). Kind of sad that the general public seems to have forgotten for more Saran-(W)rap stars. ohno:

Wouldn't mind hearing some Jeff Healey right about now. He was amazing on guitar, quite an accomplishment for someone who was blind. It made me think, wow, how did he do it?? I'm wondering if our classic rock station here in Seattle, KZOK 102.5, has gotten the news. Well, they never really played him before, so that's there loss. Classic rock radio is so stuck on itself. Not so open-minded at all.

[Zoneboy]

Link (http://winnipegsun.com/News/Canada/2008/03/03/4891206-sun.html)

TORONTO -- Bandmates of Canadian rock and jazz legend Jeff Healey were among those shocked by the news of his death yesterday.

The 41-year-old died in a Toronto hospital after a long battle with cancer. But Colin Bray, the bass player with Healey's jazz band and long-time friend, said he and many others expected the guitarist to rally from this latest illness.

"I don't think any of us thought this was going to happen," Bray said in a telephone interview. "We just thought he was going to bounce back as he always does."

Healey had battled with cancer since the age of one when a rare form of retinal cancer known as retinoblastoma claimed his eyesight.

Bray said Healey had been hospitalized for a week and that his advanced lung cancer made his final hours difficult. Healey had undergone numerous operations in recent years to remove tumours from his lungs and leg.


Bray and fellow Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards bandmate Gary Scriven remembered their frontman as a musician of rare musical abilities with a generous nature and wicked sense of humour.

Scriven called Healey inspirational and praised the boundless enthusiasm that allowed him to continue performing live only four weeks before his death.

"He drew his strength from somewhere, I don't know where, but it spread among the band and flowed into the audience," Scriven said.

Healey rose to stardom as the leader of the Jeff Healey Band, a rock-oriented trio that garnered a Juno award, international acclaim and platinum record sales with the 1988 album See the Light.

But Bray and Scriven said Healey's true love was jazz, the genre that dominated his last three albums with the Jazz Wizards.

Healey's guitar prowess was characterized by a unique playing-style that saw him lay the instrument across his lap.

It led him to share stages with such rock luminaries as George Harrison, Stevie Ray Vaughan and B.B. King, but Bray said jazz allowed him to exercise his other instrumental talents such as trumpet and drums.

Healey's death came weeks before the release of his first rock album in eight years. Mess of Blues is slated for a North American release on April 22.

The Grammy-nominated musician is survived by his wife Christie and two children Rachel, 13 and son Derek, 3.

[Pus$y Galore]

Oh yeah, that's right, George Harrison did play with him on that album. I have a Guitar World Issue from 1990 of him on the cover focusing on the blues (something they'd never do again, back about twenty years ago, the blues was undergoing a serious revival, just when we lost another great man, Stevie Ray Vaughan). Kind of sad that the general public seems to have forgotten for more Saran-(W)rap stars. ohno:

Wouldn't mind hearing some Jeff Healey right about now. He was amazing on guitar, quite an accomplishment for someone who was blind. It made me think, wow, how did he do it?? I'm wondering if our classic rock station here in Seattle, KZOK 102.5, has gotten the news. Well, they never really played him before, so that's there loss. Classic rock radio is so stuck on itself. Not so open-minded at all.

I agree, although Q-107 in Toronto has always played a lot of Jeff (being a hometown boy and all). Kim Mitchell (formerly of Max Webster) is the afternoon DJ now at Q and he was close friends with Jeff (he was recounting on the news how they played in London, Ont. last July and while Kim was writing up his set list he was listening to Jeff thinking, "Geez, will you stop playing so good - how can I follow that act?!"

I tossed my Healey CD in my car this morning and listened to the whole thing on the way home tonight. You can hear Harrison sing backup on Gently Weeps near the end if you listen closely. Also on this CD was Jeff's cover of Communication Breakdown - amazing - he actually had a harmonica and his guitar do the "vocals". I've never heard anything like it before.
I signed the condolence book on his website at work at lunch. They're coming in from all over the world and I'm sure Christie and his kids would love to read the amazing words and stories about him. One guy who knew him and his humour well even said, "Jeff himself would have said he never saw this coming". Jeff was always making jokes like that.
As you say, how did he do that? I remember the first time I saw him, I didn't even realize he was blind - just thought it was odd that he sat with the guitar on his lap - and then I realized he couldn't see. That's one of the reasons I can say he was in the league of Hendrix - so fast too.

If you'd like to read some more about him and sign his book, just go to:

www.jeffhealey.com - click on "News".