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Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 - August 27, 1990) was an American blues guitarist, known as one of the most influential electric blues musicians in history. His playing style is often compared to that of Jimi Hendrix, though such comparisons often inspire sharp debate among music fans.

After playing in a series of bands, Dallas-native Vaughan formed Double Trouble in the late 1970s. A popular local draw, Vaughan soon attracted attention from David Bowie and Jackson Browne, and he played on albums with both. Bowie first caught Vaughan at the Montreux Jazz Festival where he was initially booed by many who disliked is hard blues sound. Vaughan is most notably featured on Bowie's album Changes in the songs Let's Dance and China Girl. Vaughan's debut album was the critical smash Texas Flood, and sold well in blues and rock crowds.

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble's second album, Couldn't Stand the Weather (1984) was even more successful than Texas Flood, as was Soul to Soul (1985).

Drug addiction and alcoholism began to take their toll on Vaughan in the mid 1980s, eventually resulting in his collapse while on tour in 1986, followed by the cancellation of the remainder of the tour. He checked into rehab in Georgia later that year.

Following his return, Vaughan recorded In Step (1989), another critical sensation that won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Record. A duet album, Family Style, with his brother, Jimmie Vaughan (also a noted blues-rock guitarist and former member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds) was released in early 1990 and was a popular hit.

In the early morning of August 27, 1990, Vaughan was killed when a helicopter he was riding in crashed near Troy, Wisconsin following a concert at the Alpine Valley music theater where he had appeared earlier in the evening with Robert Cray and Eric Clapton.

1991's The Sky is Crying was the first of several posthumous releases with chart success. Jimmie Vaughan would later co-write and record a song in tribute to his brother and other late blues guitarists, entitled Six Strings Down.

Stevie Ray Vaughan is interred in the Laurel Land Memorial Park, Dallas, Texas.

In 1991, Texas governor Ann Richards proclaimed October 3, Vaughan's birthday, to be Stevie Ray Vaughan Day.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2004.

Stevie Ray Vaughan Facts

OccupationMusician
BirthdayOctober 3, 1954
SignLibra
BirthplaceDallas, Texas, USA
Date of deathAugust 27, 1990 (age 35)

Selected Filmography

Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Live in Austin Texas
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Live at the El Mocambo
Vaughan, Stevie Ray
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Albert King / Stevie Ray Vaughan: In Session
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Pride and Joy
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