LickLibrary Birthday Tribute: Stevie Ray Vaughan
Mon, 03 Oct 2011
This week LickLibrary is paying tribute to one of legends of the 
Blues, Stevie Ray Vaughan who would have been celebrating his 57th birthday this month. For twenty years before his untimely death in 1990, he passed away sadly at the young age of 35, Stevie had worked alongside numerous famous faces, as well finding success with his own band Double Trouble.
Born in Dallas, Texas in 1954 Stevie first picked up the guitar aged 7, which was a toy guitar with three strings and finally graduated to a 'proper' electric guitar two years later. In 1967 he started gigging with 'The Chantones' who made their live debut in Dallas and made steady progress to a point in 1970 when he decided to focus on playing music for a living, forming his own band 'Blackbird'.
In 1971 Vaughan first entered the studio, sitting in with a high school band and the album he appeared on showcased his ever growing talents on the guitar. A couple of years passed by with Stevie trying to establish himself in and around Texas, and during these travels he came across a battered 1963 Fender Strat, which became to be known as his 'Number One' guitar.
By the end of the 1970s and having worked with a number of bands and musicians the first generation of his band 'Double Trouble' was born. In 198 they performed at a music festival in Manor, Texas and a video of the gig was given to Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who subsequently invited the band to play at a Stones private party in New York.
With his reputation ever growing, Stevie was approached to play lead guitar on David Bowie's album 'Let's Dance' which to date is still Bowie's most commercially successful album. Bowie had also wanted Vaughan to tour with him, but he declined to do so as he felt he wasn't a 'pop' artist 
and instead wanted to focus on Double Trouble.
Stevie released his first studio album 'Texas Flood' in 1983 to critical acclaim, and subsequently both artist and album were voted 'Best New Talent', 'Best Electric Blues Guitar Player' and 'Best Guitar Album' by readers of Guitar Player magazine. Hot on the heels was his follow up album 'Couldn't Stand The Weather' in 1984 a year which also see Stevie win 'Entertainer of the Year' and 'Instrumentalist of the Year' at the National Blues Awards in Memphis, Tennessee.
Despite a much publicised drug and alcohol addiction, Stevie continued to release a further two albums 'Soul to Soul' and 'Live Alive' before being hospitalised in London during a European Tour. At this point Stevie decided to focus on staying clean and sober and in 1988 Vaughan appeared with Stevie Wonder on an MTV special called 'Characters'. Double Trouble continued their success, releasing a 5th studio album 'In Step' which went on to win a Grammy for 'Best Contemporary Blues Recording'
In 1990 Stevie recorded the album 'Family Style' with his elder brother Jimmy and in the summer toured with Double Trouble firstly alongside Joe Cocker and finally with Eric Clapton in the US, where Stevie's life was tragically cut short from a helicopter crash when travelling between venues in dense fog.
The man may have been gone for nearly 20 years now but his legacy in the world of Blues continues to burn as brightly as ever, with his influence on new generations of Blues guitarists all around the world today as distinctive as his own playing style.
Check out some footage we found of Stevie Ray Vaughan playing live below.
Celebrate the great SRV today by grabbing your guitar and playing your heart out.
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Learn to play like Stevie Ray Vaughan...
Quick Licks: Slow Blues in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan >>
Stevie Ray Vaughan Guitar Techniques >>
Learn to Play Stevie Ray Vaughan Volume 1 >> Volume 2 >>
Jam with: Stevie Ray Vaughan >>