Norman Jeffrey Healey (March 25, 1966 – March 2, 2008) was a Canadian blues, rock and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

singer, guitarist, and songwriter who attained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. He reached No. 5 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart with " Angel Eyes" and reached the Top 10 in Canada with the songs "I Think I Love You Too Much" and "How Long Can a Man Be Strong".

Early life

Born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario, Canada, Healey was raised in the city's west end. He was adopted as an infant; his adoptive father was a firefighter. When he was almost one year old, Healey lost his sight due to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes. His eyes had to be surgically removed, and he was given ocular prostheses.

Early career and success

Healey began playing guitar when he was three, developing his unique style of playing the instrument flat on his lap. At nine years old, his musical talents were showcased in an interview on the TVOntario children's programme '' Cucumber''. When he was 15, Healey formed the band Blue Direction, a four-piece that primarily played bar-band cover tunes and featured bassist Jeremy Littler, drummer Graydon Chapman, and schoolmate Rob Quail on second guitar. The band played at clubs in Toronto, including the Colonial Tavern. Healey began hosting a jazz and blues show on radio station CIUT-FM, where he was known for playing from his massive collection of vintage 78 rpm gramophone records. Shortly thereafter he was introduced to bassist Joe Rockman and drummer Tom Stephen, with whom he formed a trio, the Jeff Healey Band. The band made their first public appearance at the Birds Nest, located upstairs at Chicago's Diner on Queen Street West in Toronto. They received a write-up in Toronto's '' NOW'' magazine, and soon were playing almost nightly in local clubs, such as Grossman's Tavern and the famed blues club Albert's Hall (where Jeff Healey was discovered by guitarists Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert Collins). After being signed to Arista Records in 1988, the band released the album '' See the Light'', which appeared on the RPM Top 100 chart in 1989. It featured the hit single " Angel Eyes" and the song "Hideaway", which was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. While the band was recording ''See the Light'', they were also filming (and recording for the soundtrack of) the Patrick Swayze film ''Road House''. Healey had numerous acting scenes in the movie with Swayze, as his band was the house cover band for the bar featured in the movie. In 1990, the band won the Juno Award for Canadian Entertainer of the Year. The albums '' Hell to Pay'' and '' Feel This'' gave Healey 10 charting singles in Canada between 1990 and 1994, including a

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of copy ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' " While My Guitar Gently Weeps", which featured George Harrison and

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, he has cont ...

on backing vocals and acoustic guitar.

Later work and life

By the release of the 2000 album '' Get Me Some,'' Healey began to concentrate on

. He went on to release three CDs of music of traditional American jazz from the 1920s and 1930s. He had been sitting in with these types of bands around Toronto since the beginning of his music career. Though known primarily as a guitarist, Healey also played trumpet during live performances. His main jazz group for touring and recording was Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards. Healey was an avid record collector and amassed a collection of well over 30,000 78 rpm records. Starting in 1990 he hosted a radio program of very early jazz on CIUT at the University of Toronto with Colin Bray. Later he went national on CBC Radio's program entitled ''My Kind of Jazz'', in which he played records from his vast vintage jazz collection. He moved the show two years later to Jazz FM - CJRT; as a part of ongoing celebrations for what would have been Healey's 50th birthday in 2016, the latter program began to air in repeats Wednesdays 9pm on jazz.fm. For many years, Healey toured throughout North America and Europe and performed at his club, "Healey's" on Bathurst Street in Toronto, where he played with his blues band on Thursday nights and also with his jazz group on Saturday afternoons. The club moved to a larger location at 56 Blue Jays Way and was rechristened "Jeff Healey's Roadhouse." Though he had lent his name to the club and often played there, Jeff Healey did not own or manage the bar. (The name came from the 1989 film, '' Road House,'' in which Healey appeared.) At the time of his death, he had been planning to perform a series of shows in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands, with his other band, the Jeff Healey Blues Band (aka the "Healey's House Band") in April 2008. Over the years, Healey toured and sat in with many well-known performers, including The Allman Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, BB King, ZZ Top, Steve Lukather, Eric Clapton and many more. In 2006, Healey appeared on Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan's CD/DVD '' Gillan's Inn.'' Healey discovered and helped develop the careers of other musical artists, including Terra Hazelton,

Amanda Marshall Amanda Meta Marshall (born August 29, 1972) is a Canadian pop-rock singer. She has released three studio albums; the first was certified Diamond in Canada, with the latter two certified 3× Platinum and Platinum respectively. She is best known fo ...

Shannon Curfman Shannon Marie Curfman (born July 31, 1985, Fargo, North Dakota) is an American blues-rock guitarist and singer. Career She came to prominence in 1999, at the age of 14, with the release of her first album, '' Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions'', wh ...

, and Philip Sayce In early 2009, Healey's album '' Mess of Blues'' won in The 8th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Blues Album. In 2009, Healey was inducted into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame. In June 2011, Woodford Park in Toronto was renamed Jeff Healey Park in his honour. In 2014, Healey was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In September 2016, Jeff Healey was inducted into the

Mississauga Music Walk of Fame Mississauga Music Walk of Fame was established in 2012 by late Councillor Jim Tovey in Memorial Park in Port Credit, Mississauga, Ontario, to recognize musical talent that have their origins in the Ontario city. It was launched during the Southsid ...

. In March 2016 the posthumous album ''Heal My Soul'' was released, followed by the companion album ''Holding On'' in December of the same year. Both records were compiled by Roger Costa from unreleased recordings. The 12 track ''Heal My Soul'' featured six covers and a number of collaborations with Marti Frederiksen, Arnold Lanni and Stevie Salas. The 15 track ''Holding On'' album contains ten live tracks recorded in 1999 at the Rockefeller Music Hall in Norway and five studio tracks.

Personal life

Healey married Krista Miller in 1992; they had a daughter and were divorced in 1998. He married Cristie Hall in 2004 and had a son with her.

Illness and death

On January 11, 2007, Healey underwent surgery to remove metastatic cancer tissue from both lungs. In the previous 18 months, he had two

sarcoma A sarcoma is a malignant tumor, a type of cancer that arises from transformed cells of mesenchymal ( connective tissue) origin. Connective tissue is a broad term that includes bone, cartilage, fat, vascular, or hematopoietic tissues, and sar ...

s removed from his legs. On March 2, 2008, Healey died of sarcoma in his home town of Toronto at the age of 41. He was buried at Park Lawn Cemetery, Mausoleum & Cremation Centre in Etobicoke, Ontario. Healey's death came a month before the release of ''Mess of Blues,'' which was his first rock/blues album in eight years.

Discography

Jeff Healey Band

Jeff Healey solo and with The Jazz Wizards

Jeff Healey solo

*2002: ''Among Friends'' (Sensation; Stony Plain)Re-released 2006, Stony Plain. *2003: ''Live at Healey's'' (Bolder)Subtitled "The Thursday Night Recordings". *2004: ''Adventures in Jazzland'' (HealeyOphonic; Stony Plain) *2006: ''It's Tight Like That'' ( Stony Plain) *2008: '' Mess of Blues'' ( Ruf; Stony Plain) *2009: '' Songs From The Road'' (Ruf; Stony Plain) *2010: ''Last Call'' (Stony Plain) *2016: ''Heal My Soul'' (Convexe Entertainment; Provogue) *2016: ''Holding On: A 'Heal My Soul' Companion'' (Convexe Entertainment; Provogue) *2020: ''Heal My Soul: Deluxe Edition'' (Eagle Rock Entertainment)

Live albums

*1993: ''Live in Belgium'' (CD & DVD) (Eagle Vision) *2003: ''Live at Healey's'' (Bolder) *2005: ''Live at Montreux 1999'' (Eagle) *2011: ''Live at Grossman's 1994'' (Eagle Rock North/Convexe) *2013: ''As The Years Go Passing By: Live in Germany 1989-1995-2000'' (in-akustik) - note: the first release of archival material compiled with the participation and full approval of the Jeff Healey Estate. *2013: ''Live From NYC'' (Eagle Rock) *2014: ''Live at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, 1993'' (Eagle Rock)

Compilations

*1998: ''The Very Best of Jeff Healey'' ( RCA) *1998: ''The Very Best of Jeff Healey'' (MSI Music Distribution) *1999: ''Master Hits'' (Arista) *2004: ''The Platinum and Gold Collection'' (Arista) *2008: ''Super Hits'' ( Sony BMG) *2008: ''Legacy: Volume One'' (Ear Music; Arbor Records Ltd) *2013: ''Playlist: The Very Best of the Jeff Healey Band'' (Arista) *2013: ''House on Fire – Demos & Rarities'' (Eagle Rock North) *2015: ''The Best of the Stony Plain Years'' (Stony Plain)

Appearances on other albums

*1988 ''The Promise'' by Matt Minglewood ( Savannah Music/WEA) *1995 ''Let It Rock! (The Rock 'n' Roll Album of the Decade)'' ( Quality Records) -

Ronnie Hawkins Ronald Cornett Hawkins (January 10, 1935 – May 29, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter, long based in Canada, whose career spanned more than half a century. His career began in Arkansas, United States, where he was born and raised. He ...

' 60th Birthday Bash, Live at Massey Hall, featuring The Band,

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, Carl Perkins, Larry Gowan. *1999 ''Blues Blues Blues'' by Jimmy Rogers All-Stars ( Atlantic Records) *2003 ''Live At Last'' by Matt Minglewood Band feat. Jeff Healey ( Norton Records) *2004 ''What's Love? A Tribute to Tina Turner'' ( Versailles Records) *2006 ''Full Circle'' by Walter Trout (

Ruf Records Ruf Records is a German independent record label, which was founded in 1994 by Luther Allison’s manager, Thomas Ruf, to promote Allison's career. The motto of the blues label is "Where Blues Crosses Over". The company's office is located in Li ...

)

Compilation inclusions

*1997 ''Hits of the 80's'' *2002 ''While My Guitar Gently Weeps'' *2006 '' Saturday Night Blues: 20 Years'' ( CBC)

Singles

Filmography

*1989: '' Road House'' as Cody *1999: ''Live at Montreux'' *2004: ''See The Light'' ( BMG) *2013: ''As The Years Go Passing By: Live in Germany 1989-1995-2000'' (in-akustik)The first release of archival material compiled with the participation and full approval of the Jeff Healey Estate. (3CD/2DVD deluxe ed. – also available as 3 CD set) www.jeffhealey.com

References

External links

*
Official Facebook PageOfficial Youtube ChannelOfficial Jeff Healey BiographyOfficial Jeff Healey Discography
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Healey, Jeff 1966 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Canadian guitarists 20th-century Canadian male singers 21st-century Canadian guitarists 21st-century Canadian male singers Arista Records artists Blind musicians Blind people from Canada Blues rock musicians Canadian adoptees Canadian blues guitarists Canadian male guitarists Canadian radio personalities Canadian rock guitarists Deaths from cancer in Ontario Electric blues musicians Independent Music Awards winners Jazz radio presenters Juno Award winners Lead guitarists Musicians from Toronto People from Etobicoke Rhythm guitarists RCA Records artists Canadian Disability Hall of Fame Stony Plain Records artists Provogue Records artists