The Jeff Healey Band

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Biography

Norman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey (March 25, 1966 – March 2, 2008) was a blind Canadian jazz and blues music|blues - Rock music|rock vocalist and guitarist who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s.

Early life

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

Early career and success

Healey 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 .

Healey began hosting a jazz and blues show on radio station CIUT-FM where he became known for playing from his massive collection of vintage 78 rpm phonograph|gramophone records.

Shortly thereafter he was introduced to two musicians, bassist Joe Rockman and drum kit|drummer Tom Stephen , with whom he formed a trio, " The Jeff Healey Band ". This 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)|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 (Jeff Healey album)|See the Light , featuring the hit single " Angel Eyes (The Jeff Healey Band song)|Angel Eyes " and the song "Hideaway", which was nominated for a Grammy Award 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 (1989 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 Juno Award for Entertainer of the Year|Canadian Entertainer of the Year . The albums Hell to Pay (Jeff Healey album)|Hell to Pay and Feel This (album)|Feel This gave Healey 10 charting singles in Canada between 1990 and 1994, including a cover version|cover of The Beatles ' While My Guitar Gently Weeps which featured George Harrison and Jeff Lynne on backing vocals and acoustic guitar.Arista Records LP AL-8632, 1990.

Later work and life

By the release of the 2000 album Get Me Some , Healey began to concentrate his talent in another direction closer to his heart, which was the appreciation for another original American music form, jazz .

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.

Healey was an avid record collecting|record collector and amassed a collection of well over 30,000 78 rpm records. He 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 with a similar name on Toronto jazz station CJRT-FM ; as of 2010, the latter program continues to air in repeats.

He had also been touring with his other group, The Jazz Wizards , playing American hot jazz . (At the time of his death, they had been planning to perform a series of shows in the United Kingdom , Germany , and the Netherlands in April 2008.)

For many years, Healey toured throughout North America and Europe and performed at his club, "Healey's" on Bathurst Street, Toronto|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 bigger 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 (1989 film)|Road House , in which Healey appeared.)

Over the years, Healey toured and sat in with many legendary performers, including Dire Straits , 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 Compact disc|CD / DVD '' Gillan's Inn (album)|Gillan's Inn .

Healey discovered and helped develop the careers of other musical artists, including Terra Hazelton and Amanda Marshall .. Pages.infinit.net. Retrieved on 2011-09-28.

In early 2009, Healey's album Mess of Blues won in The 8th Annual The Independent Music Awards|Independent Music Awards for Best Blues Album.

Illness and death

On January 11, 2007, Healey underwent surgery to remove Metastasis|metastatic tissue from both lungs. In the previous eighteen months, he had two sarcoma s removed from his legs. Accessed 2007-01-16

On March 2, 2008, Healey died of cancer , BBC News, March 3, 2008, at St. Joseph's Health Centre in his home town of Toronto. He was 41 years old. His death came a month before the release of Mess of Blues, which was his first rock/blues album in eight years.

Healey is survived by his wife, Cristie, and two children. A tribute concert was held on May 3, 2008, to benefit Daisy's Eye Cancer Fund, which, according to Cristie Healey, had helped make major strides in research and future advances for people born with the same Genetics|genetic ally inherited retinoblastoma which led to her husband's blindness at eleven months of age. Cristie and Jeff Healey's son was also born with the same disability.. Youtube.com. Retrieved on 2011-09-28.

In 2009, Healey was inducted into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame .

Discography

Jeff Healey Band

1986: Adrianna/See the Light (Private Press)

1988: See the Light (Jeff Healey album)|See the Light ( Arista Records|Arista )CD release 1990.

1989: Road House (1989 film)#Soundtrack|Road House Soundtrack CD re-release 2005, Phantom Records .

1990: Hell to Pay (Jeff Healey album)|Hell to Pay (Arista)

1992: Feel This (album)|Feel This (Arista)

1995: Cover to Cover (The Jeff Healey Band album)|Cover to Cover (Arista)CD re-release 2002, BMG Special Products.

2000: Get Me Some (album)|Get Me Some ( Universal Canada )

2005: The Jeff Healey Band Live at Montreux 1999 (Eagle)

2011: ''Live At Grossman's 1994 (Eagle Rock North/Convexe)

Jeff Healey solo

2002: Among Friends Re-released 2006, Stony Plain.

2003: ''Live at Healey's (Bolder)Subtitled "The Thursday Night Recordings".

2004: Adventures in Jazzland (Healeyophonic)

2006: ''It's Tight Like That ( Stony Plain Records|Stony Plain )Jeff Healey and The Jazz Wizards.

2008: Mess of Blues

2009: Songs from the Road (Jeff Healey album)|Songs From The Road (Stony Plain)

2010: Last Call ( Stony Plain Records )

Compilations

1998 The Very Best of Jeff Healey ( RCA Records|RCA )CD re-release 2003 on RCA Camden . However, "(w)ith the 2004 merger of BMG ( RCA Victor|RCA Victor's parent company) and Sony Music Entertainment|Sony ( Columbia Records|Columbia Records' parent company), the Camden label...(was) abandoned", implying that the re-released greatest hits package was discontinued shortly thereafter. See RCA Camden .

1998 The Very Best of Jeff Healey (MSI Music Distribution)Collection issued in Germany and imported via MSI Music Distribution, based in Florida. At the time, MSI Music Distribution was one of the largest importers of recorded music in the United States. See . Entry of September 13, 2007; www.myblogutopia.com.

1999 Master Hits (Arista)

2004 The Platinum and Gold Collection (Arista)

2008 Super Hits ( Sony Music Entertainment|Sony )

2009 Legacy, Volume 1 (Arbor)A Winnipeg -based record company, distributed by EMI in Canada, Allego Music in the United States, New Music Distribution in Germany and Disques Dorn in France. See ; www.arborrecords.com.Contains two CDs and one DVD. One CD is a collection of Healey singles, while the other CD is a collection of unreleased live material. The DVD contains "rare footage, interviews, intimate behind the scenes moments, and unseen live performances...(including) collaborations and jams with Stevie Ray Vaughan , Eric Clapton , The Rolling Stones , Tina Turner , Keith Richards , George Harrison , B.B. King , Mark Knopfler , Jeff Lynne , Sheila E , Clarence Clemons , Paul Shaffer and Dave Edmunds ." See ; www.cduniverse.com.

Compilation inclusions

2002 While My Guitar Gently Weeps

2004 ''What's Love? A Tribute to Tina Turner '' ( Versailles Records|Versailles )Healey plays on I Can't Stand the Rain (song)|"I Can't Stand The Rain" , with Alannah Myles .

2006 Ruf Records Anthology: 12 Years of Where Blues Crosses Over (Ruf Records)Healey performs "Workin' Overtime" with Walter Trout .

2006 Saturday Night Blues: 20 Years ( CBC Radio|CBC )A compilation album of live performances from the Saturday Night Blues radio program on CBC Radio , hosted by Holger Petersen . Healey's "Anything For You" (Also known as "I Would Do Anything For You", originally recorded on the Among Friends album) is included.

Film, DVD

1989 Roadhouse (1989 film)|Roadhouse

1999 Live At Montreux Re-released 2005, RED Distribution . Includes Jeff Healey Band 1999 performance at the Montreux Festival , plus 1997 performances of four songs at Stravinsky Hall, also in Montreux.

2004 See The Light ( BMG )Three video clips and live performances of 10 songs taped April 14, 1989 in London, England. Includes previously unreleased video clip "When the Night Comes Falling From the Sky."

2009 Legacy, Volume 1 (Arbor)

Copyright Citations

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