Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble

Stevie Ray Vaughan built the era’s premier blues outfit with his band Double Trouble, so his death in a helicopter crash early in the following decade felt especially cruel. Raised in Dallas as the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan, cofounder of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, he started performing in clubs at age twelve and quit high school at seventeen to settle in Austin. Years of dues-paying ended on April 23, 1982, when he and Double Trouble auditioned privately for the Rolling Stones in New York.

That showcase earned him a slot at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where David Bowie recruited him for guitar duties on Let’s Dance and Jackson Browne handed over free studio time. After legendary talent scout John Hammond placed him on Epic, Vaughan recorded his debut, Texas Flood, in the fall of 1982. The album’s arrival triggered seven years of gold records, Grammy awards, and further honors.

In 1987 he entered rehabilitation to address alcohol and drug problems, an experience he documented on his last studio release, In Step (1989). During his final year he co-headlined a tour with Jeff Beck and cut a duo album with his brother. Moments after jamming with Eric Clapton and Robert Cray at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI, he was killed. Epic issued the posthumous collection The Sky Is Crying in 1991, compiled by Jimmie Vaughan.