Jeff was blind. Had ocular cancer, his eyes were surgically removed, and he had ocular implants. Jeff was Canadian, not Texan. That was Dr. John playing the piano. There is a nice video of him playing Look at Little Sister with SRV. He died at 41 from cancer. The bassist is Marcus Miller, he was in the house band for the David Sanborn show. That was David doing the introduction.
What an epic performance. David Sandborn on sax, the incomparable Dr.John bangin the Keys, Marcus Miller killing it on the bass and what more can you say about Jeff Healey. Absolutely slayed it
He's not pretending anything.... he's blind.....he's never seen someone hold a guitar...he holds it the way he thought he was supposed to.....n hes a fuckin rock GOD for it....respect.🔥🤘
100%. These two did him NO justice. The lack of respect was shocking. RIP Jeff, you will always be a Treasure here in Canada. A True Master of his craft and truly worthy of every one's respect. ❤
@NessyNess182 im not Canadian, but Jeff Healey will forever be the greatest guitar player ever! He is criminally underrated and tragically underplayed.
Saw Jeff Healy, live, at a small venue in Toronto in 1986. It was mid-week, and The Diamond Club was just a 10 min walk from where I was living. There were no more than 100 people there. Exceptional performance.
If you haven't already seen Stevie Ray Vaughan Texas flood live at El mocambo you're missing out and yes Jeff is blind he was also in a movie called Roadhouse with Patrick swayze and play guitar with Stevie Ray Vaughan doing a song called look at little sister🎸🐐🎶🎤🙏 RIP JH & SRV 🙏❤️
Jeff Healey, truly one of greatest ever, even blind. Here in Canada he was a god, saw him so many times in the eighties thru to the early oughts. Always a fantastic experience Even got to talk to him a couple of times, just a great straight up guy. Had perhaps one of the largest private album collections ever at least in Canada. Even had a radio show where he would play his albums. They would occasionally let him drive the tour bus and yell out directions "a little to the left Jeff, ok go straight, slow car up ahead, brake jeff, jeff brake, JEFF BRAKE! BRAKE! 😊 Theres a vid of that somewhere. He did a live duet with SRV and the stank face on SRV says it all. He jammed with Chet Atkins many times and many other jazz guys as well, as jazz was his first love. So many great Canadian rockers and Blues guys unknown in the U.S. you should dive into. Big Sugar, Big Wreck, JunkHouse, Tea Party, Sheepdogs, Finger 11, Pat Travers, Colin Linden, Dave Wilcox, Sloan, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, ahh too many to list. Anyways great reaction!
He claimed that the way he played the guitar was just as easy as the standard style, but he can stretch the strings easier and further. He was blind and he and his band were among the main cast in the movie Road House.
Another great song of his you would enjoy is As The Years Go Passing By live in Stuttgart, the video focuses more on his hands so you get a better idea of how he does it.
I saw an interview with him where he said that he felt it was an advantage to use his fretboard thumb as an integral digit. On RU-vid there's a neat video of him playing with SRV. Ass kickin' band here: Bassist Marcus Miller and drummer Omar Hakim are icons in the jazz fusion genre. Dr. John; a famous N.O. pianist. Oddly enough, later on his life Jeff picked up trumpet and played traditional jazz. An amazing talent and from what I can tell from interviews, a really good person.
"I dont understand why hes playing like that"??? Are you serious? hes Blind!!! did you not see his movements standing up and reaching for the chaiR!!!?
Hopefully you too felt very stupid for laughing instead of trying to work out why Jeff plays like that !! The reason I do some kind of research on someone so you don’t come across s--d !!! RIP Jeff
*’you two’* Why would we feel stupid? 😂why would you hope that? Don’t know what you saw, but no one was laughing at him. We also engage in the comments re: finding out about the artist here on this channel. Thanks for watching!
Jeff Healey is from Toronto Canada. He was adopted by a Toronto fireman and lost his eyes to a rare form of cancer before he was a year old. At three his father put him in a school for the blind that encouraged kids to learn an intrument. Jeff loved the sound of the guitar, but being so young couldn't hold it properly. His teacher told his father he couldn't teach Jeff guitar because he couldn't hold it properly. His father bought Jeff a guitar and he taught himself to play it that way. As that worked for him he had no reason to change from the way he taught himself. Stevie Ray Vaughn saw Jeff Healey playing in a Toronto blues bar while on tour in Canada. The next day he called his label and told them they needed to sign this kid before somebody else did. The Jeff Healey band was also featured as the house band in the movie Roadhouse starring Patrick Swayze. The movie came out soon after Healey's first album was released. The Roadhouse appearance is just a bizarre sequence of events. The movie was based on a novel and the lead singer of the house band was described as a blind rock/blues guitarist that played the guitar lying flat on his lap. The movie producer asked a music producer if he would produce the movies soundtrack. He then told him about the books description of the singer/guitarist of the house band. That music producer was currently producing Healey's first album. Luck or fate? It turned out the author of the book wrote the story while living in Toronto and had seen Healey playing at a local blues bar. He thought the way Healey played guitar, and being blind, would make a really cool character in the book he was writing. So Healey ended up playing a character in the movie that was actually based on him.
Sifa you nailed it. He is blind since 1. He just picked it up and he is self taught. And on the piano is the famous Dr. John. Unfortunately they have both passed.
Jeff was blind at a young age due to cancer. His father gave him a guitar when he was around three years old and it was easier for him to hold it in his lap. Jeff was Canadian
Jeff learned how to play with the traditional position but found that it was more comfortable and he could get great tone with the guitar on his lap, because he is blind, he has to count frets with his thumbs for position on the fret board. and MARCUS MILLER!!!! on the bass is a legend. Dr. John on piano. RIP Jeff. Canadian legend.
I really like this guy. I remember first seeing this TV show as it reminded me a bit of the Focus TV show appearance in that, though not quite to the same level, how the audience was blown away. In some ways it's sad he's remembered as "that blind guitarist" rather than "that great blues guitarist". From this style, I rate him much higher than the likes of SRV and others. Another thing I liked about him was that, in this decade of self indulgent/narcissistic guitarists, Vai, Satriani, Malmsteen to name a few, Jeff came over as an honest, humble guy who just loved playing the blues. Maybe I'll suggest "Roadhouse" for the movie selection next month. Great selection David.
Since we’re musicians, we’re actually listening to the song, talking abt how great everything was and engaging w you guys in the comments. We like to keep at honest music discussion here- not abt 1mil views or likes; as you can see(no pun intended). Thanks for watching!
saw him at a small club in cleveland when he 1st came around .place was so packed the fire marshall almost shut it down but the show did go on .he ripped it up great show
OMG... I've seen this before, and I'm just now relizing that he says John, who is Dr. John... I don't know how that got past me. I think I must have just been entranced by the how Jeff plays!
He started playing like that because he was 3 or 4 when his parents bought him one and it was too big for him to hold it the proper way. He was " discovered " by SRV.
You have all of these questions about Jeff ? The answers are just a few clicks away... He was blind and learned playing like that because it was easier than the conventional way for him. There is also a wicked video of Jeff and SRV you should check it out ! Also if you have ever watched the movie Roadhouse (Jeff and crew are the house band and he sings two or three songs)
Jeff Healy lost his eyesight to cancer when he was 8 months old & had to have glass eyes put in & when he was 3 years old . His dad started learning how to play the guitar & his dad went to go into another room of their house & laid his guitar down in Jeff's lap & Jeff actually started playing his dad's guitar & Jeff Healy was known as a child prodigy . Unfortunately Jeff Healy died in 2016 of lung cancer , R.I.P. Jeff Healy . When I sit & listen to one of Jeff's songs now a days , I like to think about how all the major record companies that passed on singing him to a contract & would love to ask everyone of them . If they could go back to when they had the chance to sing him to a contract , knowing what they know about him now . Would they do things differently & actually sing him if they had that chance all over again & I wonder how many of them would say yes .
A few more details. Someone put a Guitar in his lap at 2 and he taught himself. As stated there are many videos out there with him playing SRV, They toured a lot together I believe. Yes the cancer took his life at 41, 2 weeks before his 42nd birthday and a month before the release of his first Studio album in 11 yrs. One of the worlds most underrated guitar player. His looks remind me of Alex Lifeson of Rush another underrated guitarists. Lifeson was famous for making up his solos all the time. While recording RUSH albums , they would let his do his ten solos for the same song. Then the producer and Geddy Lee would kick him out of the room and decide which solo when on the studio recording of the song.
I take it you two didn't realize he was blind since 1 yr old. Cancer. Your reaction sucked frankly. This is one of our Canadian Treasures. One of the BEST performances I have ever seen in my life. You two couldn't even pick up on the cues that he had no sight. There are few on this earth that could hold a candle to him, and all you could do was criticize how he held his guitar. You sat basically emotionless through the whole performance which make me question your taste in music. SHAME.
We said we thought he was blind though. You must’ve missed that in all your anger; but to answer your comment 😂, No, we did not realize by watching this video that he had been blind since the age of 1 and that he had cancer. We applaud people like you who can know all that information just by looking at him, wow! We also did say how much we liked his music and don’t feel the need to bounce around in every video to prove that we like music. We’re adult musicians and can express ourselves with words. Thanks for watching!
We don’t do that on this channel. We engage in the comments. 😂what kind of a reaction is it if we already know everything. Also we said we thought he was blind in the reaction. Thanks for watching!
Jeff Healey live at Nottenden, doing How Blue Can You Get. Or duetting with SRV, and forcing Stevie to raise his game. Check those out, and you’re welcome. Peace from Toronto! PS - the great Marcus Miller on bass and Omar Hakim on drums, with Dr. John on the keys. Introduction by the amazing David Sanborn (think of the sax, on Bowie’s Young Americans).
