On March 2nd, 2008, Jeff Healey died of cancer at St. Joseph's Health Centre in his home town of Toronto; he was 41.
Healey, died in a Toronto hospital of a rare cancer - retino blastoma - that he had fought since birth and which claimed his eyesight at the age of one.
"Visually, Jeff was an intriguing player to watch, because he played guitar - by any conventional standard - all wrong, with it flat across his lap," his publicist Richard Flohil told broadcaster CTV. "But he was a remarkable, a virtuoso player."
The Jeff Healey Band's 1988 Grammy-nominated album See the Light, which included the hit "Angel Eyes", sold more than 1 million copies in the United States.
He played with blues legends BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughn, and recorded with George Harrison, Mark Knopfler and Jimmy Rogers.
His death came a month before the release of his new album, Mess of Blues, which will be his first rock album in eight years.
"Visually, Jeff was an intriguing player to watch, because he played guitar - by any conventional standard - all wrong, with it flat across his lap," his publicist Richard Flohil told broadcaster CTV. "But he was a remarkable, a virtuoso player."
The Jeff Healey Band's 1988 Grammy-nominated album See the Light, which included the hit "Angel Eyes", sold more than 1 million copies in the United States.
He played with blues legends BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughn, and recorded with George Harrison, Mark Knopfler and Jimmy Rogers.
His death came a month before the release of his new album, Mess of Blues, which will be his first rock album in eight years.
Jeff was much too young to be taken from us; another in the line of Rock and Roll tragedies. He will be sadly missed.
