Top Canadian musicians who were friends, fans and colleagues of Jeff Healey will take the stage this weekend to celebrate the life of the late rock, blues and jazz artist.

"He was always smiling and always happy," Randy Bachman recalled of Healey, who died March 2 of cancer at age 41.

Randy Bachman likened the late Jeff Healey to "Lenny Breau. He just exuded music all the time." (CBC)

Even with increasingly serious health issues plaguing him over the last few years, Healey offered "not one complaint, not one moan, not one groan.… He just wanted to keep on playing and playing and playing. [He was] just a real positive guy," Bachman told CBC News.

"I noticed a real void when I first heard of his passing."

Bachman, Bryan Adams, Colin James, Alannah Myles and Healey's backup band Jazz Wizards are among those scheduled to perform at the Toronto tributes this weekend.

A rock-infused celebration will take place Saturday at the Sound Academy, while an event dedicated to Healey's love of jazz is set for Sunday at his bar and concert space, Jeff Healey's Roadhouse.

"I think they're gonna be a wonderful celebration of everybody who knew and loved Jeff," Bachman said of the tributes.

A friend once described Jeff Healey as a young blind guitarist who "plays like Stevie Ray Vaughan and (Jimmy) Hendrix," Bachman recalled. (CBC)

"We're having a party. Not a wake, but an Irish celebration [of] the joy of life, celebrating his life."

Bachman also recalled how he first heard of Healey, when a friend told him he had to check out a young blind guitarist who "plays like Stevie Ray Vaughan and [Jimi] Hendrix."

Healey "was like Lenny Breau. He just exuded music all the time," Bachman said. "He had a real joy for music, for life."

Proceeds from both shows will go to the Healey Family Trust and to Daisy's Eye Cancer Fund, a charity that assists the families of children with retinoblastoma, the rare cancer that claimed Healey's sight when he was one year old.