1. Norman Jeffrey Healey was a Canadian blues, rock and jazz guitarist, singer and songwriter who attained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s.
21 Facts About Jeff Healey
1. 2.
Jeff Healey was adopted as an infant; his adoptive father was a firefighter.
3.
When he was almost one year old, Jeff Healey lost his sight due to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes.
4.
Jeff Healey's eyes had to be surgically removed, and he was given ocular prostheses.
5.
Jeff Healey began playing guitar when he was three, developing his unique style of playing the instrument flat on his lap.
6.
When he was 15, Jeff Healey formed the band Blue Direction, a four-piece that primarily played bar-band cover tunes and featured bassist Jeremy Littler, drummer Graydon Chapman, and schoolmate Rob Quail on second guitar.
7.
Jeff Healey began hosting a jazz and blues show on radio station CIUT-FM, where he was known for playing from his massive collection of vintage 78 rpm gramophone records.
8.
Jeff Healey had numerous acting scenes in the movie with Swayze, as his band was the house cover band for the bar featured in the movie.
9.
Jeff Healey went on to release three CDs of music of traditional American jazz from the 1920s and 1930s.
10.
Jeff Healey had been sitting in with these types of bands around Toronto since the beginning of his music career.
11.
Jeff Healey was an avid record collector and amassed a collection of well over 30,000 78 rpm records.
12.
For many years, Jeff Healey toured throughout North America and Europe and performed at his club, "Jeff Healey's" on Bathurst Street in Toronto, where he played with his blues band on Thursday nights and with his jazz group on Saturday afternoons.
13.
Jeff Healey discovered and helped develop the careers of other musical artists, including Alex Pangman, Terra Hazelton, Amanda Marshall, Shannon Curfman, and Philip Sayce.
14.
In 2009, Jeff Healey was inducted into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame.
15.
In 2014, Jeff Healey was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
16.
In September 2016, Jeff Healey was inducted into the Mississauga Music Walk of Fame.
17.
Jeff Healey married Krista Miller in 1992; they had a daughter and were divorced in 1998.
18.
Jeff Healey married Cristie Hall in 2004 and had a son with her.
19.
On January 11,2007, Jeff Healey underwent surgery to remove metastatic cancer tissue from both lungs.
20.
On March 2,2008, Jeff Healey died of sarcoma in his home town of Toronto at the age of 41.
21.
Jeff Healey was buried at Park Lawn Cemetery, in Etobicoke, Ontario.