ALBUM: ‘See the Light’ (1988)
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$
This blind Canadian guitarist died too soon, and I believe was underrated as a guitarist.
He died at 41 of cancer. As an infant he had a rare eye cancer which led to the removal of his eyeballs. He started playing guitar at 3 years old, putting it on his lap. It’s a method he used all his life.
His ballad-for-radio ‘Angel Eyes’ (written by John Hiatt) reached No. 5 on the charts in the late 80s. It was from the album ‘See the Light’ — the title song is the scorching closer of that album. ‘Angel Eyes’ is a better ballad-for-radio than Ian Hunter’s “Ships” which I just reviewed on MVC.
For good or ill, more people may remember Healey as the blind leader of a house band in a rought and tumble nightclub in the Patrick Swayze movie ‘Road House.’ Yep that’s Jeff, basically playing himself.
I think this movie role probably caused a lot of folks to miss the forest for the trees. He was exceptional with his laptop guitar playing and often expanded his music into the jazz and blues realm. But he didn’t make Rollihg Stone’s Top 100 guitarists, not necessarily a travesty, but an inexplicable oversight.
He has made other lists in the Top 10, however. And lists are lists — to judge for yourself, see the videos below:
Fun fact: He was a voracious collector of old jazz and blues records and played trumpet as well as guitar.