Jeff Healey Discography

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Trivia
Graduated from Etobicoke Collegiate Institute in (Etobicoke) Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Lead singer and guitarist for the Jeff Healey Band who had a top 5 pop hit with the song `Angel Eyes` in 1989.

Blind since the age of 1.

Began playing guitar at the age of 3.

Life and Career:
Born in Toronto, Healey was raised in the city`s west end. His father was a firefighter. Healey was blind; he lost his sight when he was one year old, due to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes. His eyes had to be surgically removed, and he was given artificial replacements. Nevertheless he began playing guitar when he was only three, developing his unique style of playing the instrument flat on his lap.

When he was seventeen he formed the band Blue Direction. This band was a four-piece band, primarily playing 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.

Shortly thereafter, he was introduced to two musicians, bassist Joe Rockman and drummer Tom Stephen, and formed a trio, who made their first public appearance at The Birds Nest, located upstairs at Chicago`s Diner on Queen Street West in Toronto. The new band received a write-up in Toronto`s NOW magazine, and quickly were playing almost nightly in local clubs such as Grossman`s Tavern and the famed blues club Albert`s Hall. At this point, Jeff and the band were featured in a movie, Road House, which was inspired when its creator saw Jeff playing. With the resulting stardom, they soon signed with Arista Records and in 1988 released See The Light, which included the hit single "Angel Eyes". The song "Hideaway" was nominated for the "Best Instrumental" Grammy Award, and in 1990 the band won the "Entertainer of the Year" Juno Award. Other hits have included "How Long Can a Man Be Strong" and a cover of The Beatles` "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".

Healey was never particularly enamored with the world of rock music, however, and soon left it for music he preferred, vintage jazz. Jeff had been sitting in with traditional jazz bands around Toronto since the beginning of his music career.

In his later years, he released three CDs from his true passion, traditional American jazz from the 1920s and 1930s. He was an avid record collector and amassed a collection of well over 25,000 78 rpm records. For many years Healey ran his music-based club Healey`s on Bathurst Street in Toronto, where he played with a rock band on Thursday nights, and with his jazz group, Jeff Healey`s Jazz Wizards, on Saturday afternoons. Healey had moved his club to a bigger location at 56 Blue Jays Way and named it Jeff Healey`s Roadhouse.

Though known primarily as a guitarist, Healey also played trumpet and clarinet during live performances. He also appeared on Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan`s CD/DVD Gillan`s Inn. He can also be seen playing the electric guitar with Stevie Ray Vaughan in SRV`s rock video Look At Little Sister.

Healey had, from time to time, hosted a CBC Radio program entitled, My Kind of Jazz, in which he plays records from his vast vintage jazz collection. He hosted a program of the same name on Toronto station CJRT-FM, also known as JAZZ.FM91.

Healey discovered and helped develop the careers of other artists, including Amanda Marshall and Terra Hazelton.

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