• 1985-2008

  Jeff HealeyVocals, guitar, harmonica

  Joe RockmanBass

  Tom StephenDrums
• Jeff Healey was blind. He had a rare form of eye cancer called retinoblastoma that caused him to lose his sight about a year after he was born.
• Healy played guitar seated with the instrument on his lap. This was his natural style - when he was 3 years old he got his first guitar (an acoustic) and immediately started playing it that way. "I've never tried to analyze the style," he told Musician magazine. "It's just something that gave me the kind of sound I wanted, without really knowing how it happened."
• Healy's unique style allowed him to do the fretting with his left hand from above, which gave him unusual versatility. Other guitarists were fascinated by the technique but quickly found it untenable. It worked for Healy because he started playing that way and stuck with it.
• The band formed in Toronto, where the three musicians knew each other from the local scene; Joe Rockman was a popular session player. Healey was always the focus, which the other two members were fine with. "When Jeff started playing, we knew something special was happening," Tom Stephen said.
• Jeff Healey built his legend in 1985 when the guitarist Albert Collins played a show in Toronto at the serendipitously named Albert's Hall, and let Healey sit in for a song. Transfixed, Collins kept the 19-year-old Healey on stage for an hour and had him come back three nights later to sit in with his buddy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, who gushed about Healey after the show. Word quickly spread in the Toronto scene and in the guitar community.
• When he played live, Healey didn't always stay seated. In fact, he was quite a showman, sometimes performing Hendrix maneuvers like playing with his teeth or behind his head, and even rushing into the audience at times.
• The band released some singles independently before landing a deal with Arista, run at the time by Clive Davis. Their first album, See The Light, was released in 1988 and includes their biggest hit: "Angel Eyes." That was their only song to get much airplay in America, but in Canada they had a lot of songs on the radio, thanks in part to regulations compelling stations to play music by Canadian artists.
• In the 1989 movie Road House, starring Patrick Swayze as a bouncer, they play the house band at the Double Deuce bar, where most of the action takes place. They got the gig because Jimmy Iovine, who produced a track on their debut album, See The Light, worked on the soundtrack for the movie.
  
  The story fed to the press was that the film's screenwriter saw Healey perform and used him as the basis for the character that leads the bar band. That was probably a fabrication, but the movie did get the band a lot of attention and helped boost sales of their album.
• Having eye cancer when he was young put Healey at risk for developing cancer later in life, and sadly, he did. In 2006 he was diagnosed with lung cancer, which led to his death in 2008 at 41. His album Mess Of Blues was released posthumously a month later.

Comments

More Songfacts:

Edge Of SeventeenStevie Nicks

The death of John Lennon was an influence on the Stevie Nicks hit "Edge Of Seventeen." He's the one with the "words of a poet and voice from a choir."

Bad BoysInner Circle

Most of us only know "Bad Boys" by Inner Circle from the 25 seconds used as the Cops theme, but it's a full song telling the story of a Jamaican youth who doesn't accept family support and ends up a criminal.

Boom ClapCharli XCX

Before recording "Boom Clap" herself, Charli XCX offered the song to Hilary Duff, but her people turned down the tune because it "wasn't cool enough for Hilary."

Ho HeyThe Lumineers

"Ho Hey" by The Lumineers is about New York City, where lead singer Wesley Schultz moved to make it in music. He was dismayed to find many "trust fund kids" in the music scene while he struggled to pay the rent.

Forever Your GirlPaula Abdul

Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl" was written by Oliver Leiber, who despite being the son of Jerry Leiber from Leiber & Stoller, was an unknown songwriter.

Black Hole SunSoundgarden

It has long been speculated that the Soundgarden song "Black Hole Sun" came from the name of a sculpture in Seattle, but according to their frontman Chris Cornell the title came from a phrase he misheard on the news. The band's name did come from a sculpture.

Editor's Picks

Rock Revenge SongsMusic Quiz

John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?

How The Beatles Crafted Killer ChorusesSong Writing

The author of Help! 100 Songwriting, Recording And Career Tips Used By The Beatles, explains how the group crafted their choruses so effectively.

Wolfgang Van HalenSongwriter Interviews

Wolfgang Van Halen breaks down the songs on his debut album, Mammoth WVH, and names the definitive Van Halen songs from the Sammy and Dave eras.

Don FelderSongwriter Interviews

Don breaks down "Hotel California" and other songs he wrote as a member of the Eagles. Now we know where the "warm smell of colitas" came from.

Waiting For The Break of Day: Three Classic Songs About All-NightersSong Writing

These Three famous songs actually describe how they were written - late into the evening.

Tom Bailey of Thompson TwinsSongwriter Interviews

Tom stopped performing Thompson Twins songs in 1987, in part because of their personal nature: "Hold Me Now" came after an argument with his bandmate/girlfriend Alannah Currie.