Canadian Blues-Rock · Complete Timeline

The Jeff Healey Band

Guitar flat on his lap, and better than most people playing it standing up

Jeff Healey lost his sight to retinoblastoma before his first birthday, picked up a guitar at three, and taught himself to play it flat across his lap, fretting from above. By his early twenties he had a top-five U.S. single, a part in a Patrick Swayze movie, a Juno for Entertainer of the Year and a recording session with George Harrison. He spent the rest of his career exactly where he wanted to be: playing blues loud, playing 1920s jazz on the trumpet, and running his own club in Toronto.

July 1, 1989, Lansdowne Park, Ottawa: the Canada Day bill that day, per setlist.fm, was The Jeff Healey Band, Colin James, The Tragically Hip, Honeymoon Suite and Frozen Ghost. Not a bad day to be standing on a field in Ottawa.

Band Members

Complete Timeline

• Mar 25, 1966

  Born in TorontoOrigin

  Norman Jeffrey Healey is born in Toronto, Ontario. At about eleven months old he is diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer. Both eyes are surgically removed and replaced with prostheses.

• 1969

  Picks Up the Guitar at ThreeOrigin

  He starts playing at age three and develops his own technique: guitar flat on his lap, fretting from above. At nine he appears on TVOntario’s children’s show Cucumber.

• 1981

  Blue DirectionEarly Band

  At fifteen he forms his first band, Blue Direction. Around the same time he hosts a jazz and blues show on Toronto campus station CIUT-FM, playing 78 rpm records from his own collection.

• Late 1985

  The Jeff Healey Band FormsFormation

  Healey forms a trio with Joe Rockman on bass and Tom Stephen on drums. They work the Toronto club circuit, including Grossman’s Tavern, Albert’s Hall and the Colonial Tavern. At Albert’s Hall he sits in with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert Collins, which is not a bad audition.

• 1988

  See the Light — Arista DebutAlbum

  After signing with Arista Records, the band releases its debut. It goes triple platinum in Canada and eventually sells more than two million copies worldwide. The album is nominated for the 1990 Juno for Album of the Year.

• 1989

  “Angel Eyes” and Road HouseHit

  “Angel Eyes,” a John Hiatt song, reaches #5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #16 in Canada. The band appears on screen in Road House alongside Patrick Swayze as the house band at the Double Deuce. “Hideaway” is nominated for the Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

• Jul 1, 1989

  Canada Day, Lansdowne Park, OttawaI Was There

  The Grandstand at Lansdowne Park, on the See the Light tour, sharing the Canada Day bill with Colin James, The Tragically Hip, Honeymoon Suite and Frozen Ghost. setlist.fm’s partial setlist includes “See the Light” and “Angel Eyes.”

  This is the show where Don asked why the guitar player was trying to do the Max Webster strut.

• 1990

  Juno — Canadian Entertainer of the YearJuno

  Healey wins the Juno Award for Canadian Entertainer of the Year. The World Music Awards name him World’s Best-Selling Canadian Artist.

• 1990

  Hell to PayAlbum

  Peaks at #5 in Canada and #27 in the U.S. Its cover of the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” features George Harrison and Jeff Lynne.

• 1992

  Feel ThisAlbum

  The third studio album peaks at #27 in Canada.

• 1995

  Cover to CoverAlbum

  An album of covers, paying tribute to the players Healey grew up on. Peaks at #44 in Canada.

• 2000

  Get Me Some — Then JazzAlbum

  Get Me Some is the band’s last rock album of the era. Healey then turns toward his first love, 1920s and 1930s jazz. He forms Jeff Healey’s Jazz Wizards, plays trumpet on stage and releases three jazz records. He also hosts My Kind of Jazz on CBC Radio and later a show on Jazz FM.

• 2000s

  Healey’s — His Own ClubToronto

  He runs Healey’s on Bathurst Street, later reborn as Jeff Healey’s Roadhouse on Blue Jays Way in Toronto. There was blues on Thursday nights and jazz on Saturday afternoons, with the owner often on stage.

• Jan 2007

  Cancer ReturnsHealth

  Surgery removes metastatic cancer from both lungs, after two sarcomas had been removed from his legs in the previous eighteen months.

• Mar 2, 2008

  Jeff Healey Dies, Age 41In Memoriam

  Healey dies of sarcoma in Toronto, just weeks short of his 42nd birthday. He is buried at Park Lawn Cemetery in Etobicoke.

• 2008

  Mess of Blues — PosthumousAlbum

  His return to blues-rock is released after his death. It wins Best Blues Album at the 8th Independent Music Awards in 2009.

• 2011

  Jeff Healey ParkTribute

  Woodford Park in Toronto is renamed Jeff Healey Park.

• Oct 18, 2014

  Canada’s Walk of FameWalk of Fame

  Healey is inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame.

• 2016

  Heal My SoulArchival

  Heal My Soul is a posthumous collection of previously unreleased studio recordings, followed by the companion album Holding On. A deluxe edition of Heal My Soul follows in 2020.

• Feb 20, 2023

  Tom Stephen DiesIn Memoriam

  Founding drummer Tom Stephen dies. He was 68.

“Why is that guy trying to do the Max Webster strut? He’s all over the place.”

— Don, Lansdowne Park, Canada Day 1989

Studio Discography

Key Resources & Links