In 1982 Stevie and his band Double Trouble were the first unsigned musicians to be included in the Montreux Jazz Festival.
David Bowie saw them perform at Montreux in 1982 and invited Stevie to record with him. As a result, Stevie was featured as the lead guitarist on Bowie’s 1983 album Let’s Dance. This album essentially served as the world’s introduction to Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Stevie had an 8-foot-tall bronze statue unveiled in 1993 at the Auditorium Shores in Austin, Texas.
After his death, there was a petition drive to rename Auditorium Shores into “Stevie Ray Vaughan Park” but it was his brother and mother who both thought it was too soon.
Stevie's first musical instrument was a six-string guitar toy from Sears?
He originally wanted to play the drums.
Double Trouble got its name from a song by Otis Rush.
In 1982, The Rolling Stones hired SRV and Double Trouble to perform at a private party at New York City's China Club. Mick and Ronnie jammed with the band there. It was with a view to signing them for Rolling Stones Records. Subsequently Mick Jagger turned them down, thinking that they would not sell enough records for it to be worthwhile.
The debut album Texas Flood was recorded in just 3 days in Jackson Browne’s home studio.
Stevie played using the thicker, heavier part of the pick.
Stevie's earliest musical inspiration was his older brother, Jimmie Vaughan. Stevie began playing at the young age of seven and was instantly captured by the guitar and music when he heard his brother playing. Jimmie Vaughan is an accomplished blues guitarist in his own right and continues to perform today.
Even though he and his brother dove head first into blues with artists like Albert King, Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix, and others, Stevie also was inspired by jazz music. Guitarists like Wes Montgomery, Django Reinhardt, and George Benson helped add jazz flare to his playing.
Before he became well known as a guitarist, Stevie was briefly in the background playing bass for Jimmie’s band Texas Storm. In fact, he auditioned for bass because he wanted to try out something new. Then they heard his guitar playing. The rest is history!
Stevie dropped out of high school in 1972 to concentrate on his music career. After playing in a lot of bands that couldn’t get off the ground, Stevie set his sights on Austin, Texas. The city had a booming music scene and offered him many opportunities to play the blues. Also, his brother Jimmie had already established himself there and founded the well-known blues band, The Fabulous Thunderbirds.
Stevie never learned how to read music. In fact, when he would write songs he usually didn’t know what key it was in.
John Hammond was a producer and talent scout who was considered one of the ‘most influential figures in 20th century popular music.” Even though he was retired at the time, Hammond discovered Stevies’s immense talent and brought him to Columbia records. In fact, he served as the executive producer on Vaughan’s debut album Texas Flood.
in 1984 he became the first white artist to win the “W.C. Handy Blues Foundation’s Entertainer of the Year award.”
Eric Clapton was one of the last people to see Stevie alive. The two blues virtuosos played at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre along with Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, and Jimmie Vaughan. Right after the show, Vaughan went on a helicopter back to Chicago that fatally crashed into a mountain range because the pilot couldn’t see the landscape.
In 1988 Stevie appeared in an extended 1988 New Zealand TV commercial.
For a Halloween gig at the Austin Rehearsal Complex in Austin in 1980, Stevie dressed up as Jimi Hendrix—wig, makeup and all.
He was a huge fan of Derek and the Dominos’ classic Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs album and learned to play every song note for note
Stevie plays drums on the original studio version of “Empty Arms” on 1985’s Soul to Soul.
Stevie played guitar on Don Johnson’s 1986 album, Heartbeat. He can be heard on “Love Roulette.” His solo starts around 2:51.