Seth Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 (edited) March 2, 2008 Guitarist and bandleader Jeff Healey dies in Toronto hospital Following a lengthy struggle with cancer, Healey passes away on the eve of the release of a new blues rock album Jeff Healey, arguably one of the most distinctive guitar players of our time, died today (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, holding the instrument unconventionally across his lap. He formed his first band at 17, but soon formed a trio which was named the Jeff Healey Band. After his appearance in the movie Road House, he was signed to Arista records, and in 1988 released the Grammy-nominated album See the Light, which included a major hit single, Angel Eyes. He earned a Juno Award in 1990 as Entertainer of the Year. Two more albums emerged on Arista, with lessening success as the ’90s passed. Various “best-of” and live packages were released, and he recorded two more rock albums, before turning to his real love, classic American jazz from the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s. By then, however, Healey was an internationally-known star who had played with dozens of musicians, including B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and recorded with George Harrison. Mark Knopfler and the late blues legend, Jimmy Rogers. A family man with a three-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter he preferred to stay close to home. “I’ve traveled widely before — been there and done that,” he told friends, determined to avoid the lengthy, exhausting tours that marked his life in his twenties and early thirties. A long-running CBC Radio series saw him in the role of disc jockey — My Kinda Jazz was a staple for a while, but in recent years he had hosted a programme with a similar name on Jazz-FM in Toronto. A highlight of his broadcasts was always the use of rare — and rarely heard — music from his 30,000-plus collection of 78-rpm records. As his rock career wound down as the millennium came, he recorded a series of three album of early jazz, playing trumpet as well as acoustic guitar in a band he called Jeff Healey’s Jazz Wizards. The most recent was It’s Tight Like That, recorded live at Hugh’s Room in Toronto in 2005, with British jazz legend Chris Barber as guest star. At the time of his death he was about to see the release of his first rock/blues album in eight years, Mess of Blues, which is being released in Europe on March 20, and in Canada and the U.S. on April 22. The album was the result of a joint agreement between the German label, Ruf Records, and Stony Plain, the independent Edmonton-based label that has released his three jazz CDs. Mess of Blues was recorded in studios in Toronto, with two cuts recorded at the Jeff Healey’s Roadhouse in Toronto and two at a concert in London England. The backup group on the upcoming CD — the Healey’s House Band — played with him regularly at the downtown Roadhouse, and at a previous club bearing his name in the Queen-Bathurst area. Early last year, Healey underwent surgery to remove cancerous tissue from his legs, and later from both lungs; aggressive radiation treatments and chemotherapy, however, failed to halt the spread of the disease. Despite his battle with cancer, he undertook frequent tours across Canada with both his blues-based band and his jazz group; he was set for a major tour in Germany and the U.K. and was to be a guest on the BBC’s famed Jools Holland Show in April. Remembered by his musicians — and his audiences — for his wry sense of humour as well as his musical playfulness, Healey was a unique musician who bridged different genres with ease and assurance. To send messages of condolence, share your memories of Jeff and leave your comments please sign the guestbook: www.jeffhealey.com/wishes Edited March 3, 2008 by Sethmark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outerlimits Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 got to see jeff once about 10 years ago...he was a really talented player. RIP, jeff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Posted March 3, 2008 Author Share Posted March 3, 2008 One of my favorite shows of all time... I saw him my last year of college (1995). Funny man and GREAT guitar player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 You've got to be kidding me ............. I loved his music, and I loved the manner in which he played. The world is a little bit sadder now because of his passing. I just can't believe it. Why do all the good ones go so early ? Anybody remember him in the movie Road House ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 Anybody remember him in the movie Road House ??? Other than Kelly Lynch Jeff was the only high point of that movie! RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danva Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 still one of my favorite albums very sorry to hear this RIP Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaBird Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 A Great Bluesman gone but never forgoten -- RIP Jeff and God Bless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nm3gnr Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 The music world has definately lost another great person ! I remember Jeff before the Road House days. A very respectable person, and a great musician ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ledge Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Damn.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ima45dv8 Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Must be one great concert going on in Heaven today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j2fast Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 You've got to be kidding me ............. I loved his music, and I loved the manner in which he played. The world is a little bit sadder now because of his passing. I just can't believe it. Why do all the good ones go so early ? Its just a strange world sometimes, I really liked his style. This made me think back to when SRV died in that helicopter accident. I was actually watching MTV ( I was 17) and remember them breaking in with the news of his death. R.I.P. Jeff Healey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odie Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Ragin' player, and will be sorely missed. I ruined like 3 copies of See the Light on cassette trying to learn licks off of it. That just makes me sick he died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgtsvi Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I saw him play a concert in Dallas and he rocked the house. RIP Jeff, you can play with Stevie Ray once again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Hepworth Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 yep,...incredible talent. He battled cancer a few times in his life...I'll be having a drink listening to some of his music this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ima45dv8 Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Its just a strange world sometimes, I really liked his style. This made me think back to when SRV died in that helicopter accident. I was actually watching MTV ( I was 17) and remember them breaking in with the news of his death. R.I.P. Jeff Healey I remember an interview once where Jeff was telling about being at that show. He was backstage listening to SRV, and Clapton and Robert Cray jamming together at the end of the show. He said he was about to go into vapor lock at the chance to be so close and hear these legends he admired so much. Then, like a dream come true, they invited him out to play with them. After the show he was busting at the seams, flying higher than he ever had, when the word came that the chopper SRV left in just minutes before had crashed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38SuperWes Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 I did a gig with Jeff in the late 80's. The club we were both playing at needed a van to run him and the band around so I made some extra cash carrying them. I remember the guys trying to describe a "Truly Nolan" VW pest control bug that was painted up like a mouse with ears and a tail and Jeff just pissing himself laughing. We got to the gig and for sound check the tech put foil on the knobs of a rented Marshall so that he could move them by feel. He took this 300 dollar japanese squire strat, plugged in to a few pedals and started to play. I was standing right there and had never heard anything like that before. That night we finished our gig and then they came on....I got to stand right off stage at the monitor desk...and right next to his amp. He started playing.....and within ten minutes.....I was choking up. It was the first time I had ever been so moved by a guitarist, (only twice since..Beck and Clapton at certain gigs). I got to catch him two years ago at a festival in Sweden we were sharing a bill on.....I just stood there and watched and felt it again...he was magic. If you dug his playing...Phillip Sayce played in Jeff's house band in toronto for about five years and is amazing.....check him out: myspace.com/phillipsayce RIP Jeff.... an amazing musician and hell of nice guy.... Wes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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