Jeff Healey: 1966 - 2008

Very sad was I to hear of the death of Jeff Healey. As well as being a great musician for three decades I submit The Jeff Healey Band produced possibly one of the top ten slow-dance songs of all time in Angel Eyes. (Now we're definitely going to have to do a Top Ten List on that.)

Jeff actually has a new album coming out in a month, which should have renewed interest. (Kanye is kicking himself for not thinking of dying before his las album came out, instead of just using the suffering of Katrina victims to sell records. Next time, Kanye; next time.)

Dragon also reports that Healey was Canadian, but I find this highly dubious. Dragon thinks anyone who ever did anything Canadian, a trait she shares with most Canadians I met when living up there. (Their basic philosophy is:

Change Planes in Toronto + Accomplish Something Cool

=

Canadian

I hung out with Jeff many times, and he never mentioned being from Canada. I mean, it's possible he was just ashamed, or heck, maybe he never even knew, but in any rate, he never mentioned it. Back in the early '90s I tried to get Jeff to form a new band, combining his style of Blues with MoTown. I called it "Sexual Healy." However, Jeff just couldn't see it. As I recall, there were a lot of things Jeff could never see, as far-reaching vision was never his strong suit, but I loved him anyway.

Jeff was one of only a few people who could pull of a power-mullet. Of course, we told him mullets were cool, because that's what friends do, but somehow he made it work anyway.

I wanted to embed the music video for Angel Eyes, but You Tube went all Nazi on me. (You can see it here if you want.) Instead I have a live version Jeff did in Europe at some point. It's strangely unplugged, but pretty decent.



We'll miss you, Jeff!