Stevie Ray Vaughan

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Stevie Ray Vaughan (SRV)

Born October 3, 1954
Flag of United States Dallas, Texas, USA
Died August 27, 1990 (age 35)
Flag of United States East Troy, Wisconsin, USA
Alias(es) SRV (initials)
Genre(s) Electric blues
Blues Rock
Affiliation(s) Double Trouble
Label(s) Epic Records
Notable guitars Lenny/"'Number One'"
Years active 1975 - 1990

Stephen ("Stevie") Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990), born in Dallas, Texas, was an American blues guitarist. His broad appeal made him one of America's most influential electric blues guitarists. In 2003, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Stevie Ray Vaughan #7 in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time [1]. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan.

Contents

[edit] Life and career

[edit] Early life

Vaughan was born and raised in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. Neither of his parents had any strong musical talent but were avid music fans. They would take Vaughan and his older brother Jimmie to concerts to see Fats Domino, Jimmy Reed, and Bob Wills.

Even though Vaughan initially wanted to play the drums as his primary instrument, he was given a guitar when he was eight years of age. Vaughan's brother Jimmie Vaughan, gave him his first guitar lessons. Vaughan later quoted in Guitar Player Magazine that " My brother Jimmie actually was one of the biggest influences on my playing. He really was the reason why I started to play, watching him and seeing what could be done." After his brother showed him a few basic chords, Vaughan taught himself to play. He learned entirely by ear and never learned how to read sheet music. By the time he was 13 years old he was playing in clubs where he met many of his blues idols. A few years later he 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.

[edit] Adult Life and Career

Vaughan's first recording band was called Paul Ray and the Cobras. They played at clubs and bars in Austin during the mid-1970s, and released one single.[2] Vaughan later recorded two other singles under the band name The Cobras.[3] Following the break-up of The Cobras, he formed Triple Threat in late 1975, which included bassist Jackie Newhouse, drummer Chris Layton, vocalist Lou Ann Barton, and sax player Johnny Reno. Barton left the band in 1978 to pursue a solo career, followed by Reno in 1979. The three remaining members started performing under the name Double Trouble, inspired by an Otis Rush song of the same name. Vaughan became the band's lead singer.

Tommy Shannon, the bass player on Johnny Winter's early albums, replaced Newhouse in 1981. A popular Austin act, Vaughan soon attracted the attention of musicians David Bowie and Jackson Browne. Both Browne and Bowie first caught Vaughan at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival, where some members of the audience booed the band, because they disliked Double Trouble's hard blues sound. (The crowd response was quite different when they were invited to headline "Blues Night" at the festival again in 1985.)

In November, 1982, Vaughan recorded in Jackson Browne's studio in downtown Los Angeles. The recordings were brought to the attention of A&R man, John Hammond and became Texas Flood. Later, Bowie then featured Vaughan on his 1983 album Let's Dance.[4] Vaughan was also asked to go on tour with Bowie, but declined in order to focus his efforts on Double Trouble.

The band's critically acclaimed first album, Texas Flood (1983), produced by John Hammond, featured the top-20 hit "Pride and Joy" and sold 500,000 copies, earning the band a Gold Record.

The band's next album, Couldn't Stand the Weather, was recorded in January of 1984. During the summer of 1984, Vaughan and Double Trouble appeared on numerous TV shows, including Rockpalast, Much Music, and Solid Gold.

In late September, the band rehearsed at the Caravan of Dreams in Fort Worth, Texas for their Carnegie Hall show on October 4, 1984. They had velvet mariachi-style suits made specially for the show. The appearance featured guests Jimmie Vaughan, Roomful of Blues horns, Dr. John, Angela Strehli, and George Rains.

In late January 1985, the band took their first and last Japanese tour. In March, the band started to produce their third album Soul to Soul. Reese Wynans, a former keyboardist of Delbert McClinton's band, was added to the band not long after. With the addition of Reese the title of the band was changed to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Serious Trouble, however no album was released under this modified title. The album's production lasted for two months. Soul to Soul was released on September 30, 1985.

Drug addiction and alcoholism took a toll on Vaughan in mid-1986. Cocaine and Crown Royal whiskey were among his addictions. After becoming acutely ill in Germany while on tour, Vaughan managed to struggle through three more shows and was finally admitted into a hospital in London. He then flew to Atlanta, Georgia to a rehabilitation center. He eventually recovered fully from his addictions and became a teetotaler.

Upon his return from rehab, Vaughan did a number of works with other artists including Dick Dale, Jennifer Warnes, and Stevie Wonder.

In 1988, Vaughan continued to tour with Double Trouble throughout Scandinavia. Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded In Step in February of 1989, which was their fourth studio album since 1985 and is praised by some as the band's best work since Texas Flood. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Vaughan shared a headline tour with guitarist Jeff Beck in the fall of 1989.

In March of 1990, Vaughan took some time off to record Family Style with his brother Jimmie Vaughan. As for Double Trouble, business had finally gotten better for the band, as their contracts were averaging $24,000 a show. They continued to tour throughout the summer of 1990.

[edit] Death

On August 25 and 26, 1990, Vaughan and Double Trouble played shows at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Wisconsin. At the end of the show, Eric Clapton introduced Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, and Jimmie Vaughan, along with Stevie Ray Vaughan. All of the musicians played a 15-minute rendition of "Sweet Home Chicago". After the song ended, all the guitarists hugged up and went backstage.

Double Trouble drummer, Chris Layton, recalls his last conversation with Vaughan backstage. He then remembers when Vaughan said he had to call his girlfriend, Janna Lapidus, back in Chicago. He headed out the door to the helicopters.

The musicians expected a long bus ride back to Chicago. Vaughan was informed that three seats were open on one of the helicopters returning to Chicago with Clapton's crew, enough for Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan, and Jimmie Vaughan's wife Connie. It turned out there was only one seat left, which Stevie Ray Vaughan requested from his brother, who obliged. Taking off into deep fog, the helicopter crashed moments later into a ski slope on the side of a hill within the Alpine Valley Resort. Vaughan, the pilot, and two members of Clapton's crew died on impact. No one realized that the crash had occurred until the helicopter failed to arrive in Chicago, and the wreckage was only found with the help of its locator beacon.[5] The main cause of the crash was believed to be pilot error.[6] The next morning Stevie Ray Vaughan's brother Jimmie and good friend Eric Clapton were called to identify the bodies.

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. Layton saw that the bed was made and the clock radio was playing the Eagles' song, "Peaceful, Easy Feeling", which includes the lyrics "I may never see you again". Layton and Shannon then called their families to let them know they were okay.

Stevie Ray Vaughan is interred in the Laurel Land Memorial Park, Dallas, Texas.[7]

[edit] Posthumous events and recognition

Vaughan memorial at Town Lake, in Austin, Texas.
Vaughan memorial at Town Lake, in Austin, Texas.

September 1990 saw the release of Family Style. 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,[8] Buddy Guy and Steve Vai (The track 'Jibboom'of the album 'The Ultra Zone' recorded in 1999).

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.[9]

In 1992, the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation released the Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Stratocaster, which Vaughan had helped design. It was a reproduction of his battered 1963 Fender Stratocaster, which he had affectionately named "Number One" (and sometimes referred to as his "first wife"). As of 2006, the model is still in production. It depicts "Number One" as it would have been brand-new in 1963, though when Vaughan bought it in 1974 it was already badly weathered. In 2004, Fender also released a limited edition exact replica of "Number One".[10]

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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. It has become one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.

Musicians such as John Mayer, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Colin James, Jonny Lang, Los Lonely Boys, Al Reid, Mike McCready and Eric Johnson have cited Vaughan as an influence.

Vaughan's name is mentioned as one of the upcoming acts in Stephen King's short story You Know They Got a Hell of a Band, about a town inhabited by late music legends.

In 2008, Stevie Ray Vaughan will become eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[11]

[edit] Musical influences and style

Vaughan's blues style was strongly influenced by many blues guitarists. Foremost among them were Albert King, who dubbed himself Stevie's "godfather", Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, and Jimi Hendrix. He was also strongly influenced by Lonnie Mack. Vaughan is recognized for his distinctive guitar sound, which was partly based on using heavy guitar strings (anything from thirteen-gauge to 16-gauge) that he tuned down one half-step. 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". He was also heavily influenced by Freddie King, another Texas bluesman, mainly in the use of tone and attack; King's heavy vibrato can clearly be heard in Vaughan's playing. Another stylistic influence was Albert Collins. By utilizing his index finger as a pick a la Albert Collins, he was able to coax various tonal nuances from his amps

Vaughan preferred to make use of the immediate tonal capabilities of his guitar amplifiers, adding few effects. His effects included the Ibanez Tube Screamer, a Vox wah-wah pedal, and the Roger Mayer Octavia. Contrary to popular belief SRV never employed the use of a flanger/chorus effect. The recordings on which we hear the effects, such as Cold Shot, actually used a Leslie rotating speaker cabinet. He also used loud volumes for dynamic, coaxing effects from the natural overdriven performance of his amplifiers.

[edit] Vaughan's guitars and musical equipment

For guitars, Vaughan used some acoustics and a Hamiltone Custom, but he mainly used Fender Stratocasters. His most famous was a sunburst Strat with a Brazilian rosewood veneer fingerboard fretted with Dunlop 6100 Jumbo fretwire; it had 1962 stamped on the neck and body, but 1959 written on the pickups leading Vaughan to mistakenly believe it was assembled in 1962 from 1959 parts. On this particular guitar, he also had a left-handed tremolo installed. This guitar was known as Number One. It had a D-shaped thick neck that was perfect for his large hands and thick fingers. It possessed a deep, dark growl of a tone that was immediately identifiable. Even though it used all stock Fender Strat parts, about the only original equipment parts it possessed by 1990 were the body and the pickups. Over the years, Vaughan and Rene Martinez, his guitar tech, replaced the pickguard, tremolo, and neck. The guitar was meticulously examined by Fender Custom Shop workers to gather specifications for a run of 100 exact copies in early 2004.[citation needed] The pickups were never overwound purposely, but were from a batch of pickups made at Fender in 1959 that had been overwound by mistake, producing Number One's distinctive sound. The neck was damaged during a stage accident, and a spare was used from another of Vaughan's Stratocasters. After he died, the original neck was put back on and the guitar was given to his brother.

Lenny was a 1964 maple-neck that was named after his wife, Lenora. It had a very bright, thin sound. Supposedly, Vaughan found this guitar in a pawnshop, but couldn't afford to buy it. One of Vaughan's roadies, Byron Barr, bought it and he and Lenora presented it to Vaughan for his birthday in 1976. According to the story, Lenora was supposed to pay Byron for the guitar; she started a pool party with her friends to collect the money, but it was Vaughan who eventually settled the debt, with cash and a leather jacket. Its neck was originally a thin rosewood, but Vaughan replaced it with a thicker non-Fender maple neck. Lenny can be seen and heard on "Live at the El Mocambo". He plays it at the end of the set during the encore, playing the song of the same name; Lenny. Vaughan also used the guitar during the song "Riviera Paradise", this can also be seen and heard on the DVD "Live From Austin Texas".

Charley was a Stratocaster built for him by the late Charley Wirz, a friend and owner of Charley's Guitar Shop in Dallas, Texas. Three Danelectro lipstick tubes are the pickups, and it had a hardtail bridge.

Red was a 1962 with a lefty neck.

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. It is a seafoam-green Stratocaster-shaped guitar with three lipstick pickups.

Jimmie Vaughan has possession of all of his brothers guitars, save for the only one released to the public, Lenny. It was sold in the Eric Clapton guitar auction for more than $600,000.

He used a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, many different Ibanez Tube Screamers (TS-808, TS-9, and TS-10), Vox or Dunlop Cry Baby wahs (one of which was previously owned and used by Jimi Hendrix[12]), and at one point a Univibe, though he usually used a Fender Vibratone. Sometimes he used two wahs duct-taped together, so they moved in unison.

His amps were usually 2 Fender Super Reverbs, 2 Fender Vibroverbs, 2 Dumble 150-watt Dumble Steel String Singer heads, 2 Dumble 4x12 cabs, and a Fender Vibratone. In a recent publication of Guitar World, they revealed a Soldano SLO-100 amp head that Vaughan comissioned before he died. SRV used Marshall cabs extensively, and in the early 80's he used a quite rare brown Marshall 4140 Club and Country 100W tube amp combo for his clean sounds. (This amp was later painted black by David Bowie´s stage crew before the 1983 tour that Vaughan was supposed to have been on).

[edit] Grammy Awards

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GRAMMY Winner Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble (Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Reese Wynans)

Genre Blues

GRAMMY Category Best Contemporary Blues Album - or Contemporary Blues Recording

Year 1993 - 35th Annual GRAMMY Awards

Title of the Work The Sky Is Crying (Album)

Artist Performing Work Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble

GRAMMY Winner Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble (Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Reese Wynans)

Genre Rock

GRAMMY Category Best Rock Instrumental Performance

Year 1993 - 35th Annual GRAMMY Awards

Title of the Work Little Wing (Track)

Artist Performing Work Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble

GRAMMY Winner The Vaughan Brothers (Stevie Ray Vaughan And Jimmie Vaughan)

Genre Blues

GRAMMY Catergory Best Contemporary Blues Recording

Year 1991 - 33rd Annual GRAMMY Awards

Title of the Work Family Style (Album)

Artist Performing Work Stevie Ray Vaughan And Jimmie Vaughan

GRAMMY Winner The Vaughan Brothers (Stevie Ray Vaughan And Jimmie Vaughan)

Genre Rock

GRAMMY Catergory Best Rock Instrumental Performance

Year 1991 - 33rd Annual Grammy Awards

Title of the Work "D/FW" (Track)

Artist Performing Work Stevie Ray Vaughan And Jimmie Vaughan

GRAMMY Winner Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble (Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Reese Wynans)

Genre Blues

GRAMMY Category Best Contemporary Blues Album - or Contemporary Blues Recording

Year 1990 - 32nd Annual GRAMMY Awards

Title of the Work In Step (Album)

Artist Performing Work Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble

GRAMMY Winner J.B. Hutto And The New Hawks (Brian Bisesi), John Hammond, Koko Taylor And The Blues Machine (Steve Freund, Willie Hays, Emmet Maestro Sanders, Koko Taylor, Bay Williams), Luther Guitar Junior Johnson, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Reese Wynans)

Genre Blues

GRAMMY Category Best Traditional Blues Album - or - Best Traditional Blues Recording

Year 1985 - 27th Annual GRAMMY Awards

Title of the Work Blues Explosion

Artist Performing Work John Hammond, Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble, Sugar Blue, Koko Taylor And The Blues Machine, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, J.B. Hutto And The New Hawks[13]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

  1. Texas Flood (1983)
  2. Couldn't Stand the Weather (1984)
  3. Soul to Soul (1985)
  4. In Step (1989)
  5. Family Style (with brother Jimmie Vaughan as "The Vaughan Brothers", 1990)
  6. The Sky Is Crying (posthumous compilation) (1991)

[edit] Official live audio releases

  1. In the Beginning (recorded 1980)
  2. In Session (with Albert King, recorded 1983)
  3. Live at Carnegie Hall (recorded 1984)
  4. Live Alive (recorded 1985 and 1986)
  5. Live At Montreux 1982 & 1985 (recorded 1982 & 1985)
  6. Live At The El Mocambo (recorded 1983)
  7. Live From Austin, Texas (Recorded from concerts of 1983 and 1989)
  8. Live in Tokyo (Recorded on January 24, 1985)

[edit] Compilations

  1. Greatest Hits (1995)
  2. The Real Deal: Greatest Hits Volume 2 (1999)
  3. Blues at Sunrise (2000)
  4. SRV (box set, with early recordings, rarities, hits, and live material) (2000)
  5. The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (2002)
  6. Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues - Stevie Ray Vaughan (2003)
  7. The Real Deal: Greatest Hits Volume 1 (2006)

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Rolling Stone Issue 931. Rolling Stone.
  2. ^ The 45-RPM Other Days b/w Texas Clover (1975), Viper 30372.
  3. ^ * My Song b/w Rough Edges, The Cobras w/W.C. Clark (1979), Hole Records HR-1520 and Blow Joe Blow (crazy 'bout a saxophone) b/w Sugaree The Cobras (1980), Armadillo Records ARS-79-1.
  4. ^ Patoski, Joe Nick and Crawford, Bill (1993) Stevie Ray Vaughan, Caught in the Crossfire p. 152
  5. ^ Obituary from People magazine
  6. ^ Celebrity Plane Crashes
  7. ^ Patoski, Joe Nick and Crawford, Bill (1993) Stevie Ray Vaughan, Caught in the Crossfire p. 265
  8. ^ Entitled "SRV", from the album Venus Isle
  9. ^ Stevie Ray Vaughan Remembrance Ride & Concert
  10. ^ StevieRay.com - Fender
  11. ^ Future Rock Hall entry for Stevie Ray Vaughan
  12. ^ http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/002283.html
  13. ^ http://www.tommyshannon.com/awards.html#Grammys

[edit] See also

Portal:Texas
 Texas Portal

[edit] External links

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Blues | Blues genres
Jug band - Classic female blues - Country blues - Delta blues - Electric blues - Jump blues - Piano blues - Fife and drum blues
Jazz blues - Blues-rock - Soul blues- Punk blues
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