Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stephen "Stevie" Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990), born in Dallas, Texas, was an American blues guitarist. His broad appeal made him one of the world's most influential electric blues guitarists.^{[citation needed]} In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Stevie Ray Vaughan #7 in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time,^[1] and Classic Rock Magazine ranked him #3 in their list of the 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes in 2007. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan.

Vaughan was born at 10:13 am on October 3, 1954 in Dallas, Texas and was raised in the city's Oak Cliff neighborhood. Neither of his parents had any strong musical talent but were avid music fans. They would take Vaughan and his older brother Jimmie to concerts to see Fats Domino, Jimmy Reed, and Bob Wills.

Even though Vaughan initially wanted to play the drums as his primary instrument, Michael Quinn gave him a guitar when he was seven years old. Vaughan's brother, Jimmie Vaughan, gave him his first guitar lessons. Vaughan was later quoted in Guitar Player as saying, "My brother Jimmie actually was one of the biggest influences on my playing. He really was the reason I started to play, watching him and seeing what could be done."^{[citation needed]} He played entirely by ear and never learned how to read sheet music. By the time he was thirteen years old he was playing in clubs where he met many of his blues idols. A few years later he dropped out of Sunset High School in Oak Cliff (Dallas, TX) and moved to Austin to pursue music. Vaughan's talent caught the attention of guitarist Johnny Winter, and blues-club owner Clifford Antone.

Vaughan's first recording band was called Paul Ray and the Cobras. They played at clubs and bars in Austin during the mid-1970s, and released one single.^[2] Vaughan later recorded two other singles under the band name The Cobras.^[3] Stevie left the Cobras, leaving Denny Freeman still in his role of original lead guitarist, and formed Triple Threat in late 1975, which included bassist Jackie Newhouse, drummer Chris Layton, vocalist Lou Ann Barton, and sax player Johnny Reno. Barton left the band in 1978 to pursue a solo career, followed by Reno in 1979. The three remaining members started performing under the name Double Trouble, inspired by an Otis Rush song of the same name. Vaughan became the band's lead singer.

Tommy Shannon, the bass player on Johnny Winter's early albums, replaced Newhouse in 1981. A popular Austin act, Vaughan soon attracted the attention of musicians David Bowie and Jackson Browne. Both Browne and Bowie first caught Vaughan at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival, where some members of the audience booed the band because they disliked Double Trouble's hard blues sound; the crowd response was quite different when they were subsequently invited to headline "Blues Night" at the festival in 1985.

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In November, 1982, Vaughan recorded in Jackson Browne's studio in downtown Los Angeles. The recordings were brought to the attention of A&R man John Hammond and became Double Trouble's critically acclaimed first album, Texas Flood (1983), produced by Hammond; it featured the Top 20 hit "Pride and Joy" and sold 500,000 copies, earning the band a gold record. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award, and its song "Rude Mood" was nominated for "Best Rock Instrumental". Vaughan won three categories in Guitar Player's readers poll: "Best New Talent", "Best Blues Album", and "Best Electric Blues Guitarist". He became the second guitarist to win three Guitar Player awards in one year (the first is Jeff Beck). Vaughan won the "Best Electric Blues Guitarist" award every year until 1991.

Also in 1983 Bowie featured Vaughan on his 1983 album Let's Dance.^[4] Vaughan was asked to go on tour with Bowie, but declined so he could continue to play with Double Trouble. Reportedly, Vaughan, who was still driving a delivery truck to support himself, was furious when he saw Bowie pantomiming over Vaughan's guitar solo in the video for "Let's Dance".

The band's next album, Couldn't Stand the Weather, was recorded in January 1984. During mid-1984 Vaughan and Double Trouble made numerous TV appearances, performing on Rockpalast, MuchMusic, and Solid Gold.

During the Grammy Awards of 1984, Vaughan and George Thorogood presented Chuck Berry with a lifetime achievement award. "Rude Mood" from Texas Flood was nominated for "Best Rock Instrumental Performance".

The band played Carnegie Hall in New York City on October 4, 1984. The show featured one Double Trouble set, and a second with guests Dr. John on keyboards, George Rains on drums, Jimmie Vaughan on guitar, Roomful of Blues Horns, and singer Angela Strehli. The group rehearsed in September 1984 at the Caravan of Dreams in Fort Worth, Texas.

In November, Vaughan won two W.C. Handy National Blues Awards: "Entertainer of the Year" and "Blues Instrumentalist of the Year". It was the first time a white person won either award. During this time, he also began recording with one of his earliest idols, blues-rock guitar pioneer Lonnie Mack, to produce the album Strike Like Lightning on the Alligator label.

In late January 1985, the band went on a six-night Japanese tour with various interviews and performances. In March, the band started to produce their third album Soul to Soul. Reese Wyland, a former keyboardist with Captain Beyond and Delbert McClinton's band, was added to the band not long after. The album's production lasted for two months. On April 10 Vaughan played "The Star Spangled Banner" for opening day of the National League baseball season at the Houston Astrodome (supposedly he didn't get a good audience response from that crowd; he did, at least, get to meet former New York Yankee great Mickey Mantle afterwards). Soul to Soul was released on September 30, 1985; Vaughan received his fifth Grammy nomination: "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" for one of its songs, "Say What!".

In the following months of 1986, Vaughan and Double Trouble went on tour in New Zealand. It was around this time that he met Janna Lapidus, a touring model in New Zealand.

In mid-1986, the band was considering ideas of a new album, particularly a live album. Shows were set up at the Austin Opera House and at the Dallas Starfest. Audiences saw Vaughan struggle through these shows, as some of the original recordings were filled with technical difficulties.

On August 27, 1986, the Vaughan brothers' father, Big Jim, died of heart failure. A funeral was arranged two days later. The boys rushed home to comfort their mother, yet had little time to mourn. After the funeral was finished, a jet rushed Vaughan to Montreal, Quebec, where he played the Miller Beer Festival in Jarry Park.

The recordings in both Dallas and Austin, as well as the Montreux Jazz Festival, were edited and later released on Live Alive in November 1986.

Drug addiction and alcoholism took a toll on Vaughan in mid-1986. Cocaine and Crown Royal whisky were among his addictions. Vaughan was dissolving cocaine in his whiskey, which doctors later discovered was eating away his stomach lining. After becoming acutely ill in Germany while on tour, Vaughan managed to struggle through three more shows, but was soon admitted into a hospital in London. Dr. Victor Bloom, who has helped Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend with their addictions, told Vaughan if he hadn't come to the hospital he would have died in a month. After a struggle to get sober in London, he then flew to Atlanta, Georgia to a rehabilitation center. He eventually recovered fully from his addictions and became a teetotaler.

Upon his return from rehab, Vaughan did a number of works with other artists including Dick Dale (making a cameo appearance as himself performing a duet of "Pipeline" in the movie Back to the Beach, which was then released as a single), Jennifer Warnes, and Stevie Wonder (playing "Superstition" on the MTV special "Stevie Wonder's Characters").

In 1988, Vaughan continued to tour with Double Trouble throughout Scandinavia. Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded In Step in February 1989, which was their fourth studio album and praised by some as the band's best work since Texas Flood. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Vaughan shared a headline tour with guitarist Jeff Beck in the fall of 1989. In his beloved Austin, the city he made the "Live Music Capital of the World", Vaughan was presented with a proclamation from the mayor declaring November 26, 1989 Stevie Ray Vaughan Day.

On January 3, 1990, Vaughan gave a speech and addressed the Aquarius Chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous. On January 30, 1990, Vaughan made his first appearance on MTV Unplugged in New York City. It was originally scheduled for Stevie to do a closing jam with Joe Satriani, but Stevie said he had to leave right away.

Vaughan spoke two years earlier about wanting to help produce an album with his brother, Jimmie Vaughan. That time came in March 1990, when the Vaughan Brothers went to work at the Dallas Sound Lab, the same studio used to record Soul to Soul.

Around this time, Stevie spoke of singing beginning to hurt him with a condition he liked to call "hamburger throat". He had acupuncture done to his neck, but had to take cortisone shots to relieve the pain, which made his face puff up.

On August 26, 1990, Vaughan and Double Trouble finished a tour with a show at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, just outside of East Troy, Wisconsin. The show also featured Robert Cray and his Memphis Horns, and Eric Clapton, who played the closing set. At the end of the show, as fog settled over the audience in the arena, Clapton introduced Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray, and Jimmie Vaughan. The musicians chose the appropriate titled "Sweet Home Chicago", a blues classic written by Robert Johnson. After the twenty-minute jam, the lights went up and the musicians went backstage to trade compliments. Clapton and Vaughan talked about future dates in London to pay a tribute to Jimi Hendrix.

Double Trouble drummer, Chris Layton, recalls his last conversation with Vaughan backstage. He then remembers Vaughan saying he had to call his girlfriend, Janna Lapidus, back in Chicago. He headed out the door to the helicopters. Alex Hodges, Double Trouble's tour manager, arranged flight by helicopter with Omni Flights.

The musicians expected a long bus ride back to Chicago. Vaughan was informed by a member of Clapton's crew that three seats were open on one of the helicopters returning to Chicago with Clapton's crew, enough for Vaughan, his brother Jimmie, and Jimmie's wife Connie. It turned out there was only one seat left; Stevie requested it from his brother, who obliged. At 12:44 am pilot Jeffrey Browne guided the helicopter off the ground. Moments after takeoff the helicopter crashed into a ski slope; all five on board were killed. Although the crash occurred only 0.6 miles from takeoff, it went unnoticed by those at the concert site.

The search for the wreckage had begun at 5am and had been found at 7am via the help of its locator beacon.^[5] The main cause of the crash was believed to be pilot error.^{[6] [7]} Vaughan's was the only body found outside of the wreckage; it is suggested by some that he may have jumped moments before the helicopter hit the ski slope, but subsequently died during the six hours before recovery.

Chris Layton and Jimmie Vaughan did not find out about the crash until they returned to the motel in Chicago. The following morning Jimmie and Eric Clapton were called to identify the bodies.

The media initially stated that Vaughan and his band had been killed in the crash. Layton and Shannon called their families to let them know they were okay.

Stevie Ray Vaughan is interred in the Laurel Land Memorial Park, Dallas, Texas.^[8]

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September 1990 saw the release of Family Style. The 1991 compilation album The Sky Is Crying was the first of several posthumous Vaughan releases to achieve chart success. Jimmie Vaughan later co-wrote and recorded a song in tribute to his brother and other deceased blues guitarists, entitled "Six Strings Down". Many other artists recorded songs in remembrance of Vaughan, including Eric Johnson,^[9] Buddy Guy and Steve Vai ("Jibboom" on the album The Ultra Zone, 1999).

In 1991, Texas governor Ann Richards proclaimed October 3, Vaughan's birthday, to be "Stevie Ray Vaughan Day". An annual motorcycle ride and concert in Central Texas benefits the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Scholarship Fund.^[10]

In 1992, the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation released the Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Stratocaster, which Vaughan had helped design. As of 2007, the model is still in production. In 2004, Fender also released a limited edition exact replica of "Number One".^[11]

Stephen King's short story "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" concerns a small town called Rock and Roll Heaven that's populated by late rock musicians, one of which is Vaughan himself when he's referred to as one of the late music legends set to perform at a concert.

In 1994, the city of Austin erected the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Statue at Auditorium Shores on Lady Bird Lake, the site of a number of Vaughan's concerts. It has become one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.

In 2000 Stevie Ray Vaughan was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame

Musicians such as John Mayer (who has a tattoo duplicating the "SRV" lettering on Vaughan's Number One guitar), Robert Randolph, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Colin James, Jonny Lang, Jason Wayne Loftice, Los Lonely Boys, Mike McCready, Eric Johnson and Doyle Bramhall II have cited Vaughan as an influence.

The last guitar that Vaughan played prior to his death is on display in the Hard Rock Cafe in Gatlinburg.

In November 2007, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation released a second tribute to Stevie, an exact replica of his second beloved guitar: Lenny. This guitar was given to him by his wife Lenora ("Lenny") on his 26th birthday and Stevie was very fond of it. According to Fender, the original Lenny was a 1965 Strat that he saw in the window of a pawn shop that he was unable to afford. The guitar is sold with a strap, a case with Stevie's name embroidered in the fabric lining, a number of brochures and memorabilia and a leather bound certificate of authenticity.

In 2008, Stevie Ray Vaughan will become eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.^[12]

Vaughan's blues style was strongly influenced by many blues guitarists. Foremost among them were Albert King, who dubbed himself Stevie's "godfather", Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, and Jimi Hendrix. The song "Rude Mood" is a direct derivative (according to SRV himself) of a Lightnin' Hopkins tune called "Lightning Sky Hop". He was also strongly influenced by early blues-rock guitarist Lonnie Mack, who, according to Vaughan himself, "really taught me to play guitar from the heart" (Davis, History of the Blues, DaCapo 2003, p. 246). Vaughan, who had idolized Mack since childhood, produced and played on Mack's 1985 Alligator Records album "Strike Like Lightning" ^[13] and covered two Mack tunes from the early 1960s, "Wham!" and "Chicken-Pickin'" (which Vaughan renamed "Scuttle Buttin'").

Vaughan is recognized for his distinctive guitar sound, which was partly based on using heavy guitar strings (anything from 13- to 16-gauge sets) that he tuned down a half-step. Vaughan used a wide range of vacuum tube amplifiers during his career, often using multiple different amplifiers simultaneously, but is usually associated with early Fender guitar amplifiers. His influence is often credited for helping to launch the "vintage gear" movement among guitarists, which turned old musical equipment that could once be had fairly cheaply into expensive collector's items.

Vaughan's sound and playing style, which often incorporated simultaneous lead and rhythm parts, drew frequent comparisons to Hendrix; Vaughan covered several Hendrix tunes on his studio albums and in performance, such as "Little Wing", "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", and "Third Stone from the Sun". He was also heavily influenced by Freddie King, another Texas bluesman, mainly in the use of tone and attack; King's heavy vibrato can clearly be heard in Vaughan's playing. Another stylistic influence was Albert Collins. By utilizing his index finger as a pick a la Albert Collins, he was able to coax various tonal nuances from his amplifiers. Vaughan's brother Jimmie Vaughan has stated that Johnny "Guitar" Watson was the guitarist he and Stevie studied the most.

Like Hendrix, Vaughan worked with only the support of bass and drums for a long time before Wyland joined the group. Also like Hendrix, he exhibited an amazing command of feedback, volume, and distortion. Like Hendrix, he could play lead and rhythm simultaneously with the rare ability to rattle out massive chord clusters and piercing barrages of single notes with incredible precision, drenching them in exotic tones produced by pickup switches, wah-wah pedals, and overamplification.

Vaughan preferred to make use of the immediate tonal capabilities of his guitar amplifiers in "overdrive", adding few effects. Stevie's basic effects included an Ibanez Tube Screamer,a Vox wah-wah pedal and a univibe. He also used loud volumes for dynamic, coaxing effects from the natural overdriven performance of his amplifiers.

• 1985: Best Traditional Blues Album for Blues Explosion – various artists
• 1990: Best Contemporary Blues Album for In Step – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
• 1991: Best Contemporary Blues Album for Family Style – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan

Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "D/FW" – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan

• 1993: Best Contemporary Blues Album for The Sky Is Crying – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble

Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Little Wing" – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble^[14]

• Texas Flood (1983)
• Couldn't Stand the Weather (1984)
• Soul to Soul (1985)
• In Step (1989)
• Family Style (with brother Jimmie Vaughan as The Vaughan Brothers, 1990)
• The Sky Is Crying (posthumous compilation, 1991)

• In the Beginning (recorded 1980)
• In Session (with Albert King, recorded 1983)
• Live at Carnegie Hall (recorded 1984)
• Live Alive (recorded 1985 and 1986)
• Live at Montreux 1982 and 1985 (recorded 1982 and 1985)
• Live at the El Mocambo (recorded 1983, video release)
• Live from Austin, Texas (recorded from concerts of 1983 and 1989, video release)
• Live in Tokyo (recorded January 24, 1985, video import release)

• Greatest Hits (1995)
• The Real Deal: Greatest Hits Volume 2 (1999)
• Blues at Sunrise (2000)
• SRV (box set, with early recordings, rarities, hits, and live material) (2000)
• The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (2002)
• Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues – Stevie Ray Vaughan (2003)
• The Real Deal: Greatest Hits Volume 1 (2006)
• Solos, Sessions and Encores (2007)

• Let's Dance (1983) – David Bowie
• Strike Like Lightning (1990) – Lonnie Mack
• Soulful Dress (1984) – Marcia Ball
• Heartbeat (1986) – Don Johnson

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (December 2007)

• A cover of "Texas Flood" appears in the original Guitar Hero video game.
• A cover of "Pride and Joy" appears in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
• Parts of "Pride and Joy" were aired in a commercial for the Nissan Altima.
• Vaughan married Lenora Darlene "Lenny" Bailey on 20 December 1979, having met her at a Halloween party in East Austin. The two divorced in 1988, however Vaughan had a new girlfriend at the time of his death, Janna Lapidus.
• In an interview with Steven Rosen, Vaughan confirmed he owned one of Jimi Hendrix's originial wah-wah pedals. ^[15]

• SRV guitars
• Music of Austin
• Chicago Blues Festival

• Stevie Ray Vaughan at Sony Music
• 1985 Stevie Ray Vaughan interview in Modern Guitars magazine
• List of some of the Grammys awarded to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
• Stevie Ray Vaughan at Curlie