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Stevie Ray Vaughan (born Stephen Ray Vaughan; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, whose broad appeal made him an influential electric blues guitarist. To date, a total of 18 albums of Vaughan's work have been released. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Stevie Ray Vaughan #7 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and Classic Rock Magazine ranked him #3 in their list of the 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes in 2007.

Early life

Stephen Ray Vaughan was born to Martha and Jackson Lee Vaughan at Methodist Hospital in Dallas, Texas on October 3, 1954, three years after his brother, Jimmie Vaughan. Vaughan's father, whose nickname became "Big Jim", was an asbestos worker whose job carried the family to cities across Texas. Wherever there was an opening, the family would pack up and move to another city.

The Vaughan family finally moved into a small house in Dallas. The tension in the home was high, however, as Big Jim had a temper when he drank alcohol.

Big Jim and Martha loved to dance to Western Swing, and it was the boys' first exposure to music. The Texas Playboys, a country band, would hang out at the Vaughans' house often.

When Jimmie Vaughan broke his shoulder playing football when he was 12, family friend Michael Quinn gave him his first guitar. Soon after, Stevie Ray Vaughan got one of his own: a plastic Roy Rogers toy guitar from Sears, with only three strings.

The boys, uninterested in taking formal guitar lessons, taught themselves to play by listening to records by Jimi Hendrix, The Yardbirds, and The Beatles. The brothers were also drawn to blues music and taught themselves the guitar techniques of blues guitarists like Albert and B.B. King, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy.

At the age of 15, Jimmie was the lead guitarist in a local cover band called The Chessmen, and played gigs all over Texas. One day when bandmate Doyle Bramhall came to pick up Jimmie for a gig, he saw young Stevie playing along to the song Jeff's Boogie by The Yardbirds. Bramhall became the first to tell Stevie Ray Vaughan that he was actually good.

When he was 17, Vaughan got a tattoo of a peacock on his chest. It was initially supposed to be much bigger, but realizing the pain of the process altered Stevie's body-art plans.

Early career

Stevie was playing in rock bands by age 12. His first recording was for a garage rock band called "A Cast of Thousands", and his style stood out. He had paying gigs when he entered high school: first with Jimmie's new band, Texas Storm, and then with his own group, Blackbird. Stevie would play late night sets at local bars.

Stevie's and Jimmie's focus on music caused their grades to drop. Their alarmed parents tried to intervene, but it was too late: in 1967, Jimmie moved in with Doyle. Stevie, left at home, decided to take a job washing dishes at the local Dairy Mart. Part of his job was to clean out the trash bin, which required standing on top of 55-gallon wooden-lidded barrels that were used for storing grease. One day the wooden lid broke on one of the barrels and Stevie fell up to his chest in grease—and was fired for breaking the lid. He decided that, rather than try to get another job like this, he would pursue his dream of being a guitar player like Albert King, his current favorite.

1970s

In early 1971, both Jimmie and Doyle grew tired of the fading music scene in Dallas and moved to Austin to give it another try. A year later, Stevie followed with his band, Blackbird. At 17 years old, he dropped out of high school during Christmas break and hit the road.

When he first came to Austin, Stevie and his band didn't have much money, so he would sleep on a barroom pool table, but he fit in with the more appreciative music scene on the east side of town. With blues clubs like the Soap Creek Saloon, Vulcan Gas Company, and Antone's, Stevie could trade licks with the blues masters he grew up listening to. Clifford Antone, one of the club owners, took notice and practically begged Albert King to let 17-year-old Stevie play guitar with him. After much convincing, he finally agreed—and was very impressed when he heard Stevie play his own licks.

Sharing riffs with these admired masters was Stevie's dream come true, but making a career in Austin turned out to be tougher than he had thought. In 1973, he joined a promising rock group called Krackerjack, which included future bassist Tommy Shannon, whom he met after a stint at a club in Dallas called "The Fog." Stevie quit when the leader decided they should wear makeup on stage. The next year, he was asked to join Marc Benno and the Nightcrawlers, a blues band that included singer Doyle Bramhall and future Bee Gees bassist Russ Powell. The Nightcrawlers drove from Texas to Los Angeles to record an album, but Benno's record label rejected the tapes, and Stevie traveled back to Texas.

In 1975, he hooked up with another popular Austin group, Paul Ray and the Cobras, a two-guitar band with Stevie in the background. After two years, they only had one single recorded, and Stevie grew frustrated and quit. He was still in the shadow of his big brother. Jimmie's new group, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, were the talk of Austin, and became the house band at Antone's. In late 1977, Stevie decided it was time to put together a band of his own called "Triple Threat," which included bass player, W.C. Clark, Freddie "Pharoah" Walden on drums, and singer Lou Ann Barton.

On December 23, 1979, Stevie Vaughan married a tough-minded Lebanese woman named Lenora "Lenny" Bailey between sets at the Rome Inn in Austin, TX.

W.C. Clark left Triple Threat in mid-1978, and Stevie renamed the band "Double Trouble." He then asked drummer Chris Layton to join the band. After an embarrassing post-show incident with drunken Lou Ann, Stevie became the new lead singer and guitar player after he fired her. Around this time, he hired a management company called "Classic Management" that consisted of manager Chesley Milikin, and financial assistant, Frances Carr.

1980s

Stevie's drummer at the time, Chris Layton, stayed with him. After almost four years, Jackie Newhouse was dropped from the band in the spring of 1981, and bass player Tommy Shannon decided he wanted in. In turn, he was asked to join Double Trouble. The first show with the new trio format band was at Joe Ely's annual Texas Tornado Jam, a music festival featuring a host of local bands held at the Manor Downs Racetrack, just outside of Austin. The Fabulous Thunderbirds were after Stevie and Double Trouble.

Mick Jagger from The Rolling Stones saw a tape of the show and liked what he saw. He asked Stevie and his band to play a private party hosted by The Rolling Stones at the Danceteria club in New York. After the show, Mick and guitar player Keith Richards talked to the band about getting them a record deal. It never went through, however, and they went back to Texas.

Jerry Wexler, record executive from Atlantic Records, saw the band playing at a record release party for Lou Ann Barton's new position as singer for Roomful of Blues. He recommended that the band play the Montreux International Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Manager Chesley Milikin put in a call to Claude Nobs, the host of the Montreux Jazz Festival and would be the first unsigned act to perform at the festival.

The band was booked on a jazz acoustic night, a setup that involved an upright bass, piano, and generally soft music. The loud and powerful sound of Stevie and Double Trouble shocked the staid crowd. After a few songs, the gig seemed headed for disaster, as some of the audience members booed. Larry Graham, from Sly & The Family Stone was looking forward to an encore with the band, but unfortunately, it never happened.

As the band was backstage, devastated and disappointed, David Bowie and Jackson Browne, two celebrities in the audience approached them to say they had liked what they heard. Browne offered the band 72 hours of free studio time at his own studio in downtown Los Angeles. David Bowie also invited Stevie to play on his upcoming album, Let's Dance, co-produced by Nile Rodgers.

To be able to afford the gasoline to take them to Los Angeles, the band booked a small tour at various clubs like Fitzgerald's in Houston and The Continental Club in Austin. When they finally traveled to Los Angeles during Thanksgiving weekend in 1982, they recorded an album's worth of songs: eight songs the first day; two the next. The band then went back to Texas, where Stevie recorded the vocals at Riverside Sound in Austin.

Success and Fame

Texas Flood

The band sent the tapes to legendary talent scout, John Hammond, Sr., a veteran of the record business who discovered Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, and Bob Dylan. He got the band a major contract with Epic Records. The mixed and mastered tapes were morphed into an album called Texas Flood. On June 3, 1983, the album made it to #38 on the Billboard 200 charts, received positive reviews, and sold over 500,000 units. After years of hard work, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble were an "overnight" success. The band then embarked on a successful tour for the album.

On March 3, 2009, Harmonix released Texas Flood in its entirety as downloadable content for the game Rock Band via Xbox Live. The Playstation Network received it on March 5, 2009.

Couldn't Stand the Weather

In mid-December 1983, the band took two weeks off to write material for a new album. They went to The Power Station in New York City to record in January 1984. The new album took two weeks to record, but finally finished and released the album as Couldn't Stand the Weather. They went on another successful tour and played many TV shows including Solid Gold and Rockpalast.

On October 4, 1984, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble played a show at Carnegie Hall in New York City to celebrate his 30th birthday. The whole eleven-piece band wore custom-tailored velvet mariachi suits. The band rehearsed for two weeks to prepare for the show. After the show, MTV invited all the guests to a local club where the new TV network would throw an after-party.

With several more shows after Carnegie Hall, the band flew to Australia and played two sold-out shows at the Sydney Opera House. Then it was off to New Zealand, playing many concert halls and stadiums in the area. While in New Zealand, Stevie received word that he won two W.C. Handy Blues Awards: one for Entertainer of the Year and one Instrumentalist of the Year. He was the first white person to win both awards. He was presented the awards on November 18, 1984, and played with B.B. King, Rufus Thomas, Robert Cray, and Albert King. The ceremony was held at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis on Beale Street.

Soul to Soul

By early 1985, Stevie's performance contract required a fifth of Scotch in his dressing room each night and his cocaine habit rose to 4 grams/day. He would dissolve the cocaine in a glass of Scotch or Crown Royal every morning as a morning pick-me-up. This ritual lasted for 9 years.

Stevie and Double Trouble went to the Dallas Sound Labs in March 1985. After a couple of weeks of trying to come up with new material, it became evident that Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble needed a stronger rhythm section. Desperate, he got in touch with Reese Wynans, an ace keyboard player who was playing with Delbert McClinton at the time.

On April 10, 1985, Stevie Ray was asked to play The Star Spangled Banner on opening day at the Houston Astrodome. Unfortunately, he didn't get a good audience response, as he played his rendition with slide guitar work.

The new quartet finished the album in May 1985 and was named Soul to Soul. The album was released on September 30, 1985, but lacked the fire and bite of previous albums.

By 1986, the band was touring the world non-stop, sometimes sharing the bill with The Fabulous Thunderbirds--and Stevie's cocaine habit had risen to 7 grams a day. Both bands were on tour in New Zealand when Stevie saw a group of schoolgirls walking back to a nearby hotel. He homed in on one girl in particular: stunningly beautiful 17-year-old model Janna Lapidus. The olive-skinned brunette had fled from Russia with her parents when she was a child. Stevie took Janna with him on tour in Australia.

Live Alive

In mid-1986, Stevie and Double Trouble were ordered to record another album. As they didn't wish to do this, they decided to record a live album. They would simply record shows at the Austin Opera House and the Starfest in Dallas. This proved to be more difficult than they thought: many of the recordings were flooded with technical difficulties that needed touch-ups or errors that needed correction. The band started booking studio time to overdub drums or vocals.

Stevie's marriage to Lenny was also on the verge of collapse. His fame, fortune, success, and attention pushed her to the sidelines, and she reacted bitterly. One night, after a long stretch on the road, he came home to find their apartment in Austin padlocked: the electricity was shut off and Lenny and their dog were gone. She had left with the money Stevie had been sending her frequently. This shocking discovery guaranteed that Stevie's alcohol and drug abuse would escalate.

Stevie moved to Los Angeles where he moved in with an old Austin acquaintance, Timothy Duckworth, who later became Stevie's personal assistant.

"Live Alive" was released on November 30, 1986.

On August 27, 1986, after years of suffering from Parkinson's disease, Stevie Ray's and Jimmie Lee's father, "Big Jim" Vaughan, died from heart failure. The boys rushed home to comfort their mother, but there was little time to mourn over the death of their father. Immediately after the funeral three days later, a jet rushed Stevie back on the road with Double Trouble.

A month later, on tour in Europe, Stevie's addictive lifestyle finally caught up with him. Drummer Chris Layton recalls being out in the street with Stevie when he suddenly dropped to his knees and acted confused, then began retching blood and bile. He said he needed a drink, but no drug stores were open. When Stevie had composed himself, the two walked back to their hotel in Ludwigshafen. Then Stevie began shaking, sweating and his eyes "were like the eyes of a dead animal." When the animation came back into his eyes, he sat up and quietly said, "I need help." Chris called an ambulance; the paramedics later described the trip to the hospital as a near death dehydration. Stevie was admitted under the care of Dr. Victor Bloom in London, the same doctor who helped Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend kick their addiction to heroin. Bloom monitored Stevie overnight to see his stomach reactions; it turned out that the whiskey was eating away his stomach lining, and the cocaine was crystallizing again and eating into his intestines.

Rehabilitation

After a failed attempt to get sober in London, Stevie asked his mother to fly the band to Atlanta, Georgia, where Stevie checked into Peachford Hospital, and Tommy checked into a hospital in Austin; both men spent a month in the Charter treatment program.

Stevie made a phone call to his wife Lenny, asking her to visit him in rehab, but she refused. In turn, he filed for a divorce which wasn't finalized until June 1988 due to a delay in an agreement between Stevie and Lenny.

Recovery

By late 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble went back on the road with confidence and energy as Stevie and Tommy now played clean and sober. On February 28, 1987, the band played MTV Mardi Gras in New Orleans with The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Stevie also made an appearance with B.B. King for an HBO special that was broadcast at the Ebony Showcase Theater in Los Angeles, California on April 15, 1987. It was a lineup that included B.B. King, Albert King, Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield (who died only a few weeks later), Phil Collins, Gladys Knight, and Etta James.

Stevie Wonder hosted a TV special called "Characters", in which a number of musical guests came to perform his hits. Stevie Ray played with Wonder on "Superstition" and "Come Let Me Make Your Love Come Down" and was broadcast in April 1988.

Stevie wanted to help others recover and overcome their problems with alcohol or drugs, as during the song "Life Without You", he would often speak to the audience about recovering and being there for others when they need love. On the road, he would attend Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) meetings regularly, sharing the lessons of his ordeal.

In Step

By 1988, the band was ready to return to the recording studio. For the new record, they traveled to Memphis to record in Ardent Studios, a pro recording studio that has such clientele as ZZ Top, Tina Turner, and Led Zeppelin. Together, old friend Doyle Bramhall and Stevie began writing songs about walking the tightrope to recovery, including "Tightrope", "Wall of Denial", and "Crossfire". The album was named appropriately, "In Step", released on June 6, 1989. "Crossfire" reached the #1 position on the Mainstream Rock Charts. It was the only hit single that they ever had.

In the spring of 1990, Stevie and his brother recorded an album together, one that would feature the music they had grown up with. They recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis and was produced by Nile Rodgers. The brothers agreed to name it "Family Style". That summer, Stevie and Double Trouble went on tour with British soul singer Joe Cocker, touring places like Alaska and the Benson & Hedges Blues Festival.

Death

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To complete the summer portion of the "In Step" tour, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble played two shows on August 25 & 26 at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI, while on tour with Eric Clapton.

For travel to the next venue, the tour manager reserved four helicopters to circumvent congested highway traffic.

This is what happend as per the NTSB report, which is public information, and available to anyone, and is not copyrighted.

FOUR HELICOPTERS WERE BEING USED AT NIGHT TO TRANSPORT A CONCERT GROUP FROM A GOLF COURSE AREA NEAR ELKHORN, WI, TO CHICAGO, IL. AS THE THIRD HELICOPTER (N16933) WAS DEPARTING, IT REMAINED AT A LOWER ALTITUDE THAN THE OTHERS, AND THE PILOT TURNED SOUTHEASTERLY TOWARD RISING TERRAIN. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE HELICOPTER CRASHED ON HILLY TERRAIN ABOUT 3/5 MI FROM THE TAKEOFF POINT. ELEVATION OF THE CRASH SITE WAS ABOUT 100 FT ABOVE THE GOLF COURSE AND 50 FT BELOW THE SUMMIT OF THE HILL. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS FOUND DURING THE INVESTIGATION. PILOTS OF THE OTHER HELICOPTERS REPORTED VFR FLIGHT CONDITIONS WITH SOME FOG. A GROUND WITNESS NEAR THE CRASH SITE REPORTED HAZE AND GROUND FOG OF VARYING INTENSITY WITH PATCHES OF LOW CLOUDS, BUT SAID STARS COULD BE SEEN THROUGH THE FOG.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident was:

IMPROPER PLANNING/DECISION BY THE PILOT, AND HIS FAILURE TO ATTAIN ADEQUATE ALTITUDE BEFORE FLYING OVER RISING TERRAIN AT NIGHT. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: DARKNESS, FOG, HAZE, RISING TERRAIN, AND THE LACK OF VISUAL CUES THAT WERE AVAILABLE TO THE PILOT.

At 7:00 a.m., sheriff's deputies arrived at the site and located the wreckage.

On August 31, 1990, funeral services were held for Vaughan in his hometown of Oak Cliff. Vaughan was interred at Laurel Land Funeral Home and Memorial Park in Oak Cliff, a suburb of Dallas, Texas.

Legacy

September 1990 saw the release of Family Style.

The 1991 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, titled "Six Strings Down".

The 1991 album of Bonnie Raitt, Luck of the Draw, was dedicated to him.

Many other artists recorded songs in remembrance of Vaughan, including Eric Johnson,, Tommy Emmanuel (the song Stevie's Blues), Buddy Guy and Steve Vai ("Jibboom" on the album The Ultra Zone, 1999) and guitarist Wayne Perkins ("Big Stratocaster", from the album Rambling Heart).

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 Musical Instruments Corporation released the Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Stratocaster, which Vaughan had helped design. As of 2007, the model is still in production. In 2004, Fender also released a limited edition exact replica of "Number One".

Stevie Wonder included a song on his 1995 live album Natural Wonder titled "Stevie Ray Blues". On the album, Wonder refers to the song as "Stevie Ray Vaughan Blues".

Stephen King's short story "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" concerns a small town called Rock and Roll Heaven that's populated by late rock musicians, one of whom is Vaughan.

In 1994, the city of Austin erected the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Statue at Auditorium Shores on Lady Bird Lake,(30°15′47.1774″N 97°45′2.4228″W / 30.263104833°N 97.750673000°W / 30.263104833; -97.750673000) the site of a number of Vaughan's concerts. It has become one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.

In 2000, Stevie Ray Vaughan was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

The last guitar that Vaughan played before his death is on display in the Hard Rock Cafe in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

In November 2007, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation released a second tribute to Vaughan, an exact replica of his second beloved guitar: Lenny. This guitar was given to him by his wife Lenora ("Lenny") on his 26th birthday and Vaughan was very fond of it. According to Fender, the original Lenny was a 1965 Strat that he saw in the window of a pawn shop that he was unable to afford. The guitar is sold with a strap, a case with Vaughan's name embroidered in the fabric lining, a number of brochures and memorabilia and a leather bound certificate of authenticity.

"A little over four years ago on June 24, 2004 Lenny was put up for auction and was sold to Guitar Center for $629,500. "

Also in November 2007, Sony BMG, Epic Records, and Legacy Records released the CD Stevie Ray Vaughan & Friends: Solos, Sessions & Encores.

Stevie Ray Vaughan became eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

In 2008, residents voted to rename Dallas' Industrial Boulevard, with Vaughan's name being one of the finalists alongside Stanley Marcus, Eddie Bernice Johnson, and Cesar Chavez.

His music has been used in the popular rhythm-based video game series Guitar Hero, featuring Texas Flood and Pride And Joy. The entire Texas Flood album has also been released for download for Rock Band 2.

Personal life

Not much is known about Stevie's personal life. However, he did have several girlfriends in his early career, one of them being Lindi Bethel, the inspiration for "Pride and Joy."

Stevie married Lenora "Lenny" Bailey on December 23, 1979 between sets at the Rome Inn in Austin, TX. "Love Struck Baby" was written when Lenny first asked Stevie to move in with her. They divorced in 1988.

Stevie met model Janna Lapidus in New Zealand in March 1986. They remained a couple until his death.

He did not have any children.

Musical influences and style

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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, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and Jimi Hendrix. The song "Rude Mood" is a direct derivative (according to Vaughan himself) of a Lightnin' Hopkins tune called "Lightning Sky Hop." He was also strongly influenced by early blues-rock guitarist Lonnie Mack, who, according to Vaughan, "really taught me to play guitar from the heart" (Davis, History of the Blues, DaCapo 2003, p. 246). Vaughan, who had idolized Mack since childhood, produced and played on Mack's 1985 Alligator Records album Strike Like Lightning and covered "Wham!" which was written by Mack, as well as playing on a Mack tune from the 1980s, "If You Have To Know." "Scuttle Buttin'" was influenced by one of Mack's songs "Chicken Pickin'". Vaughan's brother Jimmie Vaughan has stated that Johnny "Guitar" Watson was the guitarist he and Stevie studied the most.

Vaughan's sound and playing style, which often incorporated simultaneous lead and rhythm parts, drew 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 amplifiers.

Known for his warm blues-rock tone, Vaughan characteristically used very heavy strings on his guitar ranging from 13 to 58-gauge sets to give a fuller sound which he tuned down a half-step to the key of E flat.

Musicians such as John Mayer, Robert Randolph, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Colin James, Johnny Lang, Los Lonely Boys, Mike McCready, Eric Johnson, John Petrucci, and Doyle Bramhall II have cited Vaughan as an influence.

Musical equipment

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Vaughan was closely associated with his use of Fender Stratocasters. His first was a 1963 maple neck black Fender Stratocaster. Although he used this guitar frequently, in 1973 he traded it in at Ray Hennig's Heart of Texas Music store in Austin, Texas, for another 1963 Stratocaster. According to Ray Hennig, he recalls that Stevie would come in the store and borrow items and bring them back when finished. He never did that with the beat-up Stratocaster. Vaughan then called it his "Number One", or "First Wife", and has been his most recognizable instrument. The guitar had of an alder body with a 3-tone sunburst finish and a thick maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard. He would put heavy gauge strings on this guitar, using .013-.058s, and would have the vibrato bridge flush the body with stainless steel vibrato arms. "Number One" originally had narrow frets, but Vaughan had the frets replaced with Dunlop 6100 fretwire. He also started tuning his guitars down a half-step from standard pitch, making it easier for him to accompany himself on guitar while singing. From then on, he used Stratocasters for the main part of his tone.

On his 26th birthday in 1980, Vaughan was presented a 1965 Fender Stratocaster by his wife Lenny that he spotted in a pawn shop months beforehand. The guitar featured a mahogany lacquer, covering up a 3-tone sunburst finish; a 1900's mandolin pickguard under the bridge, a thin maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard, and microphonic pickups. Not liking the thin neck, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top gave Vaughan a thicker one-piece maple neck in 1982. He strung "Lenny" with lighter strings and a "floating" bridge.

In early 1984, Vaughan had a custom Stratocaster made at Charley's Guitar Shop in Dallas, Texas, one with three lipstick pickups, a "flip-flop" trick automotive paint, a maple neck with a ebony fingerboard, single "Volume" and "Tone" controls, and a hardtail bridge. He added a hula girl decal to the back of the guitar as well.

On April 29, 1984, before playing a show in Buffalo, New York, Stevie Ray was presented a custom Hamiltone Strat-style guitar, featuring his name inlaid with pearl in the ebony fingerboard.

Other Stratocasters that Stevie had included a yellow Strat that belonged to Vince Martell of Vanilla Fudge and originally had four humbuckers, then rewired with a single neck pickup; a stock 1962 fiesta red Strat acquired in 1983, and a 1961 butter-colored Strat bought by Stevie in 1985 that later sported a black and red tiger-striped pickguard made by guitar tech, Rene Martinez.

Besides Fender Stratocasters, Vaughan owned many other guitars throughout his career, many that were hand-me-downs early on from his brother Jimmie. He started out with a 1963 Gibson Messenger. Also from Jimmie, he got a 1951 Fender Broadcaster that he named "Jimbo", but later sold it. Stevie used many Gibson models, including a 1952 Les Paul Goldtop, 1955 Les Paul TV, Gibson Barney Kessel, 1958 "dot-neck" ES-335, Gibson Johnny Smit, which was used on "Stang's Swang from Couldn't Stand the Weather; and a Flying V.

In 1981, he acquired a National Steel from Charley's Guitar Shop that was made in 1928, and can be seen on the cover of In Step. He also had a Rickenbacker Stereo Prototype that he gave to blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin in late 1984, which was later stolen from Sumlin.

Timothy Duckworth, Vaughan's personal assisstant, owned a Guild JF6512 12-string acoustic guitar, and gave it to him in 1985. Timothy recalls that, sometime after the "MTV Unplugged" performance in 1990, Stevie's hands were so strong that he accidentally cracked the neck on the guitar. It has been on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in Dallas since then.

On June 24, 2004, Vaughan's guitar "Lenny" was sold at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Auction, an effort to benefit the Crossroads Centre in Antigua. The auction was held at Christie's and the guitar's bidding ended at $623,500.

Amplifiers and effects

Stevie Ray Vaughan proved that there was still life in early '60s Stratocaster and old Fender tube amplifiers. The high volume in which he played required lots of wattage and power. In the '70s, he used two Fender Twin Reverbs: one "black face" and the other "silver face". In the early '80s, however, Stevie acquired his two 1963 blackface Fender Vibroverbs, which he got at two different times, two different places. The Vibroverbs were numbers 5 and 6 off the production line. He also used two black face Fender Super Reverbs. With the Fender Stratocaster, the Vibroverbs and the Super Reverbs were an important part in shaping his clean/overdriven sound, making Fender amps more popular in years to come.

Stevie is widely recognized for popularizing the Ibanez Tube Screamer, particularly the TS-9 model. He would also use the Tube Screamer with a Vox Wah-wah pedal, handed down from his brother Jimmie via Jimi Hendrix. A clear example of his use of the wah-wah pedal can be heard on "Say What!" from Soul to Soul. He also exploited use of Hendrix's effects in later years including the Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, Octavia, Univox Univibe, and the Leslie speaker, more specifically the Fender Vibratone.

Strings

The strings Stevie used didn't necessarily have to be a particular brand name, but he is known for using GHS Nickel Rockers. He changed gauges around often, depending on the condition of his fingers, but usually played the following:

1st (plain steel): .011", .012", .013"

2nd (plain steel): .015", .016"

3rd (plain steel): .019", .020"

4th (nickel-wound steel): .028"

5th (nickel-wound steel): .038"

6th (nickel-wound steel): .054", .056", .058", .060"

Picks

Stevie always used Fender 351 Medium Celluloid Guitar Picks, playing with the rounded edge of the pick.

Grammy Awards

• 1984 Best Traditional Blues Album for Blues Explosion (Various Artists)
• 1989 Best Contemporary Blues Album for In Step (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble)
• 1990 Best Contemporary Blues Album for Family Style (The Vaughan Brothers)
• 1990 Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "D/Fw" (The Vaughan Brothers)
• 1992 Best Contemporary Blues Album for The Sky Is Crying (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble)
• 1992 Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Little Wing" (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble)

Discography

Studio albums

• 1983 Texas Flood
• 1984 Couldn't Stand the Weather
• 1985 Soul to Soul
• 1989 In Step
• 1990 Family Style (with brother Jimmie Vaughan as The Vaughan Brothers)
• 1999 In Session (recorded with Albert King on December 3, 1983)

Live albums

• 1986 Live Alive (recorded July 15, 1985; July 17-18, 1986; July 19, 1986)
• 1992 In the Beginning (recorded April 1, 1980)
• 1997 Live at Carnegie Hall (recorded October 4, 1984)
• 2001 Live at Montreux 1982 and 1985 (recorded July 17, 1982 and July 15, 1985)
• 2006 Live In Tokyo (recorded January 24, 1985)

Compilations

• 1991 The Sky Is Crying (posthumous compilation)
• 1995 Greatest Hits
• 1999 The Real Deal: Greatest Hits Volume 2
• 2000 Blues at Sunrise
• 2000 SRV (box set, with early recordings, rarities, hits, and live material)
• 2002 The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
• 2003 Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues – Stevie Ray Vaughan
• 2006 The Real Deal: Greatest Hits Volume 1
• 2007 Solos, Sessions and Encores

Contributions

• 1983 Let's Dance (David Bowie)
• 1983 Johnny Copeland, Texas Twister
• 1984 Soulful Dress (Marcia Ball)
• 1985 Strike Like Lightning (Lonnie Mack)
• 1985 Roy Head, Living For A Song
• 1985 Bennie Wallace, Twilight Time
• 1986 Heartbeat (Don Johnson)
• 1986 Teena Marie Emerald City
• 1986 James Brown Gravity
• 1987 "First We Take Manhattan" from Famous Blue Raincoat (Jennifer Warnes)
• 1987 "Come Let Me Make Your Love Come Down" from Characters (Stevie Wonder)
• 1987 A.C. Reed, I'm In The Wrong Business
• 1988 Brian Slawson, Distant Drums
• 1988 Bill Carter, Loaded Dice
• 1990 Strike Like Lightning (Lonnie Mack)
• 1990 Bob Dylan, Under The Red Sky
• 1994 Bird Nest On The Ground, Doyle Bramhall

References

1. Bluepower.com, Retrieved February 1 2008
2. "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Rolling Stone Issue 931. Rolling Stone.
3. "Legends TV Broadcast". SRV Interviews. willmot.com. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
4. The Arsenio Hall Show interview
5. Entitled "SRV", from the album Venus Isle
6. Stevie Ray Vaughan Remembrance Ride & Concert
7. StevieRay.com - Fender
8. Future Rock Hall entry for Stevie Ray Vaughan
9. Press release on RockBand.com
10. "Strike Like Lightning".
11. The Stevie Ray Vaughan "Lenny" Stratocaster® Guitar
12. Stevie Ray's King Tone
13. Hamiltone Custom Guitar Workshop
14. The Hamiltone
15. Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Jimbo"
16. Stevie Ray's King Tone
17. Crossroads Guitar Auction
18. Awards - Tommy Shannon

See also

• SRV guitars
• Music of Austin
• Chicago Blues Festival

External links

• Template:Dmoz
• Stevie Ray Vaughan at Sony Music
• Official NTSB report about the crash in which Vaughan died.

• Stevie Ray Vaughan
• American blues guitarists
• American blues singers
• American rock guitarists
• Blues Hall of Fame inductees
• Blues-rock musicians
• Electric blues musicians
• Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents in the United States
• Musicians from Dallas, Texas
• Texas blues musicians
• People from Texas
• Musicians from Texas
• Grammy Award winners
• 1954 births
• 1990 deaths
• Lead guitarists