Stevie's exposure to music began in his childhood, as he watched his big brother, Jimmie, play guitar. Stevie's fascination with the blues drove him to teach himself to play the guitar before he was an adolescent. By the time Vaughan was in high school, he was staying up all night, playing guitar in clubs in Deep Ellum,qv a popular alternative nightspot in Dallas. In his sophomore year, Vaughan enrolled in an experimental arts program at Southern Methodist University for artistically gifted high school students, but the program did not motivate him to stay in school, and he dropped out before graduation in order to play music full time.
In 1971, at the age of seventeen, Stevie moved to Austin, in an attempt to become involved in the music scene. Over the next few years he slept on pool tables and couches in the back of clubs and collected bottles to earn money for new guitar strings. He played in various local bands such as Cobra and Nightcrawlers but recognition outside of the Austin circuit eluded him. Finally in the late 1970s, Vaughan formed Triple Threat with Lou Ann Barton, Chris Layton, and Jackie Newhouse. This group evolved into Double Trouble, with Tommy Shannon and Reese Wynans replacing Newhouse and Barton.
By the early 1980s the group had built a solid following in Texas and was beginning to attract the attention of well-established musicians like Mick Jagger, who in 1982 invited Vaughan and the band to play at a private party in New York City. That same year Double Trouble received an invitation to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. They were the first band in the history of the festival to play without having a major record contract. The performance was seen by David Bowie and Jackson Brown, and Stevie gained even more acclaim as a talented and rising young musician. Jackson Brown invited Vaughan to his Los Angeles studio for a demo session at which Stevie recorded his 1983 debut album, Texas Flood.
Vaughan's subsequent albums met with increased popularity and critical attention. Double Trouble followed Texas Flood with Couldn't Stand the Weather (1984), Live Alive (1985), and Soul to Soul (1986). All of the albums went gold and captured various Grammy nominations in either the Blues or Rock categories. Throughout the 1980s Vaughan and his band also became consistent nominees and winners of the Austin Chronicle's Music Awards and Guitar Player Magazine Reader's Polls. In 1984, at the National Blues Foundation Awards, Vaughan became the first white man to win Entertainer of the Year and Blues Instrumentalist of the Year. At the Grammy's that year he shared in the Best Traditional Blues honors for his work on Blues Explosion, a compilation album of various artists.
Vaughan's fame immediately soared. The band signed a record contract with CBS/Epic records and came to the attention of veteran blues and rock producer, John Hammond, Sr. Texas Flood received the North American Rock Radio Awards nomination for Favorite Debut Album, and Guitar Player Magazine Reader's Poll voted him Best New Talent and Best Electric Blues Guitarist for 1983. A track off the album also received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental performance
Although he rapidly gained prestige and success in the music world, Stevie also lived the stereotypical life of a rock and roll star, full of alcohol and drug abuse. On his 1986 European tour he collapsed and eventually checked into a rehabilitation center in Georgia. He left the hospital sober and committed to the Twelve Step Program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Following his recovery, he released his fifth album, In Step, in 1989. It won him a second Grammy; this time for Best Contemporary Blues Recording. In 1990 Vaughan collaborated with Jimmie Vaughan, his brother and founding member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, on Family Style, which was released after his death. This last album would bring his career total of Grammys to four.
After his death Epic records went on to release two more albums of his work, The Sky is Crying (1991) and In the Beginning (1992).
Stevie Ray Vaughan died on August 27, 1990, in a helicopter crash on the way to Chicago from a concert in Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin. The location of the concert was difficult to reach, so many performers stayed in Chicago and flew in before the show. Dense fog contributed to the pilot flying the helicopter into the side of a man-made ski mountain. All on board were killed instantly. Over 1,500 people, including industry giants such as Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, and Stevie Wonder, attended his memorial service in Dallas. He is buried at Laurel Land Memorial Park in South Dallas. The city of Austin erected a memorial statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan on November 21, 1993. It is located on Town Lake, near the site of his last Austin concert.
Caught up in a whirlwind can't catch my breath, knee deep in hot water broke out in a cold sweat Can't catch a turtle in this rat race, feels like I'm losin' time at a breakneck paceAfraid of my own shadow in the face of grace, heart full of darkness spotlight on my face There was love all around me but I was lookin' for revenge, thank God it never found me would have been the endI was walkin' the tightrope steppin' on my friends Walkin' the tightrope it was a shame and a sin Walkin' the tightrope between wrong and right Walkin' the tightrope both day and nightLookin' back in front of me in the mirror's a grin, through eyes of love I see I'm really lookin' at a friend We've all had our problems that's the way life is, my heart goes out to others who are there to make amendsWe've been walkin' the tightrope tryin' to make it right Walkin' the tightrope every day and every night Walkin' the tightrope bring it all around Walkin' the tightrope from the lost to foundWalkin' the tightrope stretched around the world Walkin' the tightrope save the boys and girls Walkin' the tightrope let's make it right Walkin' the tightrope do it do it tonight