Jeff Healey - Confidence Man

John Hiatt has already appeared twice on ERV -- once for "Slow Turning" and a second time for Bonnie Raitt's cover of his song, "Thing Called Love."  Astute readers may now be wondering what this has to do with Jeff Healey ... and we'll get to that in a moment.

Canadian Jeff Healey saw significant success with his first album, 1988's See the Light.  The LP reached #22 on the charts, helped by "Angel Eyes", which hit #5.  [In typical ERV style, we are going with "Confidence Man," the first single off the album, which did not chart.]  Healey was also a unique guitarist in two regards -- first, he was blind, and second, he played the guitar laying flat on his lap (almost like a steel guitar).

The John Hiatt / Jeff Healey link is this:  Hiatt wrote both "Confidence Man" and "Angel Eyes."  It is somewhat ironic that Hiatt (who never has had a top 100 hit in the U.S.) wrote the songs that helped to launch two separate artists' careers.

In any event, Healey's commercial success peaked with his first album.  While he remained successful (particularly in Canada), he did not have another top 40 hit in the U.S., making him an official one hit wonder.  Later in his career, he transitioned to jazz, and even played trumpet and trombone on his albums.  Sadly, Healey died of cancer in 2008.

Coll trivia fact:  The Jeff Healey Band was the house band in the 1989 film Road House (staring Patrick Swayze).