By: Jason Young
“I got to play behind Jeff a few hundred days a year for almost 15 or 16 years, and that alone was worth the price of admission.” Tom Stephen.
In a brilliant display of legendary guitarist Jeff Healey’s career, 2018’s Best Seat in the House, written by former Jeff Healey Band drummer and manager the late Tom Stephen and co-written with author Keith Elliot Greenberg –Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die, shares the drummer’s intimate relationship with the Canadian guitar virtuoso.
Thirty-five years ago, the Toronto blues rocker shook up the guitar world when his debut album, 1988’s See The Light which featured the hit “Angel Eyes” charted at number twenty-two on The US Billboard 200 and was certified Platinum. Holding down the groove for fifteen years, Stephen recounts with vivid detail their humble beginnings at Grossman’s Tavern and their rise to the top, describing the band, which featured bassist Joe Rockman, as “three nerds who beat the odds.
The Band’s break came when Healey was invited on stage by Texas Bluesman Albert Collins. What was supposed to be one song turned into an all night jam session when Collins and Stevie Ray Vaughan, who joined the guitarists, were floored by Healey’s playing.
With newfound fame came excess, which included copious amounts of partying, women, cocaine, and alcohol. Making sure things didn’t spin out; Stephen took the honor of handling contracts and looking after Healey who was blind from contracting retinoblastoma as a child. In Best Seat In The House, Tom revisits waking up and finding Jeff driving the band’s tour bus.
“It was my job to put out the fire,” writes Stephen in his book, “Not only was I the Jeff Healey Band’s drummer, I was also co-manager. When sh– happened, and a blind guy driving a twenty-ton-bus would defiantly qualify as sh– happening, the grownups expected me to fix the problem-even if, in some instances, Tom Stephen was the reason for the problem in the first place.”
In talking about his experience writing Best Seat In The House, Stephen humbly stated in an interview with Toronto.com, “To be clear, I know I’m not an actual author. The painstaking amount of research that has to go into these things … I mean, I know how to do it now, but I certainly didn’t know how to do it then, and Keith (Greenberg) was that guy.”
Although praising Healey throughout the book, the drummer doesn’t hold back criticism. Full of on-the-road encounters including an ill-fated meeting with The Rolling Stones, Tom recalls Jeff costing them a chance to tour with the English rock legends for their Voodoo Lounge tour: “Jeff drunkenly blundered into Keith Richard’s dressing room, grabbed the guitarist in a bear hug and said, “Keith! We’re gonna go jamming at Grossman’s Tavern, and I’ll show you how to play some real guitar.” Going on, Stephen talks about meeting Clive Davis, signing with Arista, and working with Joel Silver and Patrick Swayze on the film Roadhouse.
Jazz was Healey’s real passion.
Describing Healey as more of a jazz guy, the guitarist often shrugged off the idea of being a rock star. According to Best Seat in the House, Jeff, a talented trumpet player, often sought out clubs during their tours, bringing along his trumpet and sitting in.
“Yeah, Jeff was a guy of contradictions,” sighs Stephen. “I know this word is a cliché, but there’s no question there was genius in Jeff, and he could have been the Eric Clapton of his time if he really wanted to be. But to Jeff it wasn’t a big deal. To him it was like, he liked playing and he liked jamming, but as the years went on it was jazz that was pulling him back, and we were carrying his trumpet around so he could jam with all these old school cats. That was his real passion.” (Interview with Stephen Cooke 2019)
During the recording of 1992’s Feel This, the group hit a dry spell. “Jeff started to view the band like a nine-to-five job,” writes Tom. Leaving Arista for Atlantic Records allowed Healey to record jazz albums but did little to restore the band’s momentum and by the early 2000s, Stephen and Rockman left the group.
His (Stephen’s) departure, and Jeff’s passing due to cancer in 2008, motivated the late former drummer/manager to preserve The Jeff Healy Band’s story, which he did exquisitely in his book!
“What scared the heck out of me was when people would ask me if I used to play in a band, and I’d say Jeff Healey, and all of a sudden I’m hearing, ‘Who’s Jeff Healey?’ And I’m thinking uh-uh, no way, that can’t happen. … [You] can’t lose an icon. Especially a guy like Jeff because there’s no one like him in the world, and nobody like him since.” (Interview with Stephen Cooke 2019)
About Jason Young: Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jason is a forty-year music veteran. A guitar prodigy at the age of eight, he dedicated his life to writing music, audio engineering, and becoming fluent in drums, piano, mandolin, banjo, dobro, and bass. Also a singer and performer, he and his brother formed the band The Young Brothers. Writing a song with Kid Rock for the Rebel Soul album adds to his list of music accomplishments. Jason’s love of music spans rock ‘n’ roll, country, blues, and jazz. Passionate about music history, Jason is knowledgeable in many genres and enjoys writing about performers. Today, Jason focuses on writing articles for his Blue Railway Podcast website.
