Stevie Ray Vaughan

Virtuoso guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan's mainstream career only lasted seven years but as the leading exponent of a powerhouse technique which virtually commanded attention, few other axemen have made such a significant impact on American blues and rock 'n' roll. Heavily influenced by the likes of Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf and Jimi Hendrix, as well as his older brother Jimmie, Vaughan began playing clubs across the Dallas circuit in his early teens and went onto become something of a blues-rock journeyman in the 70s before taking on frontman duties in Double Trouble, a rough-and-ready trio with whom he established his guitar hero status. Vaughan's distinctive style pushed the likes of Texas Flood, Can't Stand The Weather and Soul To Soul into the US Top 40, and was also utilised on hit records by David Bowie and James Brown. Tragically Vaughan was cut off in his prime aged just 35, but cited as a major inspiration on everyone from John Mayer to Gary Clark Jr., his musical genius continued to make a significant mark on the blues world.

Born in Dallas, TX in 1954, Vaughan experienced a troubled nomadic childhood, but following in his older sibling Jimmie's footsteps, he sought solace in music by taking up the guitar aged just seven. In 1965, he formed his first band, The Chantones, and after leaving home to pursue a career as a guitarist, became a regular fixture on the Dallas blues scene, performing in a number of short-lived outfits including The Brooklyn Underground, The Southern Distributor and Liberation. Vaughan entered the studio for the first time in 1970 to cut two songs with the group, Cast of Thousands, before taking a residency at Austin's Rolling Hills Country Club with the band Blackbird, teaming up with bassist Tommy Shannon in Krackerjack, and showcasing his song-writing skills on an album recorded with The Nightcrawlers. Vaughan eventually found some sense of stability in 1975 when he joined six-piece Paul Ray and the Cobras, a stint which lasted more than two and a half years, but it was the formation of Triple Threat Revue in 1977 which set the wheels in motion for his commercial breakthrough.Later renamed Double Trouble in honor of the Otis Rush song, the band quickly became one of the most popular live acts in the Texas area and following a spell-binding set at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival, Vaughan was invited to lend his accomplished talents to David Bowie's number one album, Let's Dance. The same performance also caught the attention of Jackson Browne, who promptly offered the group free recording time at his Los Angeles studio, and shortly after, they signed a major-label deal with Epic. Released in 1983, their first full-length LP, Texas Flood, achieved considerable critical acclaim and peaked inside the US Top 40, as did follow-ups Can't Stand The Weather and Soul To Soul, while Vaughan was also poached by the likes of James Brown ("Living in America"), Don Johnson ("Heartache Away") and Jennifer Warnes ("First We Take Manhattan") for various hit singles.Vaughan's long-standing substance abuse problems threatened to derail the band's career in the mid-80s but after checking into a rehabilitation clinic, he returned sober and triumphant with 1989's In Step, a Grammy-winning fourth album which directly addressed his personal issues. But his highly influential career was tragically cut short in 1990 when after concluding an on-stage guitar jam with Eric Clapton in East Troy, WI, Vaughan and his four fellow passengers were killed in a helicopter crash. A collaborative album recorded with brother Jimmie shortly before his death, Family Style, then kicked off a run of successful posthumous albums that also included 1991 outtakes collection, The Sky Is Crying and 1997's Live at Carnegie Hall, all of which further confirmed Vaughan as one of the greatest guitarists of his generation.