Within months, they achieved mainstream success for the critically acclaimed debut album Texas Flood. Bowie contacted him for a studio gig that resulted in Vaughan playing blues guitar on the album Let's Dance (1983), before being discovered by John Hammond who interested major label Epic Records in signing Vaughan and his band to a record deal. He performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1982, where David Bowie saw him play. Vaughan joined forces with Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums as Double Trouble in 1978 and established it as part of the Austin music scene it soon became one of the most popular acts in Texas. In 1972, he dropped out of high school and moved to Austin, where he began to gain a following after playing gigs on the local club circuit. He was the younger brother of guitarist Jimmie Vaughan.īorn and raised in Dallas, Vaughan began playing guitar at age seven, initially inspired by his elder brother, Jimmie Vaughan. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians in the history of blues music, and one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV Octo– August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.