Guitarist Jeff Healey died Sunday of cancer. He was 41.
Healey was considered a prodigy and earned numerous Juno and Grammy nominations in the course of his career.
He lost both his eyes to retinoblastoma before he was eight-months-old, but never let that slow him down.
His career took off when he appeared in the movie Road House, which starred Patrick Swayze.
Patrick Swayze has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by his publicist.
Although tabloid reports claimed Mr. Swayze, who is 55, has terminal cancer, the statement said those reports were not correct.
2 comments:
One of the best concerts I've been to was Jeff Healey at the Blues and Brews Fest in Telluride, CO, back in 2000. I really didn't expect much from him (it was a dozen years after See The Light had hit big, and he had long been out of the spotlight), but he played an early evening slot which absolutely blew me away.
Afterwards, he announced that the headliner,Kenny Wayne Shepherd, had run into a travel issue and was running very late - his tour bus had broke down in Denver, and the band had to rent cars for the six hour journey to Telluride. Would we mind if he played a little longer, he asked?
During the delay, Healey played two additional full sets (each one seemingly better than the previous) and at the end of the night he even came out to join Shepard for a couple of songs.
Throughout the evening, Healey played some of the best guitar I've ever heard, and his mood was so infectiously upbeat that no one seemed to mind the delay. On a couple occasions - which seemed truly spontaneous - he even got up out of his chair and broke into a clumsy dance. He really seemed to enjoy performing.
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