Born: October 3, 1954 in Dallas TX
Died: August 27, 1990 in East Troy WI
Extraordinary guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan hit the early-80s rock and blues music scenes like a lightning bolt. Fusing the blues-rock styles of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton with the electric blues sound of Muddy Waters, Albert King and Lightning Hopkins - with a few rockabilly licks and random jazz styling thrown in for good measure - Vaughan single-handedly revived the slumbering blues scene with his six-string talents and onstage showmanship.
Stevie Ray & Double Trouble
Born in Dallas, Texas in 1954, Vaughan picked up the guitar as a child, inspired by his older brother Jimmie. At the age of 17, he dropped out of high school to pursue music full-time. After several years of playing bars and clubs in the Austin, Texas area with his band the Cobras, Vaughan put together the band Triple Threat in 1975 with vocalist Lou Ann Barton, bassist Jackie Newhouse and drummer Chris Layton.
When Barton left Triple Threat in 1978, not long after a trip to Nashville to record, Vaughan took over vocal duties and renamed the band "Double Trouble" after an Otis Rush song. Blues-rock veteran Tommy Shannon took over on bass in 1980, playing rhythm alongside Layton, and it was with this line-up that Vaughan made his initial creative inroads. A 1982 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival didn't go over well with the audience, but it brought Vaughan to the attention of musicians David Bowie and Jackson Browne.
Texas Flood
Bowie asked Vaughan to play on his 1983 album Let's Dance, and Browne offered the band free studio time at his facility in L.A. Subsequently signed by legendary label A&R man John Hammond, Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded the band's debut album, Texas Flood, which was released during the summer of 1983. The album would receive critical acclaim from both the rock and blues worlds, selling better than half a million copies and successfully appealing to fans of both genres.
Vaughan's subsequent studio recordings - 1983's Couldn't Stand The Weather and 1985's Soul To Soul - sold well and served to further bridge the gap between rock and blues audiences, subsequently turning many young musicians towards a career in the blues. The latter album further expanded Vaughan's sound with the addition of keyboardist Reese Wynans. Vaughan would release Live Alive in 1986 to satisfy fans clamoring for a live album.
In Step
Even as his career was achieving remarkable heights, Vaughan continued to spiral into alcohol-and-drug-fueled despair, and he spent almost a year during 1987 and '88 in rehab, attempting to recover from his addictions. When Vaughan emerged, he and the band recorded their fourth studio album, In Step, which was released in 1989. The album won a Grammy Award as "Best Contemporary Blues Album" and would become Vaughan's best-selling album.
The guitarist followed-up In Step with Brother To Brother in 1990, a collaborative effort with his brother Jimmie, a guitarist with the Fabulous Thunderbirds. After an all-star jam session at a festival in Wisconsin in August 1990 with Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and his brother Jimmie, Vaughan left the backstage area in a helicopter, headed for Chicago. Tragically, the helicopter crashed into the nearby mountains, killing Vaughan and four other passengers.
Vaughan's Influence
Vaughan's stature has grown with the steady release of studio compilations and live albums, most notably 1997's Live at Carnegie Hall, a document of a 1984 show where Vaughan and Double Trouble were backed by the horn section of blues band Roomful of Blues. The guitarist's enormous influence extends beyond contemporary blues to impact mainstream rock as well.
Recommended Albums: Beginners can't go wrong with any of Vaughan's first three studio albums, but the artist's 1995 Greatest Hits album, released after his death, best showcases the talented guitarist's fiery blue-rock styles across eleven strong songs.
