Blind Canadian rocker Jeff Healy died Sunday after battling cancer his entire life. The 41-year-old guitarist was diagnosed with the rare cancer retino blastoma at birth. By the time he was a year old, the cancer had claimed his eyesight.

Healy died in a Tornoto hospital a day before the release of his first album in eight years, ‘Mess of Blues.’

He played with many blues legends including B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Healy, who played the guitar flat on his lap, recorded with artists George Harrison, Mark Knopfler, and Jimmy Rodgers.

“Visually, Jeff was an intriguing player to watch, because he played the guitar – by any conventional standard – all wrong, with it flat across his lap,” said his rep Richard Flohil.