I just heard that just a few weeks before the release of a new album Jeff Healey died at the age of 41 from the effects of a rare form of cancer, called retinoblastoma, which he fought his entire life. He lost his eyesight from the disease at the age of one. For the general public he was known as a blues-rock guitarist with his typical style of playing the guitar flat on his lap, but in a smaller circle he was also acknowledged as jazz musician. Besides the guitar he also played trumpet and clarinet and played in a jazz formation called the Jazz Wizards who played vintage jazz from the 1920s and 1930s.
It's a shame most of the good musicians die young. May he rest in peace. And if there is a Rock Walhalla I hope and I'm pretty sure he will be jamming with George Harrison, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix.
I've added three videos from Jeff Healey. In the first one he's performing George Harrison's "While my guitar gently weeps"
The second one is a live performance with former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan playing Deep Purple's "When a blind man cries"
And finally a performance with his jazz formation the Jazz Wizards in which you can see a less known Jeff Healey playing the trumpet.
Unfortunately with the last video embedding was disabled so you have to check it at You Tube at the following link.
Official website of Jeff Healey
