Blindness need not be a hindrance for a musician to succeed.\u00a0 Two of the best examples are Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, both primarily known as singers, but equally capable on their instruments of choice \u2013 the piano and harmonica, respectively.\u00a0 In 1988, a young man from Toronto, Canada named Jeff Healey rose to stardom with his eponymous blues-rock band.\u00a0 And it wasn\u2019t his blindness that struck observers as odd \u2013 after all, Messrs. Charles and Wonder had proven time and again that there is a place for the blind man in popular music.\u00a0 Rather, it was Healey\u2019s unconventional way of playing the guitar \u2013 on his lap.<\/p>\n
Norman Jeffrey Healey was born on March 25, 1966 in Toronto and adopted as a baby.\u00a0 He was blind from the age of one as a result of retinoblastoma, or cancer of the retina.\u00a0 While attending a school for the blind, Jeff was taught the standard way of handling and playing a guitar, but eventually switched to playing it on his lap.\u00a0 It was more comfortable that way, and as evidenced by his later work, it doesn\u2019t matter how you play the guitar, as long as you play it well.<\/p>\n
Healey\u2019s first musical heroes were country musicians like Chet Atkins, but he would soon discover rock and blues icons such as Jimi Hendrix and B.B. King.\u00a0 Their work informed his early career as a vocalist and guitarist, starting at age 17 with Blue Direction.\u00a0 After a short stint as a jazz and blues DJ, he formed the Jeff Healey Band with Joe Rockman (bass) and Tom Stephen (drums).\u00a0 Their reputation grew quickly, and by 1988, with their leader only 22 years old, the Jeff Healey Band was signed by Arista Records.\u00a0 The aptly-titled debut album See the Light<\/em> was released in September 1988, and its first single, \u201cAngel Eyes\u201d peaked at # 5 on the Billboard<\/em> Hot 100 charts in early 1989.\u00a0 During the recording of See the Light<\/em>, the Jeff Healey Band starred and performed in Patrick Swayze\u2019s cult classic Road House<\/em>.\u00a0 Things were looking good for Healey as the \u201880s were ending and the \u201890s about to begin.<\/p>\n The Jeff Healey Band\u2019s next albums didn\u2019t fare as well as See the Light<\/em>, though they still enjoyed popularity in Canada.\u00a0 Despite changing musical trends, Healey continued playing his favored blues-rock sound till the dawn of the 21st<\/sup> century, when he started a solo career and focusing on jazz music.\u00a0 Still, Healey never lost his passion for the blues.\u00a0 As the owner of a club in Toronto bearing his name, Healey continued performing with two separate backing bands \u2013 a blues band and a jazz band \u2013 and made several appearances as a guest musician on other performers\u2019 albums.\u00a0 He remained a respected guitarist and singer among peers and younger musicians alike.<\/p>\n Sadly, the end was drawing near for the plucky infant who grew up to become a rock icon.\u00a0 The cancer that had cost him his vision was spreading, and Healey had cancerous tissue removed from his legs and lungs in 2006 and 2007, respectively.\u00a0 Still, he continued making appearances at public events and contributing to charitable projects.\u00a0 Jeff Healey passed away on March 2, 2008 at Toronto\u2019s St. Joseph\u2019s Health Centre at the age of 41.\u00a0 He was just three weeks shy of his 42nd<\/sup> birthday.\u00a0 A new solo album, Mess of Blues<\/em>, was released posthumously, just a few weeks after his death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Blindness need not be a hindrance for a musician to succeed.\u00a0 Two of the best examples are Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, both primarily known as singers, but equally capable on their instruments of choice \u2013 the piano and harmonica, respectively.\u00a0 In 1988, a young man from Toronto, Canada named Jeff Healey rose to stardom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}