Stevie Ray Vaughan

STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN d1990. Grammy Award winning American guitarist and songwriter. He was inspired to play guitar by his older brother and was influenced by such players including Jimi Hendrix & Buddy Guy. He formed the band Double Trouble with whom he made four successful studio albums and quickly established a reputation as one of the foremost blues guitarists in the world. He was noted for using the Fender Stratocaster with several guitars being made in tribute to him (including a Signature Stratocaster) and a replica of his famous Strat named "Lenny". In 1986, after years of substance abuse from alcohol and cocaine, he spent a month in drug rehab and remained clean and sober for the final four years of his life. On August 26th 1990, he played a sold out concert for 30,000 people in Alpine Vally Wisconsin which featured an encore jam with Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Jimmie Vaughan and Robert Cray. On August 27th (shortly before 1:00am), a helicopter carrying the 35 year old Stevie Ray Vaughan en route to Chicago crashed within seconds of takeoff. Four days later a funeral service was held at Laurel Land Memorial Park in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas Texas with over 1,500 people attending and 3,000 more outside the chapel. On February 22nd 2000, Stevie Ray Vaughan was inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame in Washington DC becoming one of only 79 performers to be inducted. In 2003, he was ranked No7 in Rolling Stones list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Classic Rock Magazine ranked him No3 in their list of the 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes in 2007.