Stevie Ray Vaughan

The Texas guitarist who dragged blues back into the American mainstream. Born in Dallas in 1954 and raised on his older brother Jimmie's records, he dropped out of school, moved to Austin, and spent most of the seventies in bar bands before Double Trouble — drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon, with keyboardist Reese Wynans joining in 1985 — became the rhythm section that carried him. A 1982 Montreux appearance and a session date on David Bowie's Let's Dance put him in front of John Hammond, who took the band to Epic. Texas Flood followed in 1983 and went double platinum.

Three more studio albums came in seven years: Couldn't Stand the Weather, Soul to Soul, and after rehab and a rebuilt life, In Step in 1989, which won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Recording. He was 35 when a helicopter went down in fog outside East Troy, Wisconsin, on 27 August 1990, hours after a show with Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and Jimmie. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, with John Mayer giving the induction speech and Jimmie accepting.