Canadian jazz rocker, Jeff Healey, dies in Toronto

Jeff Healey died of cancer on Sunday in a Toronto hospital from retino blastoma cancer. Overwhelmingly creative, funny and full of energy - it's hard to believe he's dead, at 41-years-old.

It's a sad, sad way to kick off Canadian Music Week.

Jeff Healey"Angel Eyes," the hit single from the Jeff Healey Band's Grammy-nominated album, "See the Light," sold more than a million copies in the US.

Healey was born in Toronto, but his career took him around the world and into the hearts of so many. This morning his death is being broadcast everywhere from the Netherlands to Australia - a humble Canadian musician who wowed the world with his virtuoso guitar style.

A legend in his own right, Jeff Healey played alongside other greats like B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughn and recorded with George Harrison, Mark Knopfler and the late Jimmy Rogers.

His newest CD, "Mess of Blues," is being released in Europe now and North America in April. Healey had a tour planned this spring to promote the CD this spring even though cancer, his lifetime nemesis, had reared its ugly head again.

"Early last year, Healey underwent surgery to remove cancerous tissue from his legs, and later from both lungs," said a statement posted on Healey's website yesterday. "...aggressive radiation treatments and chemotherapy, however, failed to halt the spread of the disease."

Healey last blogged about his hopes for overcoming this newest challenge in January. "I will be off to a clinic in Henderson, Nevada, for the first two weeks of February as part of an eight-week program I'm going to take," he wrote. "This involves my alternative therapy, but my wife and I seem to feel that it offers up some very potentially positive results."

"At time of writing, my energy is up, my spirit is strong and I'm ready for anything ... We're all quite excited about the upcoming CD."

In memory of Jeff Healey, enjoy this YouTube video of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

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