His obsession with songwriting began to take shape when he got his first guitar in 1986 at the age of 13, having seen Roy Orbison perform his hit "Pretty Woman" on The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross.

Travis' first single, "All I Want to Do Is Rock", was written by Healy while on a visit to Millport on Great Cumbrae, a small island in the Firth of Clyde.

In 2000, he appeared on The Clint Boon Experience single "Do What You Do (Earworm Song)", reaching number 63 in the UK charts.

In 2010 Healy released the solo album Wreckorder, which featured Paul McCartney on bass and Neko Case.

In 2015 Healy was invited to join Banquet, a supergroup initiated by Eric Pulido of Midlake as "a poor man's Traveling Wilburys" consisting of musicians that he admired.

Among the non-Midlake members, Healy was one of only two – along with Lytle – who traveled to Denton, Texas for recording sessions, with the rest contributing remotely.

[6] After changing the spelling of the band's name to avoid confusion with another group, BNQT released their debut album Volume 1 on April 28, 2017, to which Healy and the other vocalists each contributed two songs.

Healy is a part of the movement Make Poverty History and has, alongside his band, played at the Live 8 concerts in both London and Edinburgh.

[2] Healy proposed to German photographer and make-up artist Kryst in October 2000 at Hoover Dam while on tour with Travis.

[13] Healy and Kryst married in 2008,[14] and relocated to Berlin as they felt it was a better environment in which to raise their child compared to London.

[17] In January 2008, it was announced that Healy would curate a new talent compilation for Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.

[19] Healy was a member of the Glasgow athletics club Bellahouston Harriers in his youth, and took part in the Berlin Relay Marathon in 2012.