Facts alone pay insufficient tribute to the talents of Jeff Healey, but they at least provide a continuing framework for the story of one of Canada's most celebrated and accomplished musicians. The facts alone however, barely scratch the surface of The Jeff Healey Band's first release in 5 years, GET ME SOME. For that, a bit of history, a proper context and some reflection from the artist himself is in order.
Rendered blind from eye cancer since the age of one, Healey picked up his first guitar at three, and - by playing the instrument flat on his lap - patented a revolutionary technique that went on to become a trademark of his performance. By the age of six, Healey was playing and singing in public. Once he reached his teens, the guitarist had already played in several bands, and experimented with numerous musical genres. At the age of fourteen, Healey had become the principal music specialist at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, routinely airing vintage selections from his now 25,000-strong collection of 78 rpm recordings for his weekly radio broadcast.
"I progressed through so many different styles of music through my teen years, both as a player and a vocalist, particularly the jazz and pop of the early 20th Century," Healey says. "I always knew, that in some way, I'd be connected to, and involved in, the music business."
Recognized as a 'musical prodigy' by his mid-teens, Healey soon came to the attention of one of blues music's' elder statesmen, Albert Collins. Healey went on to share a bill with Collins at Toronto's Albert's Hall. Healey later shared the same stage with no less an axeman than Stevie Ray Vaughan. And B.B. King at Vancouver Expo '86. His status as one of Canadian music's bright lights was rapidly becoming entrenched.
Healey comments, "Not only did I get to play with these great international musicians, but I also had the opportunity to jam with the local celebrities in Toronto, people like the Walsh Brothers, David Wilcox, Kim Mitchell and the like. It was a great learning experience."
During this period, Sunday night jam sessions at Grossman's Tavern in Toronto had a become a magnet for the 'who's who' of North American rock scene, Robbie Robertson, Downchild Blues Band, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Dylan, among them. It was here that Healey hooked up with drummer Tom Stephen and bassist Joe Rockman to form The Jeff Healey Band. Originally from New Brunswick, Stephen had come to Toronto to pursue a career in urban planning. That went south once he and Healey met up during one of those infamous jam sessions. Rockman is a Toronto native, a classically-trained pianist and guitar player who finally settled on the bass as his instrument of choice. By the time he met Jeff Healey, Rockman was practically a veteran, having played with various jazz, blues and rock bands in Toronto for over a decade.
In 1988, the band came to the attention of Arista Records in the U.S., and a flurry of activity followed. The band released its first album, See The Light, featuring original songs alongside some rock staples by John Hiatt, ZZ Top and Freddie King. it also spawned a top 10 single in "Confidence Man", and a Billboard Hot 100 Top 5 ranking for "Angel Eyes", leading JHB to appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The album went through the roof in Canada, selling well over 300,000 copies and went Platinum (1 million) in the U.S. Healey was also nominated for a Grammy Award alongside Santana, for Best Instrumental" for his performance on the track "Hideaway". Also, at the same time, a producer named Jimmy Iovine cast the band in a Patrick Swayze film, Road House, and flew the band to L.A. to cut the movie's soundtrack. Both the film and the soundtrack were released in 1989.
"The three years following the release of See The Light were a whirlwind," Healey says. "Almost non-stop touring, talk shows, press and radio interviews with a three-month break only to write and record a new album (the resulting Hell To Pay). I was meeting and touring with ZZ Top, Little Feat, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and many others."
Success accelerated for JHB after 1989. Magazine covers (Guitar Player, Guitarist), multiple Juno, Grammy, and European-based awards show nominations and the great leap from playing clubs to stadiums, ensued. The following year, Healey released Hell To Pay, a star-studded project featuring Mark Knopfler, Paul Shaffer, Bobby Whitlock and George Harrison., all of whom appeared on the disc with six Healey band originals. The sophomore album went on to sell over 200,000 copies in Canada, went gold in the U.S., and sold two million units world-wide.
By this point, the Healey band had founded Forte Records and Productions, signing an as-yet unknown artist to its roster. Amanda Marshall has since shot to fame in Canada and the U.S. on the strength of two acclaimed albums, Amanda Marshall, Tuesday's Child. Nineteen-ninety-two saw the release of JHB's third album, Feel This, a jumped-up fusion of blues, rock, ballads and rap. In recognition of the work's importance, MuchMusic invited The Jeff Healey Band to host an Intimate and Interactive special. A tour with Bon Jovi followed.
A return to his roots came next in 1994, when Healey appeared for a surprise show at Grossman's Tavern, site of his promising beginnings. Added to that was the opening slot on an unannounced Rolling Stones show at what is known today as The Guvernment in Toronto, the first stop on the band's Voodoo Lounge world-wide tour.
In a further nod to his past, JHB decide in 1995 to release Cover to Cover, a concept album of rock standards and blues classics, and garnered a Grammy Award nomination the following year. Also, in 1996, the band contributed a track, "Bulletproof" to the Steven Segal/Kennen Ivory Wayans picture The Glimmer Man.
And then, in the twelfth year of their existence, and for the first time in their musical lives, the band rested.
Flash-forward to the year 2000.
With the original lineup intact, and after a 5-year absence, Healey and company have returned with a vengeance. Get Me Some has all the raw, lurid force its title suggests. The revved-up riffs and screaming harp of "Which One" drops off into the slowed-down molten groove of "Hey Hey". Healey covers the sonic palette on this album, even tempting the fates by covering the Diane Warren penned "I Tried", to stunning effect. His supple vocals lend songs like "I Should Have Told You" and "Love Is The Answer" a melancholy, keening quality, traits that have come to define Healey's incomparable style.
The band was given a hero's welcome back to the public fold when they performed New Year's Eve 2000 at Niagara Falls Park. Both NBC and CNN picked up the show and broadcast it throughout North America.
The Jeff Healey Band is back. 'Nuff said.
(taken from www.TheJeffHealeyBand.Com)
TORONTO - Blind rock and jazz musician Jeff Healey has died after a lifelong battle against cancer. He was 41. He Died Sunday March 2, 2008.
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.
-(Taken From Yahoo News)
