Remembering Jeff Healey and "Hurricane"

On the heals of last week’s sad news of the passing of Buddy Miles and the Dave Clark Five’s Mike Smith comes word of the death of rock, blues and jazz musician Jeff Healey and producer, engineer and recording artist Norman “Hurricane” Smith.

Jeff Healey died this past Sunday, March 2. He would have turned 42 later this month on the 25th. Jeff’s death was a shocker. He was a multi talented guy who excelled at rock, blues and jazz. He was a brilliant guitarist who, due to his blindness, taught himself to play the guitar by laying it flat on his lap and fingering the fret board like he was playing a keyboard. He was able to use his thumb to form notes, which allowed him to do some things other guitarists couldn’t. He was such an emotional player, too. After he had established himself as one of rock’s great young players, he switched gears and indulged himself in another one of his loves - traditional jazz. He had been collecting vintage jazz records, including 78s, for many years and had amassed a huge collection. He was able to share those records and his knowledge on several radio shows that he hosted in his native Toronto. He also learned to play trumpet. Jeff died from cancer, which first robbed him of his eyes when he was 1 year old. He had developed a rare cancer of the eyes as an infant. His cancer reappeared a couple of years ago, first in his legs and then on his lungs.

Jeff burst on the music scene in 1988 fronting the trio the Jeff Healey Band, which featured Jeff on guitar and vocals, Joe Rockman on bass and Tom Stephen on drums. Thier debut album, See The Light, featured the big hit “Angel Eyes”, which was written by John Hiatt and Fred Kollar. They appeared in the movie “Road House”, which starred Patrick Swayze. Their second album, 1990’s Hell To Pay, featured a version of the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. In 1992 came the album Feel This, followed by the all covers album Cover To Cover in 1995 and Get Me Some in 2000. Jeff then turned towards vintage jazz, closed up his trio and grabbed his trumpet! His first solo album, Among Friends from 2002, was a full blown trad jazz effort. He followed it with Adventures In Jazzland in 2004 and the 2006 live album It’s Tight Like That which featured his band the Jazz Wizards and special guest Chris Barber. Jeff had just finished recording his first blues rock album since 2000. Mess Of Blues, Jeff’s final work, will be released on April 22. We’ll miss you, Jeff.

Last night came word of the death of Norman “Hurricane” Smith on Monday, March 3. He had just turned 85. Norman was the Beatles’ first recording engineer, working alongside producer George Martin, at EMI Studios (later to be renamed Abbey Road Studios). Norman was behind the controls on all of the Beatles’ “early” sessions, from their EMI audition in 1962 until late 1965 and the Rubber Soul album. Then, EMI promoted Norman to producer and he started work with a new EMI recording act - Pink Floyd. Norman was the producer of Pink Floyd’s second single, “See Emily Play” (1967) and their first two albums, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967) and A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968), as well as the studio half of 1969’s Ummagumma. He also produced Pink Floyd’s 1968 singles. In addition to Pink Floyd, Norman produced the Pretty Things’ 1968 album S. F. Sorrow and it’s follow up Parachute, from 1970. By the early 1970’s Norman decided to give it a go as a recording artist. Calling himself Hurricane Smith, he released his first recordings in 1971. He scored a huge hit in 1972 with “Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?”. Hurricane continued recording at least into the mid 1970s. In his last years, Norman wrote his memoirs in a book called “John Lennon Called Me Normal  The Man That Got The Sound That Changed The World”. Last year, Norman debuted his book at the 2007 New York Metro Fest For Beatles Fans in Secaucus, New Jersey. A limited run, special souvenir first edition of the book was available for sale. On a personal note, I was thrilled to have briefly met Norman at last year’s Fest. I was hoping to be able to get him to the WFUV studios for an interview, but, unfortunately, that never happened. Norman fell ill during the summer and had to cancel his appearance at the Chicago Fest For Beatles Fans in August. As of now, Norman’s book has yet to be officially published.