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SRVBlues Biography

Stephen Ray Vaughan was born October 3, 1954, the son of Big Jim and Martha Vaughan, he had one brother Jimmie, better known as the guitarist for the Fabulous Thunderbirds, who was 3 and 1/2 years older than Stevie. When Stevie was younger he moved around alot, I believe his father was an asbestos worker, Stevie and family would move in two week intervals sometimes, from Georgia, to South Carolina, to New Mexico, and finally to Texas. Stevie never really settled in anywhere he went, he was always shy, and never had many friends. Stevies brother, Jimmie, received a guitar from a family friend when Jimmie was 12 years old and not long after that Stevie had one too, a plastic toy with only 3 strings. When Jimmie wasn't playing his guitar, he would tell Stevie not to touch it, but no sooner than Jimmie could put it down, Stevie was playing it. Jimmie was playing in a local cover band, The Chessmen, by the time he was 15 years old, and he was becoming a local teen idol. One day, the singer of The Chessmen, was visiting Jimmie at home.....and he heard this guitar playing coming from the back room. He knew it wasn't Jimmie because Jimmie had just past him. So, he went to see who it was and there was this 12 year old kid playing a Jeff Beck song, "Jeff's Boogie", if memory serves. Immediately Stevie was invited to play in the band, he was only 12 years old and playing in a rock band. Stevie eventually moved on from his brother's band and was playing in his own bands like the Blackbird. When Stevie was with the Blackbird, they played a Dallas club called the "Funky Monkey". The band would play from 10:00 at night until 6:00 in the morning, with one 20 minute break. Then Stevie would catch a couple of hours sleep before he had to get up and go to high school. He was only 15. With such a lifestyle, Stevie slept so much in class, he flunked Music Theory. Stevie's homelife was getting worse all the time. Eventually, the Dallas music scene was dying out, so Jimmie decided to try his luck in Austin, TX. Stevie stayed at home in Dallas, but was soon to follow. He dropped out of school when he was 17 years old and hit the road. When Stevie arrived in Dallas, he was still struggling as a musician, he couldn't catch a good gig. He was once with a promising band, called Crackerjack, but quit when the lead singer decided the band should wear make-up on stager.He was recruited into a band called the Cobras, popular two guitar Austin band with Stevie taking the backseat. This worked out for a while, but Stevie knew it wouldn't last. So with only one single to show for his efforts, Stevie grew frustrated and quit the Cobras. After quitting the Cobras, Stevie decided to put together his own group, Triple Threat, featuring himself, W.C. Clark, and a wild female singer, LouAnn Barton. Everything seemed to be going well. Then, W.C. Clark left the band and went his own way, and in the middle of a tour, singer LouAnn Barton quit as well. What it boiled down to was whomever wanted to stay with Stevie stayed in the band. The only one to stay was drummer Chris Layton. The new bass player was Tommy Shannon, a bass player who had played with SRV in the days of the band, Crackerjack. Stevie renamed this new band Double Trouble. This was also when SRV started using Stevie Ray Vaughan as his stage name. This new group, Double Trouble, was a stripped down 3-man group, but very effective. The group gathered up enough money to record some songs and sent the results to legendary talent scout John Hammond. Hammond then got the group a deal with Epic records. In a few days after that event, Texas Flood was finished. It was played with fire and passion and eventually sold over a half a million copies. Stevie Ray Vaughan was an overnight success. SRV and Double Trouble played the Montreaux Jazz festival in France, and were booed. But, not before SRV caught the eye of David Bowie. Bowie recruited SRV to play on Bowies, Let's Dance LP, and it is Bowie's best selling album yet. Coincidence? I think not! After having such success, Bowie tried to get SRV to join his touring group, but SRV decided to stay out own his own with Double Trouble. Next, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded Couldn't Stand the Weather. Another huge hit, it sold over a million copies. SRV and Double Trouble were nominated for 4 Grammies. But, along with all of the success, SRV was battling a very bad drug and alcohol habit. Things were about there worst right before the recording of the group's next album. Soul to Soul, the group's third album lacked the fire of the others. In the studio, noone could get inspired or write any good material...the album sill sold fairly well when it was finished, but it was nothing compared to the first two. Stevie was steadily getting worse, physically. On stage, he looked like he was worn out. During the tour for Soul to Soul, Stevie hit his worst, he couldn't go on, and the rest of the tour was cancelled. Stevie entered a rehabilitation clinic in London. After 2 months, he was clean and sober. He had a renewed zest for life. SRV went back to writing songs, and the new songs he wrote were about his road to recovery. These songs were written for the In Step album. SRV would probably consider In Step his best album. Also, another big seller. After his recovery, Stevie tried to relay a message to everyone, saying to keep away from drugs and alcohol, because it's no good, and it will kill you. If someone came up to Stevie and told him they were struggling with drugs and/or alcohol, Stevie would take them and talk to them, and try to help them. Stevie has said, and I quote: "I figured I would just keep going like I was until I was dead, and that wouldn't be long, and that was alright. Because I knew I couldn't keep going, and I knew I couldn't stop. And that's a hell of a place to be." Stevie's guitar playing was in it's top form. He was successful, he was sober, and everything was going great. Stevie played a concert in Alpine Valley Wisconsin, on August 26, 1990. He performed with Eric Clapton, his brother, Jimmie, Robert Cray, and Buddy Guy. This show was a Blues Lover's dream. As the performers gathered on stage to do a jam on Robert Johnson's "Sweet Home Chicago", the fog settled over the crowd. After the show was over, the performers left by helicopter. SRV told his brother good bye, grabbed an empty seat on the 3rd of 4 helicopters flying out of the Alpine Valley amphitheatre. In a tragic accident, the helicopter crashed into a fog shrouded hillside, killing everyone on board. Stevie Ray Vaughan died August 27, 1990. He was 35 years old and possibly the greatest blues guitarist of all time.

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