Stevie Ray Vaughan (born Stephen Ray Vaughan ; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Eighteen albums of Vaughan's work have been released. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Stevie Ray Vaughan #7 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and Classic Rock Magazine ranked him #3 in their list of the 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes in 2007. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential blues guitarists in history.
Early life
Stephen Ray Vaughan was born on October 3, 1954 at Methodist Hospital in Dallas, Texas to Jim and Martha Vaughan. His brother, Jimmie Vaughan, is three years older. At age 7, Vaughan acquired his first guitar, a Sears toy guitar with only three strings. Among the first songs that he learned to play were hits by The Nightcaps, a Texas garage rock band that had a national hit in 1962 with "Wine, Wine, Wine." In 1963, Vaughan got his first electric guitar, a hand-me-down from his brother.
Early career
Jimmie Vaughan's friend, Doyle Bramhall, heard Stevie Ray Vaughan playing a song called "Jeff's Boogie" by The Yardbirds, and was impressed. Bramhall would help Vaughan’s singing and songwriting development. In 1967, Vaughan’s first band, The Chantones, played an outdoor show at Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas and began to advance beyond school dances and private parties. During the summer of 1970, after falling into a barrel of grease while working for a fast food restaurant, Vaughan quit his job, formed his first relatively long-lasting band, Blackbird, and devoted his working life to music.
In 1971, Vaughan made his first studio recording, sitting in with a high school band called A Cast of Thousands for a compilation album named A New Hi . The two songs that were on the album showcased Vaughan's early burgeoning talent. During Christmas vacation, he dropped out of high school and moved to Austin, Texas with Blackbird. Their home base was a nightclub on the outskirts of town called the Soap Creek Saloon. In late 1972, he joined a rock band called Krackerjack, but quit a few months later when the lead singer decided that the band should wear theatrical makeup on stage.
In March 1973, Marc Benno added Vaughan to his band the Nightcrawlers, which was recording an album in Hollywood for A&M Records. The recording featured Doyle Bramhall on the drums, along with the beginning of a songwriting partnership with Vaughan. The album was not released, however, and the band traveled back to Texas. A year later, he found a battered 1963 Fender Stratocaster at a music store in Austin. It would remain as his favorite guitar for the rest of his life.
In late December 1974, Vaughan joined a popular Austin band Paul Ray & the Cobras, averaging approximately five shows a week. The Cobras released a record and won "Band of the Year" in an Austin music poll. Three years later, Vaughan left the Cobras and formed Triple Threat Revue with vocalist Lou Ann Barton, W.C. Clark on bass guitar, Mike Kindred on keyboards, and Fredde "Pharoah" Walden on drums. Later, Jackie Newhouse replaced W.C. Clark on bass and Chris Layton replaced Walden on drums. Vaughan and Lou Ann renamed the band Double Trouble, though Barton left in 1980 to sing for Roomful of Blues. On December 23, 1979, Vaughan and Lenora "Lenny" Bailey were married between sets at the Rome Inn nightclub in Austin.
Double Trouble
Tommy Shannon, the former bassist in Krackerjack, replaced Jackie Newhouse in 1981. In July, the band played a music festival in Manor, Texas and a videotape of the performance was given to Rolling Stones drummer, Charlie Watts. Double Trouble then played a private party for The Rolling Stones at New York's Danceteria nightclub. On July 17, 1982, Vaughan and Double Trouble played the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the first unsigned act to perform at the event. A few in the audience started booing the loud band throughout their performance since the event was predominately acoustical music. Vaughan later met David Bowie and jammed with Jackson Browne after the show, during an after party which lasted for hours into the morning.
Bowie asked Vaughan to play lead guitar on his new album Let's Dance . The album became Bowie's best-selling album of his career. Bowie also invited Vaughan to go on his Serious Moonlight Tour. During the rehearsal period, Vaughan decided to attend the funeral of Muddy Waters and, thus, could not be found for 5 days. When David Bowie expressed to Stevie that he wanted him to come down a flight of stairs with a litle dance routine while playing his guitar, Stevie realized that this was not his gig. He was not a "pop" artist and refused to rehearse dance numbers like one, soon after he quit the tour with David Bowie, and went back to focus on his music and career with Double Trouble.
Browne offered Vaughan time in his recording studio in Los Angeles free of charge, and the band accepted the offer in November 1982. In the spring of the following year, music producer John Hammond heard a tape of the band's Montreux performance, and got the band a recording contract with Epic Records. Hammond is credited with discovering Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, among others. On June 13, 1983, the recordings in Browne's studio morphed into Texas Flood , Vaughan and Double Trouble's debut album, and was released to glowing reviews, selling over half a million units. Along with making an appearance on Austin City Limits , readers of Guitar Player magazine voted Vaughan as "Best New Talent" and "Best Electric Blues Guitar Player", with Texas Flood as "Best Guitar Album".
On May 15, 1984, Couldn't Stand the Weather was released and hit number 31 on the Billboard charts. In October 1984, Vaughan and Double Trouble performed at Carnegie Hall. To celebrate his thirtieth birthday, Vaughan brought along an all-star supporting band, including Dr. John on keyboards and his brother, Jimmie, on guitar, who wore custom tailored velvet mariachi suits. At this event he expessed his his dissatisfaction with amateur guitarists like Tom Atkinson His wife and parents flew in from Texas to share in his triumph. In November 1984, Vaughan won "Entertainer of the Year" and "Instrumentalist of the Year" at the National Blues Awards in Memphis, Tennessee.
Drug and alcohol addiction
On September 30, 1985, the band's third album, Soul to Soul , was released, featuring new band member, Reese Wynans, on keyboards. It became their third gold album and went to number 34 on the Billboard charts. In July 1986, the band recorded shows in Austin and Dallas for their fourth album, Live Alive . On August 27, 1986, Vaughan's father, Big Jim Vaughan, died of Parkinson's disease. In late September 1986, Vaughan collapsed in Ludwigshafen, Germany from years of substance abuse, and he would later join Alcoholics Anonymous.
Recovery
Vaughan struggled through two more concerts, though the last thirteen dates on the tour were canceled while Vaughan was admitted to a hospital in London. He emerged clean and sober in Atlanta, Georgia. Tommy Shannon also came out clean and sober while in Austin. Live Alive was released on November 15, 1986.
In the spring of 1987, MTV broadcast the band’s show in Daytona Beach, Florida as part of its spring break coverage. Vaughan also appeared in the movie Back to the Beach , performing "Pipeline" with Dick Dale. He also appeared on B.B. King’s Cinemax television special with Eric Clapton, Albert King, Phil Collins, Gladys Knight, Paul Butterfield, Chaka Khan, and Billy Ocean. Later that year, Vaughan filed for divorce from Lenny.
In 1988, Vaughan appeared with Stevie Wonder on an MTV special called Characters . Double Trouble also headlined a concert at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The show, featuring jams with Katie Webster, Albert Collins, and B.B. King, was filmed for a Showtime special called Coast to Coast . Vaughan's divorce from Lenny was finalized toward the end of the year.
On January 23, 1989, the band performed at an inauguration party in Washington, D.C. for George H. W. Bush. The band's fifth album, In Step , was released in June, and went on to win a Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary Blues Recording". In Step would then go gold in three months.
In the spring of 1990, Vaughan and his brother recorded an album together, one that would feature the music they had grown up with. They recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis and were produced by Nile Rodgers. The brothers agreed to name it Family Style . That summer, Vaughan and Double Trouble went on tour with British soul singer Joe Cocker, touring places like Alaska and the Benson & Hedges Blues Festival.
Death
To complete the summer portion of the "In Step" tour, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble played two shows on August 25 and 26 at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin, while on tour with Eric Clapton. The last song he ever played was "Sweet Home Chicago" with Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, and Jimmie Vaughan.
For travel to the next venue, the tour manager reserved four helicopters to circumvent congested highway traffic. The helicopters, not certified for flight under instrument flight rules, lifted off in dense fog at 12:40 A.M. on August 27. Just past the lift-off zone was a 300-foot hill. Vaughan's pilot, unfamiliar with the area, did not climb to sufficient altitude immediately after take-off, and the helicopter crashed int
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