Jeff was an amazing musician. I've seen him perform a few times and his guitar style was incredible. He will be missed in the world of jazz and rock!

TORONTO, Ontario (AP) -- Blind rock and jazz musician Jeff Healey has died after a lifelong battle against cancer. He was 41.

Jeff Healey developed his style of guitar playing when he was a child.

Healey died Sunday evening in a Toronto hospital, said bandmate Colin Bray, who was in the room with Healey's family when the guitarist died.

The Grammy-nominated Healey rose to stardom as the leader of the Jeff Healey Band, a rock-oriented trio that gained international acclaim and platinum record sales with the 1988 album "See the Light." The album included the hit single "Angel Eyes."

Healey had battled cancer since age 1, when a rare form of retinal cancer known as Retinoblastoma claimed his eyesight.

Due to his blindness, Healey taught himself to play guitar by laying the instrument across his lap.

His unique playing style, combined with his blues-oriented vocals, earned him a reputation as a teenage musical prodigy. He shared stages with George Harrison, B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Bray 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. "We just thought he was going to bounce back as he always does."

Healey had undergone numerous operations in recent years to remove tumors from his lungs and leg.

Bray and fellow bandmate Gary Scriven remembered their frontman as a musician of rare abilities with a generous nature and wicked sense of humor.

Healey's true love was jazz, the genre that dominated his three most recent albums.

His love of jazz led him to host radio shows in Canada where he spun long-forgotten numbers from his personal collection of over 30,000 vinyl records.

His 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.

He is survived by his wife, Christie, and two children.

I remember him

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

Wow is this so damn sad...I loved this guy...

i never knew what a continuing battle he'd waged in his lifetime in regards to his health.

very talented man and musician.

just let out a gasp when i read this on msn.


you were amazing jeff.

Damn.....

I remember that guy...wasnt he in Roadhouse. starring Pat Swayze?

omg no!

I love "Angel Eyes."

thepope2the9s said:

Yes, he was a member of the club's house band.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

Damn

Aww. . .

R.I.P.

I feel silly and unpatriotic for not knowing him

alphastreet said:

I thought most Canadians weren't too concerned aboot patriotism.

Rest in peace Jeff.

So it was the H.O.R.D.E Festival in in the mid 90s and I just walk into the outdoor venue and see Taj Mahal setting up on a little stage. I'm in awe because I'm literally 3 feet away from the man when Lenny Kravitz' band comes out and then finally Lenny. Taj is wailing on some blues riff when he stops everyone and says "It's like this" and pounds out some chords. Lenny's guitarist was like "Is that an F to a C?" and Taj says, "I don't know, it's like this" and goes back to pounding out some blues. So I'm completely blown the fuck away when all of a sudden I here blues being played like SRV but louder and dirtier.

I walk over and I look around at the crowd of 150 people and they're all standing there with their mouths hanging open. It's Jeff Healey and he's in a zone, no, he's on another planet. Singing like there's no tomorrow and playing like a man possessed. I mean, tearing through blues riffs on his lap better than most with it around their neck. At the end of the set, he stands up and starts swinging the guitar and trashes the set along with his band.

It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen done in the name of Blues. It was spiritual and pure. When the smoke cleared, the same 150 people still stood there with their mouths hanging open but now they were clapping and saying to each other, "Wow".

I ended up meeting Jeff in Austin when my family lived there. He was just walking down the street with his girl and while I'm usually not star struck, I had to stop him and get an autograph. I mentioned the show I saw and he noticeably got embarrassed and said something to the effect of "You play guitar, music takes you to another place don't it?", just as humble and real and nice as anyone you'd ever want to know.

RIP Jeff

Slave2daGroove said:

Great story! Thanks for sharing.

great story, slave


they played a tribute to him last night on tv.
"jeff healey and friends" i had to watch till the last note.

he has a new album coming out in april. "mess of blues"

thepope2the9s said:

one of my all time fav movies, it was how i discovered Healey- just amazing

so sad

Holy God! I was just talking today to a co-worker about how much I love Jeff!

No, man. This is such sad news. I knew his health was getting worse, but believed he'd come through.

God damn.

DAMN!!!!! REST IN PEACE, JEFF HEALEY.....

[Edited 3/7/08 0:18am]