Stevie Ray Vaughn — RIP

Stevie Ray Vaughn passed on this date in 1990.

From Wiki:

On August 25 and August 26, 1990, Vaughan and Double Trouble finished the summer portion of the In Step Tour with shows at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, just outside of East Troy, Wisconsin. The show also featured Robert Cray & His Memphis Horns, and Eric Clapton, who played the closing set, also bringing all the musicians back onstage for an encore jam.

Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton recalls his last conversation with Vaughan backstage. He then remembers Vaughan saying he had to call his girlfriend, Janna Lapidus, in Chicago, before heading out the door to the helicopters, which had been arranged for flight (through Omni Flights) by Skip Rickert, Double Trouble’s tour manager.

The musicians had expected a long bus ride back to Chicago. However, Vaughan was informed by a member of Clapton’s crew that three seats were open on one of the helicopters returning to Chicago with Clapton’s crew, enough for Vaughan, his brother Jimmie, and Jimmie’s wife Connie. It turned out there was only one seat left; Vaughan requested it from his brother, who obliged. At 12:44 a.m. pilot Jeffrey Browne guided the helicopter off the ground. Moments after takeoff the helicopter crashed into a ski slope and all five on board were killed. Although the crash occurred only 0.6 miles from takeoff, it went unnoticed by those at the concert site.

The search for the wreckage began at 5:00 a.m., finally being located two hours later with the help of its locator beacon.^[7] The cause of the crash was believed to be pilot error.^{[8] [9]}

Chris Layton and Jimmie Vaughan did not find out about the crash until they returned to their motel in Chicago. The following morning Jimmie Vaughan was called to identify the body of his brother. The coroner’s report stated that the cause of death was exsanguination caused by severing of the aorta. The severance was caused by high deceleration during crash impact.

Stevie Ray Vaughan is interred in the Laurel Land Memorial Park, Dallas, Texas

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