When Jeff Healey hit it big in Canada with his 1988 album “See The Light” he really hit big. There wasn’t a radio station I listened to in Regina or Calgary that wasn’t playing his music a dozen or more times a day. His songs could really liven up the mood whether I was in my car, or working behind the bar at the Lord Nelson Inn in Calgary, and the old Vagabond in Regina. I loved his stuff as did a whole lot of other people across the country.
Sadly the singer-songwriter passed away this past Sunday after losing his battle with cancer.
While I didn’t know Healey on a personal level, I did have the pleasure of bumping into him from time to time if only for a moment, and it those moments I fondly remember. While we didn’t have lengthy conversations or anything like that (mostly a quick hello while having a drink), it was an honour to be in his presence, and the vibe from being around him for the 10 minutes or so I spent with him on 3 or 4 different occasions, whether it be at his bar in Toronto, or a club in Regina or Calgary, is a feeling I’ll never forget.
Jeff Healey had a aura about him that tended to get everybody into a party mood back then, and he certainly didn’t mind a good party himself, though admittedly spending ten minutes with the music icon isn’t nearly enough time to define how good the party could have been.
There are a lot of people who like me had the pleasure of enjoying a quick conversation and a drink with the man who performed with the likes of George Harrison, Stevie Ray Vaughn and B.B. King, not to mention his role with Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse, and they’ll remember him as I will, through his music.
He was a talented musician and a very charitable human being. He may be gone but he will never be forgotten. Thanks for the memories Jeff.
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