V
Jimmie
Vaughan
b: Mar. 20, 1951,
Dallas, TX
As a founding member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jimmie Vaughan was one
of the leading Austin, TX. guitarists of the late 70's and 80's, responsible for
opening the national market up for gritty roadhouse blues and R&B.
Influenced by guitarists like Freddie King, B.B. King, and Albert King, Vaughan
developed a tough, lean sound that became one of the most recognizable sounds
of 70's and 80's blues and blues-rock. For most of his career, Vaughan
co-led the Fabulous Thunderbirds with vocalist Kim Wilson. It wasn't until 1994
that he launched a full-fledged solo career.
Born
and raised in Dallas, Jimmie began playing guitar as a child. Initially, Vaughan
was influenced by both blues and rock "n" roll. While he was in his teens, he
played in a number of garage rock bands, none of which attained any success. At
the age of 19, he left Dallas and moved to Austin. For his first few years in
Austin, Vaughan played in a variety of blues bar bands. In 1972, he formed his
own group, the Storm, which supported many blues
musicians.
In 1974, Vaughan met a vocalist and
harmonica played named Kim Wilson. Within a year, the two had formed the
Fabulous Thunderbirds along with bassist Keith Furguson and drummer Mike Buck.
For four years, the T-Birds played local Texas clubs, gaining a strong fan base.
By the end of the decade, the group had signed a major label contract with
Chrysalis Records and seemed bound for national stardom. However, none of their
albums became hits and they were dropped by Chrysalis at the end of
1982.
At the same time the T-Birds were left without
a recording contract, Jimmie's younger brother Stevie Ray Vaughan, came storming
upon the national scene with his debut album, Texas Flood. For the next
few years, Stevie Ray Vaughan dominated not only the Texas blues scene, but the
entire American scene, while Jimmie and the Thunderbirds were struggling to
survive. The T-Birds finally received a new major label contract with
Epic/Associated and their first album for the label, Tuff Enough was a
surprise hit, selling over a million copies and spawning the Top Ten hit title
track.
The Fabulous Thunderbirds spent the rest of
the 80's trying to replicate the success of Tuff Enough, often pursuing
slicker, more commercially-oriented directions. By 1989, Jimmie Vaughan was
frustrated by the group's musical direction and he left the band. Before
launching a solo career, he recorded a duet album with his brother, Stevie Ray,
Family Style. Following the completion of the record, Stevie Ray Vaughan
died in a tragic helicopter crash in August of 1990. Family Style
appeared just a few months later, in the fall of
1990.
After Stevie Ray's death, Jimmie took a couple
of years off, in order to grieve and recoup. After a couple of years, he began
playing the occasional concert. In 1994, he returned with his first solo album,
Strange Pleasures with a national tour. Out There followed in
1998. Jimmie Vaughan continues to make great music today and his fan base is as
large as ever.
Stevie Ray
Vaughan
b: Oct. 3, 1954,
Dallas, TX
d: Aug. 27, 1990, East Troy, WI
With his astonishingly accomplished
guitar playing, Stevie Ray Vaughan ignited the blues revival of the 80's.
Vaughan drew equally from bluemen like Albert King, Otis Rush, and Muddy Waters,
and rock 'n' roll players like Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack, as well as the
stray jazz guitarist like Kenny Burrell, developing a uniquely eclectic and
fiery style that sounded like no other guitarist regardless of genre. Vaughan
bridged the gap between blues and rock like no other guitarist had since the
late 60's. For the next seven years, Stevie Ray was the leading light in
American blues, consistently selling out concerts while his albums regularly
went gold. His tragic death in 1990 only emphasized his influences in blues and
American rock 'n' roll.
Born and raised in Dallas,
Stevie began playing guitar a child, inspired by his older brother Jimmie. When
he was in jr. high school, he began playing in a number of garage bands, which
sometimes landed gigs in local nightclubs. By the time he was 17, he had dropped
out of high school to concentrate on his music. Vaughan honed his guitar style,
playing with Blackbird, Nightcrawler and even in Doug Sahm's band for a while in
1974. Stevie joined Cobra and played with Denny Freeman and Paul Ray for
about 2.5 years before leaving the band. Stevie formed Triple Threat
in 1975. Triple Threat also featured W.C.Clark on bass, Lou
Ann Barton, Mike Kindred on keys and Freddie Pharoah on drums. The Triple Threat Review only lasted for a short time
together. When Barton left the band in 1979, the group decided to continue
performing under the name Double Trouble, which was inspired by the Otis Rush
song of the same name; Stevie had become the bands lead singer and was later
joined with bassist Tommy Shannon and Drummer Chris
Layton.
For the next few years, Stevie Ray Vaughan
and Double Trouble played the Austin area, becoming one of the most popular
bands in Texas. They also played the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1979,
followed by other dates in California and made three east coast trips in 1980
and another in 1981. In 1982, the band played the Montreux Festival and
their performance caught the attention of David Bowie and Jackson Browne. After
Double Trouble's performance, Bowie asked Vaughan to play on his forthcoming
album, while Browne offered the group free recording time at his Los Angeles
studio, Downtown, both offers were accepted. Stevie laid down the lead guitar
tracks for what became Bowie's Let's Dance album in late 1982. Shortly
afterwards, John Hammond Sr. landed Vaughan and Double Trouble a record contract
with Epic and the band recorded their debut album in less than a week at
Downtown.
Vaughan's debut album, Texas Flood,
was released in the summer of 1983, a few months after Bowie's Last
Dance appeared. On it's own, Lets Dance earned Stevie quite a lot of
attention, but Texas Flood was a blockbuster blues success, receiving
positive reviews in both blues and rock publications, reaching number 38 on the
charts, and crossing over to album rock radio stations. Bowie offered Vaughan
the lead guitarist role for his 1983 stadium tour, but Stevie Ray turned him
down, preferring to play with Double Trouble. Stevie Ray and Double Trouble set
off on a successful tour and quickly recorded their second album, Couldn't
Stand The Weather, which was released in May of 1984. The album was more
successful than it's predecessor, reaching number 31 on the charts, by the end
of 1985, the album went gold. Double Trouble added keyboardist Reese Wynans in
1985, before they recorded their third album, Soul to Soul. The record
was released in August, 1985, and was also quite successful, reaching number 34
on the charts.
Although his professional was
soaring, Vaughan was sinking deep into alcoholism and drug addiction.
Despite his declining health, Stevie Ray continued to push himself, releasing
the double live album Live Alive in October of 1986 and launching an
extensive American tour in early 1987. Following the tour, Vaughan checked
into a rehabilitation clinic. The guitarist time in rehab was kept fairly
quiet and for the next year, Stevie Ray and Double Trouble were fairly
inactive. Vaughan performed a number of concerts in 1988, including a
headlining gig at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and co- wrote his
fourth album along with Doyle Bramhall. The resulting record, In
Step, appeared in June 1989 and became his most successful album, peaking at
number 33 on the charts, earning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Recording,
and going gold just over six months after it's
release.
In the spring of 1990, Stevie
Ray recorded an album with his brother Jimmie, which was scheduled for release
in the fall of the year. In the late summer of 1990 Vaughan and Double
Trouble set out on a headlining tour with Joe Cocker. On August 26,
1990, while playing in East Troy, WI, the nights concert concluded when
guitarist Eric Clapton bought Buddy Guy, Jimmie and Stevie Vaughan, and
Robert Cray back out on stage for their final encore jam. After the
concert, Stevie Ray boarded a helicopter bound for Chicago. Moments after
it's 12:30 AM takeoff, the helicopter crashed, killing Vaughan and the other
four passengers. Vaughan was only 35 years
old.
Family Style, Stevie Ray's debut
album with Jimmie Vaughan, appeared in September and entered the charts at
number 7. Family Style began a series of posthumous releases that
were as popular as the albums Stevie Ray released during his lifetime.
The Sky is Crying, a collection of studio outtakes compiled by Jimmie
Vaughan, was released in October, 1991. It entered the charts at number 10
and went platinum 3 months after its release. In the Beginning, a
recording of a Double Trouble concert in 1980, was released in the fall of 1992,
and the compilation Greatest Hits was released in 1995.
Eddie "Cleanhead"
Vinson
b: Dec. 18, 1917,
Houston, TX
d: July 2, 1988, Los Angeles, CA
An advance stylist on alto
saxophone who vacillated throughout his career between jump blues and jazz,
bald-pated Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (he lost his hair early on after a botched
bout with a lye-based hair straightener) also possessed a playfully distinctive
vocal delivery that stood him in good stead with blues
fans.
Vinson first picked up a
horn while attending high school in Houston. During the late 30's, he was
a member of an incredible horn section in Milton Larkin's orchestra, sitting
next to Arnett Cobb and Illinois Jacquet. After exiting Larkin's employ in
1941, Vinson picked up a few vocal tricks while on tour with bluesman Big Bill
Broonzy. Vinson joined the Cootie Williams orchestra from 1942-1945.
His vocals on trumpeter Williams renditions of "Cherry Red" and "Somebody's Got
to Go" were in large part responsible for their wartime hit
status.
Vinson struck out on his own in 1945,
forming his own large band, signing with Mercury, and enjoying a double sided
smash in 1947 with his romping R&B chart topper "Old Maid Boogie", and the
song that would prove his signature number, "Kidney Stew Blues" (both songs
featured Vinson's instantly identifiable vocals). A 1949-52 stint at King
Records produced only one hit, the amusing sequel "Somebody Done Stole My Cherry
Red", along with the classic blues "Person to Person" (later revived by another
King artist, Little Willie John).
Vinson's jazz leanings were probably heightened during 1952-53, when his band
included a young John Coltrane. Somewhere along about here, Vinson wrote
two Miles Davis classics, "Tune Up" and "Four". Vinson steadfastly kept
one foot in the blues camp and the other in jazz, waxing jumping R&B for
Mercury in 1954, and Bethlehem in 1957, jazz for Riverside in 1961 and blues for
Blues Time and ABC-Bluesway. A 1969 set for Black and Blue, cut in France
with pianist J. McShann and tenor saxophonist Hal Singer, beautifully recounted
Vinson's blues shouting heyday. A much later set for Muse teamed him with
the sympathetic little big band approach of Rhode Island based Roomful of
Blues. Vinson toured the states and Europe frequently prior to his 1988
death.