Stevie Ray Vaughan Was Killed In A Helicopter Crash Which Could Have Killed Eric Clapton As Well On August 27, 1990, iconic blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan was performing with his band Double Trouble to open for Eric Clapton at But his playing was almost entirely derivative of other players, most notably Albert King. I remember Stevie being soft-spoken, polite in a charming southern way, somewhat shy and somewhat high his blurry, red eyes revealing his decadent lifestyle at the time. But the pilot should have easily cleared the ground fog just feet after taking off. Prior to that, he was a news anchor and reporter at KVIA-TV in El Paso, where he focused on crime and public safety reporting. It was on August 27 that the news broke. WebAnswer (1 of 3): Stevie Ray was a great player, and he did a lot to drive a rebirth of electric blues guitar in the 1980s and 1990s. But minutes afterward about half a mile after taking off, Vaughans chopper crashed into a mountainside near the Alpine Valley ski resort. Five fatalities, including a musician. Keen-eyed staffers at the Austin American-Statesman caught that item and began putting the pieces together as AP provided fresh details every half-hour: the mysterious musician soon became a member of Eric Claptons entourage, and then a guitarist. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. But I believe Jeff Brown did exactly what his skill level allowed him to do, given the circumstances. Then Id come back to the studio. He and his brother Jimmie were there to premiere their first-ever collaboration, Family Style, to a select few press members. The guitarist originally had planned to fly to Chicago on a later helicopter but decided to take the earlier flight when the seat became available. And then, like a meteor streaking across the night sky, disaster struck. Musician Stevie Ray Vaughn was born on October 3, 1954, in Dallas, Texas. Ironically, the last song Vaughan, 35, performed at Sunday nights concert was titled Sweet Home Chicago.. And instead of the shy, red-eyed insecure kid that I had encountered on the band bus outside Carnegie Hall three-and-a-half years earlier, this Stevie Ray Vaughan was focused and purposeful. Please enter valid email address to continue. My next one-to-one encounter with Stevie Ray didnt come for another few years, and it was under extraordinary circumstances. So, Buddy said it was OK for him to take my seat, and Ritchie went up to Tommy and asked for his seat.. The area was cordoned off today. He came back later and said, 'I'm really sorry, but there's only one seat.' There is debris spread about 200 feet, she said. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rejuvenated, happy, and playing better than hed ever played despite being smack in the middle of a tour spanning 3 legs and 147 shows over the course of 18 months, Stevie was unstoppable that night as he traded lick after lick with friends and idols Eric Clapton, Robert Cray and Buddy Guy while basking in the joy of success and his newfound sobriety with his brother Jimmie. One fan fondly recalled the night in 1978 when Stevie Ray went toe-to-toe on stage at Antones with Otis Rush, the great left-handed bluesman who wrote Double Trouble, the tune after which SRV named his band. The company would not comment on the crash Monday morning and said a statement would be released Monday afternoon. That night, Joe positioned the aircraft where we knew the third aircraft had been when it picked up Stevie and the others. Everything looked great until we got above the light poles. It just happened. His influence his searing guitar style, eloquent songwriting and consummate musicianship is undeniable on the new generation of blues rockers like Joe Bonamassa, Philip Sayce and John Mayer, while his classic albums such as Texas Flood and Couldnt Stand The Weather are now justifiable stalwarts of the blues canon. It was dark, but the golf course was well lit from the nearby parking lot lights positioned atop tall metal poles. I want you to focus on feeling what Im doing to the controls and what your body is telling you the aircraft is doing.. Meanwhile, Sony released a newly remastered two-CD edition of SRVs 1984 platinum-selling album Couldnt Stand The Weather, to commemorate the anniversary year, which included out-takes and a previously unreleased live concert recording from 1984. The next morning we repeated the maneuver. Suite 2100 The plan was for each aircraft to take off in turn, climb out of the valley, and head for Chicago. Authorities said the wreckage was scattered in a clearing about three-quarters of a mile southeast of the theater. In a demonstration of the power of Vaughan's music, sales of these newer records have more than matched the records that came out during Vaughan's lifetime. Stevie Ray Vaughan never saw it coming at all. It was taking its toll, and the only way we could see to deal with that was: Oh, youre too tired? More records (the live album, Live Alive and then another studio collection, Soul to Soul) and more success followed. Brings new meaning to the phrase Sunday Funday. But sales of the posthumous albums eclipsed those that came out when Vaughan was alive as if in perfect tribute to the stars brief but brilliant career. Interestingly, of the four Omniflight pilots flying that night, Brown was the only one not certified to fly a helicopter in instrument conditions, meaning that conditions had to be such that he could fly the aircraft using only what he could see out of its windows. Figure out what happened. I was walking around trying to act cool, like I had no fear at all. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Waylon Jennings, who played bass in Hollys band on the 1959 tour, recalled the earlier crash near Mason City, Iowa, by phone Monday from his home near Nashville. Fog had nothing to do with this accident. In the period after his collapse and before he died Vaughan would play some 300 shows, including The Fire meets The Fury bash with Jeff Beck. And he could play as good then as he does now. BA1 1UA. Stevie Ray Vaughan had two solos during the 'Sweet Home Chicago' jam Sunday and stood with his brother on the right side of the stage, with Clapton in the middle. Their bodies were taken to the county morgue in Elkhorn for autopsies, the coroner said. VMC meant the pilots wouldnt need to refer to their instruments to fly, and an instrument certification wasnt required. March 3 (UPI) -- A Kentucky man who stopped to buy some breakfast said he lost his appetite when he won $50,000 from a scratch-off lottery ticket. Anyone can read what you share. It all lasted just a few seconds, but the experience gave Joe an idea he wanted to test in the daylight. I mean, the whole deal is that when you walk on stage youre up there bigger than life. 'It was being driven rather than falling free.'. 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In 1975, Vaughan and a few others formed Triple Threat. For the next year, Vaughan largely stayed away from the high-powered music scene that had dominated his life over the last half decade. / CBS Texas. Deputies arrived at the crash site at 7 a.m. I passed the stage where I could drink whatever I wanted to and be able to hold my liquor, so to speak. All five occupants died instantly. There are very few people who have that much soul and that much power, who can command so much attention just by plugging in a guitar. Martha Vaughn, mother of Stevie Ray Vaughn is center. This time I met him down in Orlando, Florida, where he was to kick off his comeback tour. Stevie Ray had boarded the aircraft after a rousing all-star final/jam on Robert Johnsons Sweet Home Chicago along with Clapton, Robert Cray, Stevies brother Jimmie Vaughan and Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy, all of whom ripped it up before an ecstatic crowd of 25,000 adoring fans. Polly Robinson of the Wisconsin Civil Air Patrol said the helicopter hit the ski hill about 100 feet from the summit in a clearing east of the actual ski slope. March 3, 2023, 6:47 PM. A lot of so-called guitar heroes dont know when to step back and let the music breathe, but Stevie knew.. 'Stevie and his brother, Jimmie, and Jimmie's wife, Connie, were there (backstage after the concert),' Comer said. The interview, conducted by Tom Nolan in 1988, found Vaughan in optimistic mood. This chilling track indelibly linked SRV to Jimis legacy. I briefed the team on what we knew up to that point. The newest, nuttiest conspiracy theory has its origins in Dallas. Studios also released tribute albums, outtake tracks, and previously unrecorded material to honor the blues legends career. March 3 (UPI) -- A New Brunswick couple who initially thought a burglar had broken into their home discovered the invader was actually a panicked deer. Joe lifted the helicopter off the ground and started a climb over the parking lot. 'There is debris spread about 200 feet,' she said. I can honestly say that Im really glad to be alive today. Sprawling, fiery and full of action packed guitar solos highlighted by twinkling piano riffs, the performance marked What Eric Clapton said about Stevie Ray Vaughan after his Stevies brother, Jimmie, had flown in as a surprise for the show and joined Stevie, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and Eric in a closing jam, he said. And when Raitt said: Take it, Stevie, the magnificent Wonder voice came forth, swooping and swirling around the notes with spine-tingling, emotionally charged power, causing many in the crowd to lose control. Inspired by his older brother Jimmie, the blues legend picked up a plastic toy guitar at age 10 and taught himself how to play. He was 62. The details of the Vaughan case engrossed me for months. But I had to give up to win, because I was in a losing battle., In September 1986 he entered a clinic in London, under the care and supervision of Dr Victor Bloom. I didnt realise that the cocaine would crystallise in my stomach and make cuts inside there. 33 on the charts, and garnered the group a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Recording. You could hear it on the tapes of the stuff we had to pull from for the Live Alive album. By now every daily newspaper in the US had run some kind of front-page item about the tragic loss. By 1982, Vaughan and his band, Double Trouble, were well-known in Texas. Four Bell 260B Jet Ranger helicopters awaited the artists and their respective entourages following the show. Whether it was the dream Stevie had had the night before that foreshadowed his death as he dreamed of being a witness to his own funeral or just the energy of playing with a dream lineup of musicians that fueled his performance that night well never know but what we do know is that on the 28th anniversary of his death, weve never been more glad to hear one of the greatest musicians to walk the earth immortalized as he did the one thing he lived and breathed for! I am thankful for the impact of this mans influence on thousands of people in getting his own life together in the name of God., Several mourners wept openly as Nile Rodgers eulogised Stevie Ray by recalling a tune from the Family Style session he had produced only a few weeks earlier: In the song Tick Tock, he sings the refrain Remember. And what Stevie was trying to tell all of us was: Remember my music. Robert Johnson Sold His Soul to the Devil. The hill is in a wooded area about three-quarters of a mile southeast of the theater. They became teenage guitar prodigies, playing into the early morning hours at rough nightclubs they were too young to be in legally.