Jeff Healey (lead vocals, guitars, harmonica)
Joe Rockman (bass, vocals, keyboard)
Washington Savage (keyboards)
Tom Stephen (drums)
Phil Sayce (guitar)
Mischke Matthews (vocals)
Tuku Matthews (vocals)
Blues guitarist, singer Jeff Healey was born with a rare form of cancer called Retinoblastoma in both eyes and was blind by the age of 1. He received his first guitar at age 3 and learned to play it lap style because his hand wasn't large enough to grip the guitar's neck.
By the age of 14 he was attending Etobicoke Collegiate in Ontario and playing in bars at night with jazz, blues and country bands. Healey met drummer Tom Stephen and bassist Joe Rockman in Toronto at a Grossman's jam session in 1986. Stephen was an urban planning student and Rockman a studio musician. They soon decided to form a band
Tom Stephen acts as their business manager getting the band signed to BMG Records in Canada and Arista in the US. While the ink was drawing on their contract a stray demo that had been sent to producer Jimmy Iovine who just happens to be assembling music for the new Patrick Swayze movie 'Roadhouse.' The Jeff Healey Band is cast as the Double Deuce house band in the movie and would also supply the movie's soundtrack album.
After shooting rapped, they would release their first album in 1988 which included the songs "Adrianna" and "See The Light" which were tunes that Healey had recorded and released on an independent single on his own the year before. The album spawned two hit singles and sold 2 million copies worldwide through a year's worth of touring.
The single from 'See The Light' called "Angel Eyes", meanwhile, went to #5 on the Billboard charts as a result of ceaseless touring with the likes of Little Feat and others. They would receive an American Grammy nomination not to mention 5 CASBY nominations from Toronto radio station CFNY-FM.
1990 saw the release of the band's full-length follow-up called 'Hell To Pay' which featured three hit singles and guest appearances by Sass Jordan, Jeff Lynne, Mark Knopfler and George Harrison (on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"). The band added Washington Savage (Infidels) as keyboards and toured with Bonnie Raitt to support the album selling 1.5 million copies worldwide. They won the 1990 Juno for 'Entertainer Of The Year".
In 1992 'Feel This' was released featuring the production experience of Joe Hard (Colin James, ZZ Top) and guest appearances by Paul Shaffer (David Letterman) and Amanda Marshall. The album featured several more singles before The Jeff Healey Band but only sold 100,000 this time out. With their future in jeopardy from plummeting sales, they took a break to focus on their Forte Records label and management company for such artists as The Phantoms, Amanda Marshall and Lilith.
It would take until 1995 before another album was released called 'Cover To Cover' which was the band's re-reading of their favourite cover tunes. The record landed them another Grammy nomination for "Shapes Of Things" as 'Instrumental Of The Year'. They performed the song "Blown Away" in David Hasselhoff's short lived 'Baywatch Nights'.
Jeff Healey consistently did charity work including representing The Canadian National Institute For The Blind and has run its annual Golf Tournament every year since 1993. He also has his own jazz radio show on the CBC called 'My Kinda Jazz' where he spins material from CDs and his personal 78 RPM record collection.
1997 Healey himself wrote the soundtrack to the movie 'No Way Home'. Following a protracted absence, Healey returned in March 2000 with "Get Me Some".
Singles
as JEFF HEALEY
1986 Adrianna/See The Light (Forte) F-001
as THE JEFF HEALEY BAND
1988 See The Light (BMG)
1988 Confidence Man (BMG)
1988 My Little Girl (BMG)
1989 Angel Eyes (BMG)
1989 While My Guitar Gently Weeps (BMG)
1990 I Think I Love You Too Much (BMG)
1990 Full Circle (BMG)
1992 Cruel Little Number (BMG)
1993 Heart Of An Angel (BMG)
1993 Lost In Your Eyes (BMG)
1993 It Could All Get Blown Away (BMG)
1993 Leave The Light On (BMG)
1994 You're Coming Home (BMG)
1995 I Got A Line On You (BMG)
1995 Angel (BMG)
1995 Stuck In The Middle With You (BMG)
Albums
1988 See The Light (BMG)
1989 Roadhouse [O.S.T.] (Arista)
1990 Hell To Pay (BMG)
1992 Feel This (BMG)
1995 Cover To Cover (BMG)
2000 Get Me Some (Forte/Universal)
Video
1989 See The Light: Live From London [full-length] (6 West Home)
1992 The Jeff Healey Band [full-length] (Pioneer)
Compilation Tracks
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