Canadian musician Jeff Healey plays before a crowd of 8,500 in Windsor, Ont. in this July 2001 photo. Healey, arguably one of the most distinctive guitar players of our time, died yesterday in Toronto. He was 41.
Jeff Healey dies of cancer at age 41
Musician earned reputation as teenage prodigy
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Published Monday March 3rd, 2008
TORONTO - Canadian rock and jazz musician Jeff Healey died yesterday in a Toronto hospital after a battle with cancer, his publicist said.
He was 41.
Healey's battle with cancer began at age one when he lost his sight due to Retinoblastoma, a rare form of retinal cancer.
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.
But Healey's true love was jazz, the genre that dominated his three most recent albums.
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.
Much of Healey's commercial success came as the frontman for the Jeff Healey Band, a Juno-winning act that achieved platinum record sales in the United States with the 1988 record "See the Light."
Despite deteriorating record sales in the 1990s, Healey kept busy with radio shows on a local Toronto jazz station where he spun long-forgotten classics from his personal collection of more than 30,000 vinyl records.
The Grammy-nominated musician is survived by his wife Christie and two children.