Stevie Ray Vaughan - Life and career, Musical influences and style, Vaughan's guitars and musical equipment, Discography
Rock musician, born in Dallas, Texas, USA. A virtuoso guitarist, he played with teenage bands in Dallas before moving to Austin (1972), where he played with a succession of local blues bands. In 1981 he formed Double Trouble, a blues-rock trio, and performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, attracting widespread acclaim. He recorded with David Bowie in 1982, and the following year released his first album. He toured on a continual basis until his death in a helicopter accident following a concert performance in Wisconsin.
| Stevie Ray Vaughan | |
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| Born |
October 3, 1954 Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. |
| Alias(es) | SRV (abbrev.) |
| Genre(s) | Blues |
| Affiliation(s) | Double Trouble |
| Label(s) | Epic Records |
| Notable guitars | "Number One", his 1962 Fender Stratocaster |
| Years active | 1983 - 1990 |
Stephen ("Stevie") Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990), born in Dallas, Texas, was an American blues guitarist, credited with reviving interest in blues in the 1980s. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan.
Life and career
Vaughan was born and raised in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, but dropped out of Kimball High School 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. Vaughan later recorded two other singles under the band name The Cobras. Vaughan became the band's lead singer. A popular Austin act, Vaughan soon attracted the attention of musicians David Bowie and Jackson Browne, and played on albums with both. Bowie first caught Vaughan at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival, where some members of the audience booed the band, probably because they disliked Double Trouble's hard blues sound. (The crowd response was quite different when they appeared at the festival again in 1985.) Bowie then featured Vaughan on his 1983 album Let's Dance.
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's debut album was released in 1983.
Drug addiction and alcoholism took a toll on Vaughan in the mid-1980s, and after becoming acutely ill in Germany while on tour, Vaughan managed to struggle through three more shows before entering a drug rehabilitation program in Atlanta, Georgia.
Upon his return from rehab, Stevie Ray Vaughan, still with bandmates Double Trouble, recorded In Step (1989), which is praised by some as the band's best work since Texas Flood. Vaughan shared a headline tour with guitarist Jeff Beck in 1989.
Death
In the early morning of August 27, 1990, Vaughan died in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin. After a concert at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre, where earlier in the evening he appeared with Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and his older brother Jimmie Vaughan, the musicians expected a long bus ride back to Chicago. Stevie was informed that three seats were open on one of the helicopters returning to Chicago with Clapton and his crew, enough for Stevie, Jimmie, and Jimmie's wife Connie. Vaughan, the pilot, and two members of Clapton's crew died on impact.
The media initially reported that Vaughan and his band had been killed in the crash. Chris Layton saw this on the news and had security let him into Vaughan's motel room.
Stevie Ray Vaughan is interred in the Laurel Land Memorial Park, Dallas, Texas.
Posthumous events and recognition
September 1990 saw the release of Family Style, an album that Vaughan had recorded with his brother Jimmie. 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 and Buddy Guy.
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.
In 1992, the Fender company released the Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Stratocaster, which Stevie had helped design.
In 1994, the city of Austin erected the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Statue at Auditorium Shores on Town Lake, the site of a number of Vaughan's concerts.
In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine placed Vaughan at number seven on their list of the "100 greatest guitarists of all time". Musicians such as John Mayer, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang, Los Lonely Boys, and Eric Johnson have cited Vaughan as an influence.
In 2008, Stevie Ray Vaughan will become eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Musical influences and style
Vaughan's blues style was strongly influenced by many blues guitarists. 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". King's heavy vibrato can clearly be heard in Vaughan's playing.
Vaughan preferred to make use of the immediate tonal capabilities of his guitar amplifiers, adding few effects.
Vaughan's guitars and musical equipment
For guitars, Stevie used some acoustics and a Hamiltone Custom, but he mainly used Fender Stratocasters. One of Stevie's roadies, Byron Barr, bought it and he and Lenora presented it to Stevie for his birthday in 1976.
"Charley" was a Stratocaster built for him by the late Charley Wirz, a friend and owner of Charley's Guitars in Dallas, Texas.
Vaughan also played a guitar made by deceased Minneapolis, Minn., luthier, Roger Benedict. A semi-hollow, Alder-built guitar called the "Groove Master" was a model of choice for Vaughan.
Jimmie Vaughan has possession of all of Stevie's guitars, save for the only one released to the public, "Lenny".
He used a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, many different Ibanez Tube Screamers (most notably the TS-808, but he also used a TS-9 for solos sometimes), Vox or Dunlop Cry Baby wahs (one of which was owned and used by Jimi Hendrix), and at one point a Univibe, though he usually used his rotating Leslie speaker cabinet.
His amps were a blonde '62 Fender Twin, a 100-watt Marshall JCM 800 half stack, a 150-watt Dumble Steel String Singer, two '64 Fender Vibroverbs (they are consecutively numbered: 5 and 6;
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