STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
"IT'S BETTER TO BURN OUT THAN TO FADE AWAY".....
"Metallica" Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton, 1984
Cliff Burton, "Metallica" bassist 1983-1986, made the trip up the "Stairway To Heaven" September 27, 1986 on an ice covered road in Toflaholm, Sweden. Metallica was on their first European tour. Cliff left behind the legacy of three albums with Metallica, "Kill Em All", "Ride The Lightning", and "Master Of Puppets". The video "Cliff' Em All", features fan recordings of various concerts and shows. Cliff's style and bass riffs are still some of the best today. May you rest in peace on that "Great Stage" in Rock-N-Roll heaven.
Randy Rhoads "Ozzy Osbourne"
Randy Rhoads played a major part in the bizarre creative impulses of the Ozzy Osbourne rock group. The widely-acclaimed British guitarist, who died in a fiery plane crash March 10, 1982, was called a "musician's musician" by Record Magazine. Rhoads, 25, who lived in Burbank, Calif., joined the Osbourne group without even auditioning. Group leader Osbourne is quoted as saying, "He was only tuning up his guitar when I said, You've got the gig. Phenomenal!" Osbourne said, "I have a feeling about people. You could be the greatest player in the world, but if you haven't got the feeling that I want to get, I don't go for it. Randy (had) presence." Ironically one of Rhoads' and Osbourne's last songs was, "Flying high Again".
"Got a crazy feeling I don't understand - Gotta get away from here -Feeling like I shoulda kept my feet on the ground - Waiting for the sun to appear."
Kurt Cobain "Nirvana"
Kurt Cobain, vocalist and guitarist for grunge rock band, "NIRVANA" rode up the charts with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and was instrumental in introducing the world to a new style of music, which has influenced countless others worldwide. Kurt left behind many hardcore and devoted fans, when he ended his life at his home, April 5, 1994 with a shotgun blast to the head in an apparent suicide. He was 27. Kurt is survived by his wife Courtney Love of punk band "HOLE", and a daughter, Frances.
Jim Morrison "The Doors"
"There are things known and things unknown and in between are "The Doors." Jim Morrison and "The Doors" burst onto the music scene with "Light My Fire", the summer of 1967. That song would later be referred to as the "Anthem of a Generation". A heavy user of LSD and an alcoholic, who would drink anything at any time of the day, was hell bent on killing himself young. Jim along with his "wife" Pamela Courson were living in Paris, France, when Jim died of heart failure while taking a hot bath during the early morning hours of July 3, 1971. He was 27; a poet, a man, the "Lizard King", a legendary outlaw who rocked America's consciousness - forever. (Pamela joined Jim in 1974, three years later)
Jimi Hendrix "The Jimi Hendrix Experience"
Widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive popularity of the electric guitar. Hendrix's innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form. Entirely self-taught, Jimmy's inability to read music made him concentrate even harder on the music he could hear.
Because he was unable to read or write music, it's nothing short of remarkable that Jimi Hendrix's meteoric rise in the music world took place in just four short years. His unique musical language continues to influence a whole host of modern musicians, from George Clinton to Miles Davis, and Steve Vai to Jonny Lang. The summer of 1969 brought emotional and musical growth to Jimi Hendrix. The Woodstock performance was highlighted by the renegade version of "Star Spangled Banner," which brought the thousands of mud-soaked audience members to a frenzy. In 1970, Jimi brought drummer Mitch Mitchell to the group and together with Billy Cox on bass, this new trio once again formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the studio, the group recorded several tracks for a two LP set, tentatively titled First Rays Of The New Rising Sun. Unfortunately, Hendrix was unable to see this new musical vision through to completion due to his frantic worldwide touring schedules and tragic death. On September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix, the most influential guitarist that ever lived, suffocated in his own vomit after an overdose of barbiturates. He was 27. Fortunately, the recordings Hendrix slated for release on the album were finally issued through the support of his family and original studio engineer Eddie Kramer on the 1997 release First Rays Of The New Rising Sun.
John Bonham "Led Zeppelin"
The style of John Bonham's drumming instantly conjurs up visions of the thunderous power he created. His contributions to rock music were revolutionary, and his talent unmatched and irreplaceable. You can only imagine Jimmy Page's reaction to first seeing him in 1968, ending his search for a new drummer to form a new band, the New Yardbirds (later renamed Led Zeppelin). As John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have all stated many times, Led Zeppelin wouldn't have been half as good without him. Live performances truly showcased his abilities during the numerous improvised jams throughout every concert and of course his famous "Moby Dick" drum solo; reaching a half-hour in length at times! His legendary right foot (on his bass pedal) and lightning-fast triplets were his instant trademark. He later refined his style from the hard skin-bashing approach to a more delicate wrist controlled one, which produced an even more powerful & louder sound with less effort.
His tragic passing on September 25th, 1980 immortalized his legacy forever. John Bonham died of asphyxiation after a day of heavy drinking. He was thirty-two. His only son, Jason proudly continues the tradition. Daughter Zoe also has a strong interest in music and is experimenting with her own original material.
Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines & Allen Collins "Lynyrd Skynyrd"
Lynyrd Skynyrd was discovered playing in an Atlanta club by Blood Sweat And Tears founder Al Kooper in 1972. Kooper signed them to his new Sounds of the South record label and released Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, which included the classic "Freebird," probably the second most requested song in rock history.("Stairway to Heaven" is the first)The band, which drew heavily from the hard English bluesrock sound, had the good fortune to have a fan in the Who's Pete Townshend, who requested that Skynyrd open for the 1973 Quadrophenia tour. As a result the band developed a strong fan base early in their career. "Sweet Home Alabama" from Second Helping was the band's biggest single. Other singles included "Saturday Night Special," "What's your Name," and "You Got That Right". Tragically the band's career was cut short when their plane crashed At 6:42 PM October 20, 1977. Steve Gaines, his sister Cassie Gaines (one of three female backup singers), Ronnie Van Zant, and their personal manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed when their rented single-engine Convair 240 plane, short of fuel, crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, MS enroute to play at a Louisiana University on a 50 city tour. Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkinson were all seriously injured but eventually recovered. One week earlier, the band had released its fourth album, Street Survivors, which pictured the band surrounded by flames. Five hundred thousand copies had already been sold when the crash occurred. The remaining copies were pulled and a new cover was designed. Ronny van Zant was buried in Jacksonville. "Freebird", the song he wrote as a tribute to Duane Allman, was played in dedication to him.
Surviving guitar player Allen Collins lost his wife in 1980 and in 1986 his girlfriend. Allen who formed the short-lived "Rossington-Collins Band" with other Lynyrd Skynyrd survivors, became wheelchair-bound from a car accident, and died of pneumonia on January 23, 1990 at the age of 37.
Janis Joplin
On October 4, 1970, four years and four months after she bolted from Austin, TX, Janis Joplin overdosed in her room at the Landmark Hotel in Los Angeles, having scored a particularly pure batch of heroin. She was 27. Her career had been virtually meteoric, but her ascent as the first goddess of rock was doused by her sad, lonely death, which followed that of Jimi Hendrix, who'd died two weeks earlier. Janis was cremated and her ashes were scattered along the Marin County coastline off California. The album she was recording at the time, Pearl, was released after her death. Although Janis Joplin's career lasted only a few years, she has been hailed as the greatest white female blues singer who ever lived.
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the leading blues and rock guitarists of his generation came from obscurity to enjoy a meteoric success in the early 1980s. He was a technical virtuoso who played with lightning speed and was a master of the explosive sound effects that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially a blues traditionalist, he played solos in a style that was characterized by one critic as "a smooth, long-lined summation of Texas blues, ornately filigreed phrase after phrase." Stevie Ray Vaughan who was born in Dallas, was the youngest brother of Jimmy Vaughan, of the successful rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was through listening to his older brother's collection of guitar records by B. B. King, Lonnie Mack, Albert Collins and others, that Stevie Ray began picking up the instrument. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to move to Austin, Texas where he formed a blues group, the Cobras, in 1975. Two years later he put together a revue, Triple Threat, which remained together until 1981, when he decided to form a harder-driving rock oriented band. The new group, Double Trouble, which included Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, was a powerful trio in the mold of ZZ Top. The unknown group, thanks to word of mouth, soon performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The concert attacked the attention of David Bowie who later asked Stevie Ray to play lead guitar on Bowie's next album, "let's Dance." After playing as a sideman with the Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne, he finally recorded his first solo album in 1983 called "Texas Flood." The record and Stevie Ray Vaughan were a success, the album sold 500,000 copies and won two Grammy nominations. The following year the band won it's first Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording in 1984 for "Blues Explosion." By 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a sought after master of the blues guitar - but the years of hard work were only starting to pay off with world-wide audiences when he was killed with four others in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin on August 27, 1990. Stevie Ray Vaughan was only 35 years old. As he once said in a radio interview, "I was taught to think the next week or month or year will only get better than it is today. So I just keep waiting to see how great it will get!" He left us a body of great work indeed, but at only 35, we can only imagine just what Stevie Ray could have given to the world of music if he had only lived a while longer.
Playing: "Stairway To Heaven" By: Led Zeppelin
Thanks to Jake Haegele, Wisconsin, for his valuable assistance in constructing this page.
"IT'S BETTER TO BURN OUT THAN TO FADE AWAY".....
"Metallica" Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton, 1984
Cliff Burton, "Metallica" bassist 1983-1986, made the trip up the "Stairway To Heaven" September 27, 1986 on an ice covered road in Toflaholm, Sweden. Metallica was on their first European tour. Cliff left behind the legacy of three albums with Metallica, "Kill Em All", "Ride The Lightning", and "Master Of Puppets". The video "Cliff' Em All", features fan recordings of various concerts and shows. Cliff's style and bass riffs are still some of the best today. May you rest in peace on that "Great Stage" in Rock-N-Roll heaven.
Randy Rhoads "Ozzy Osbourne"
Randy Rhoads played a major part in the bizarre creative impulses of the Ozzy Osbourne rock group. The widely-acclaimed British guitarist, who died in a fiery plane crash March 10, 1982, was called a "musician's musician" by Record Magazine. Rhoads, 25, who lived in Burbank, Calif., joined the Osbourne group without even auditioning. Group leader Osbourne is quoted as saying, "He was only tuning up his guitar when I said, You've got the gig. Phenomenal!" Osbourne said, "I have a feeling about people. You could be the greatest player in the world, but if you haven't got the feeling that I want to get, I don't go for it. Randy (had) presence." Ironically one of Rhoads' and Osbourne's last songs was, "Flying high Again".
"Got a crazy feeling I don't understand - Gotta get away from here -Feeling like I shoulda kept my feet on the ground - Waiting for the sun to appear."
Kurt Cobain "Nirvana"
Kurt Cobain, vocalist and guitarist for grunge rock band, "NIRVANA" rode up the charts with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and was instrumental in introducing the world to a new style of music, which has influenced countless others worldwide. Kurt left behind many hardcore and devoted fans, when he ended his life at his home, April 5, 1994 with a shotgun blast to the head in an apparent suicide. He was 27. Kurt is survived by his wife Courtney Love of punk band "HOLE", and a daughter, Frances.
Jim Morrison "The Doors"
"There are things known and things unknown and in between are "The Doors." Jim Morrison and "The Doors" burst onto the music scene with "Light My Fire", the summer of 1967. That song would later be referred to as the "Anthem of a Generation". A heavy user of LSD and an alcoholic, who would drink anything at any time of the day, was hell bent on killing himself young. Jim along with his "wife" Pamela Courson were living in Paris, France, when Jim died of heart failure while taking a hot bath during the early morning hours of July 3, 1971. He was 27; a poet, a man, the "Lizard King", a legendary outlaw who rocked America's consciousness - forever. (Pamela joined Jim in 1974, three years later)
Jimi Hendrix "The Jimi Hendrix Experience"
Widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive popularity of the electric guitar. Hendrix's innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form. Entirely self-taught, Jimmy's inability to read music made him concentrate even harder on the music he could hear.
Because he was unable to read or write music, it's nothing short of remarkable that Jimi Hendrix's meteoric rise in the music world took place in just four short years. His unique musical language continues to influence a whole host of modern musicians, from George Clinton to Miles Davis, and Steve Vai to Jonny Lang. The summer of 1969 brought emotional and musical growth to Jimi Hendrix. The Woodstock performance was highlighted by the renegade version of "Star Spangled Banner," which brought the thousands of mud-soaked audience members to a frenzy. In 1970, Jimi brought drummer Mitch Mitchell to the group and together with Billy Cox on bass, this new trio once again formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the studio, the group recorded several tracks for a two LP set, tentatively titled First Rays Of The New Rising Sun. Unfortunately, Hendrix was unable to see this new musical vision through to completion due to his frantic worldwide touring schedules and tragic death. On September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix, the most influential guitarist that ever lived, suffocated in his own vomit after an overdose of barbiturates. He was 27. Fortunately, the recordings Hendrix slated for release on the album were finally issued through the support of his family and original studio engineer Eddie Kramer on the 1997 release First Rays Of The New Rising Sun.
John Bonham "Led Zeppelin"
The style of John Bonham's drumming instantly conjurs up visions of the thunderous power he created. His contributions to rock music were revolutionary, and his talent unmatched and irreplaceable. You can only imagine Jimmy Page's reaction to first seeing him in 1968, ending his search for a new drummer to form a new band, the New Yardbirds (later renamed Led Zeppelin). As John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have all stated many times, Led Zeppelin wouldn't have been half as good without him. Live performances truly showcased his abilities during the numerous improvised jams throughout every concert and of course his famous "Moby Dick" drum solo; reaching a half-hour in length at times! His legendary right foot (on his bass pedal) and lightning-fast triplets were his instant trademark. He later refined his style from the hard skin-bashing approach to a more delicate wrist controlled one, which produced an even more powerful & louder sound with less effort.
His tragic passing on September 25th, 1980 immortalized his legacy forever. John Bonham died of asphyxiation after a day of heavy drinking. He was thirty-two. His only son, Jason proudly continues the tradition. Daughter Zoe also has a strong interest in music and is experimenting with her own original material.
Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines & Allen Collins "Lynyrd Skynyrd"
Lynyrd Skynyrd was discovered playing in an Atlanta club by Blood Sweat And Tears founder Al Kooper in 1972. Kooper signed them to his new Sounds of the South record label and released Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, which included the classic "Freebird," probably the second most requested song in rock history.("Stairway to Heaven" is the first)The band, which drew heavily from the hard English bluesrock sound, had the good fortune to have a fan in the Who's Pete Townshend, who requested that Skynyrd open for the 1973 Quadrophenia tour. As a result the band developed a strong fan base early in their career. "Sweet Home Alabama" from Second Helping was the band's biggest single. Other singles included "Saturday Night Special," "What's your Name," and "You Got That Right". Tragically the band's career was cut short when their plane crashed At 6:42 PM October 20, 1977. Steve Gaines, his sister Cassie Gaines (one of three female backup singers), Ronnie Van Zant, and their personal manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed when their rented single-engine Convair 240 plane, short of fuel, crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, MS enroute to play at a Louisiana University on a 50 city tour. Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkinson were all seriously injured but eventually recovered. One week earlier, the band had released its fourth album, Street Survivors, which pictured the band surrounded by flames. Five hundred thousand copies had already been sold when the crash occurred. The remaining copies were pulled and a new cover was designed. Ronny van Zant was buried in Jacksonville. "Freebird", the song he wrote as a tribute to Duane Allman, was played in dedication to him.
Surviving guitar player Allen Collins lost his wife in 1980 and in 1986 his girlfriend. Allen who formed the short-lived "Rossington-Collins Band" with other Lynyrd Skynyrd survivors, became wheelchair-bound from a car accident, and died of pneumonia on January 23, 1990 at the age of 37.
Janis Joplin
On October 4, 1970, four years and four months after she bolted from Austin, TX, Janis Joplin overdosed in her room at the Landmark Hotel in Los Angeles, having scored a particularly pure batch of heroin. She was 27. Her career had been virtually meteoric, but her ascent as the first goddess of rock was doused by her sad, lonely death, which followed that of Jimi Hendrix, who'd died two weeks earlier. Janis was cremated and her ashes were scattered along the Marin County coastline off California. The album she was recording at the time, Pearl, was released after her death. Although Janis Joplin's career lasted only a few years, she has been hailed as the greatest white female blues singer who ever lived.
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the leading blues and rock guitarists of his generation came from obscurity to enjoy a meteoric success in the early 1980s. He was a technical virtuoso who played with lightning speed and was a master of the explosive sound effects that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially a blues traditionalist, he played solos in a style that was characterized by one critic as "a smooth, long-lined summation of Texas blues, ornately filigreed phrase after phrase." Stevie Ray Vaughan who was born in Dallas, was the youngest brother of Jimmy Vaughan, of the successful rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was through listening to his older brother's collection of guitar records by B. B. King, Lonnie Mack, Albert Collins and others, that Stevie Ray began picking up the instrument. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to move to Austin, Texas where he formed a blues group, the Cobras, in 1975. Two years later he put together a revue, Triple Threat, which remained together until 1981, when he decided to form a harder-driving rock oriented band. The new group, Double Trouble, which included Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, was a powerful trio in the mold of ZZ Top. The unknown group, thanks to word of mouth, soon performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The concert attacked the attention of David Bowie who later asked Stevie Ray to play lead guitar on Bowie's next album, "let's Dance." After playing as a sideman with the Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne, he finally recorded his first solo album in 1983 called "Texas Flood." The record and Stevie Ray Vaughan were a success, the album sold 500,000 copies and won two Grammy nominations. The following year the band won it's first Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording in 1984 for "Blues Explosion." By 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a sought after master of the blues guitar - but the years of hard work were only starting to pay off with world-wide audiences when he was killed with four others in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin on August 27, 1990. Stevie Ray Vaughan was only 35 years old. As he once said in a radio interview, "I was taught to think the next week or month or year will only get better than it is today. So I just keep waiting to see how great it will get!" He left us a body of great work indeed, but at only 35, we can only imagine just what Stevie Ray could have given to the world of music if he had only lived a while longer.
Playing: "Stairway To Heaven" By: Led Zeppelin
Thanks to Jake Haegele, Wisconsin, for his valuable assistance in constructing this page.
"Metallica" Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton, 1984
Cliff Burton, "Metallica" bassist 1983-1986, made the trip up the "Stairway To Heaven" September 27, 1986 on an ice covered road in Toflaholm, Sweden. Metallica was on their first European tour. Cliff left behind the legacy of three albums with Metallica, "Kill Em All", "Ride The Lightning", and "Master Of Puppets". The video "Cliff' Em All", features fan recordings of various concerts and shows. Cliff's style and bass riffs are still some of the best today. May you rest in peace on that "Great Stage" in Rock-N-Roll heaven.
Randy Rhoads "Ozzy Osbourne"
Randy Rhoads played a major part in the bizarre creative impulses of the Ozzy Osbourne rock group. The widely-acclaimed British guitarist, who died in a fiery plane crash March 10, 1982, was called a "musician's musician" by Record Magazine. Rhoads, 25, who lived in Burbank, Calif., joined the Osbourne group without even auditioning. Group leader Osbourne is quoted as saying, "He was only tuning up his guitar when I said, You've got the gig. Phenomenal!" Osbourne said, "I have a feeling about people. You could be the greatest player in the world, but if you haven't got the feeling that I want to get, I don't go for it. Randy (had) presence." Ironically one of Rhoads' and Osbourne's last songs was, "Flying high Again".
"Got a crazy feeling I don't understand - Gotta get away from here -Feeling like I shoulda kept my feet on the ground - Waiting for the sun to appear."
Kurt Cobain "Nirvana"
Kurt Cobain, vocalist and guitarist for grunge rock band, "NIRVANA" rode up the charts with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and was instrumental in introducing the world to a new style of music, which has influenced countless others worldwide. Kurt left behind many hardcore and devoted fans, when he ended his life at his home, April 5, 1994 with a shotgun blast to the head in an apparent suicide. He was 27. Kurt is survived by his wife Courtney Love of punk band "HOLE", and a daughter, Frances.
Jim Morrison "The Doors"
"There are things known and things unknown and in between are "The Doors." Jim Morrison and "The Doors" burst onto the music scene with "Light My Fire", the summer of 1967. That song would later be referred to as the "Anthem of a Generation". A heavy user of LSD and an alcoholic, who would drink anything at any time of the day, was hell bent on killing himself young. Jim along with his "wife" Pamela Courson were living in Paris, France, when Jim died of heart failure while taking a hot bath during the early morning hours of July 3, 1971. He was 27; a poet, a man, the "Lizard King", a legendary outlaw who rocked America's consciousness - forever. (Pamela joined Jim in 1974, three years later)
Jimi Hendrix "The Jimi Hendrix Experience"
Widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive popularity of the electric guitar. Hendrix's innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form. Entirely self-taught, Jimmy's inability to read music made him concentrate even harder on the music he could hear.
Because he was unable to read or write music, it's nothing short of remarkable that Jimi Hendrix's meteoric rise in the music world took place in just four short years. His unique musical language continues to influence a whole host of modern musicians, from George Clinton to Miles Davis, and Steve Vai to Jonny Lang. The summer of 1969 brought emotional and musical growth to Jimi Hendrix. The Woodstock performance was highlighted by the renegade version of "Star Spangled Banner," which brought the thousands of mud-soaked audience members to a frenzy. In 1970, Jimi brought drummer Mitch Mitchell to the group and together with Billy Cox on bass, this new trio once again formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the studio, the group recorded several tracks for a two LP set, tentatively titled First Rays Of The New Rising Sun. Unfortunately, Hendrix was unable to see this new musical vision through to completion due to his frantic worldwide touring schedules and tragic death. On September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix, the most influential guitarist that ever lived, suffocated in his own vomit after an overdose of barbiturates. He was 27. Fortunately, the recordings Hendrix slated for release on the album were finally issued through the support of his family and original studio engineer Eddie Kramer on the 1997 release First Rays Of The New Rising Sun.
John Bonham "Led Zeppelin"
The style of John Bonham's drumming instantly conjurs up visions of the thunderous power he created. His contributions to rock music were revolutionary, and his talent unmatched and irreplaceable. You can only imagine Jimmy Page's reaction to first seeing him in 1968, ending his search for a new drummer to form a new band, the New Yardbirds (later renamed Led Zeppelin). As John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have all stated many times, Led Zeppelin wouldn't have been half as good without him. Live performances truly showcased his abilities during the numerous improvised jams throughout every concert and of course his famous "Moby Dick" drum solo; reaching a half-hour in length at times! His legendary right foot (on his bass pedal) and lightning-fast triplets were his instant trademark. He later refined his style from the hard skin-bashing approach to a more delicate wrist controlled one, which produced an even more powerful & louder sound with less effort.
His tragic passing on September 25th, 1980 immortalized his legacy forever. John Bonham died of asphyxiation after a day of heavy drinking. He was thirty-two. His only son, Jason proudly continues the tradition. Daughter Zoe also has a strong interest in music and is experimenting with her own original material.
Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines & Allen Collins "Lynyrd Skynyrd"
Lynyrd Skynyrd was discovered playing in an Atlanta club by Blood Sweat And Tears founder Al Kooper in 1972. Kooper signed them to his new Sounds of the South record label and released Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, which included the classic "Freebird," probably the second most requested song in rock history.("Stairway to Heaven" is the first)The band, which drew heavily from the hard English bluesrock sound, had the good fortune to have a fan in the Who's Pete Townshend, who requested that Skynyrd open for the 1973 Quadrophenia tour. As a result the band developed a strong fan base early in their career. "Sweet Home Alabama" from Second Helping was the band's biggest single. Other singles included "Saturday Night Special," "What's your Name," and "You Got That Right". Tragically the band's career was cut short when their plane crashed At 6:42 PM October 20, 1977. Steve Gaines, his sister Cassie Gaines (one of three female backup singers), Ronnie Van Zant, and their personal manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed when their rented single-engine Convair 240 plane, short of fuel, crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, MS enroute to play at a Louisiana University on a 50 city tour. Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkinson were all seriously injured but eventually recovered. One week earlier, the band had released its fourth album, Street Survivors, which pictured the band surrounded by flames. Five hundred thousand copies had already been sold when the crash occurred. The remaining copies were pulled and a new cover was designed. Ronny van Zant was buried in Jacksonville. "Freebird", the song he wrote as a tribute to Duane Allman, was played in dedication to him.
Surviving guitar player Allen Collins lost his wife in 1980 and in 1986 his girlfriend. Allen who formed the short-lived "Rossington-Collins Band" with other Lynyrd Skynyrd survivors, became wheelchair-bound from a car accident, and died of pneumonia on January 23, 1990 at the age of 37.
Janis Joplin
On October 4, 1970, four years and four months after she bolted from Austin, TX, Janis Joplin overdosed in her room at the Landmark Hotel in Los Angeles, having scored a particularly pure batch of heroin. She was 27. Her career had been virtually meteoric, but her ascent as the first goddess of rock was doused by her sad, lonely death, which followed that of Jimi Hendrix, who'd died two weeks earlier. Janis was cremated and her ashes were scattered along the Marin County coastline off California. The album she was recording at the time, Pearl, was released after her death. Although Janis Joplin's career lasted only a few years, she has been hailed as the greatest white female blues singer who ever lived.
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the leading blues and rock guitarists of his generation came from obscurity to enjoy a meteoric success in the early 1980s. He was a technical virtuoso who played with lightning speed and was a master of the explosive sound effects that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially a blues traditionalist, he played solos in a style that was characterized by one critic as "a smooth, long-lined summation of Texas blues, ornately filigreed phrase after phrase." Stevie Ray Vaughan who was born in Dallas, was the youngest brother of Jimmy Vaughan, of the successful rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was through listening to his older brother's collection of guitar records by B. B. King, Lonnie Mack, Albert Collins and others, that Stevie Ray began picking up the instrument. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to move to Austin, Texas where he formed a blues group, the Cobras, in 1975. Two years later he put together a revue, Triple Threat, which remained together until 1981, when he decided to form a harder-driving rock oriented band. The new group, Double Trouble, which included Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, was a powerful trio in the mold of ZZ Top. The unknown group, thanks to word of mouth, soon performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The concert attacked the attention of David Bowie who later asked Stevie Ray to play lead guitar on Bowie's next album, "let's Dance." After playing as a sideman with the Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne, he finally recorded his first solo album in 1983 called "Texas Flood." The record and Stevie Ray Vaughan were a success, the album sold 500,000 copies and won two Grammy nominations. The following year the band won it's first Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording in 1984 for "Blues Explosion." By 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a sought after master of the blues guitar - but the years of hard work were only starting to pay off with world-wide audiences when he was killed with four others in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin on August 27, 1990. Stevie Ray Vaughan was only 35 years old. As he once said in a radio interview, "I was taught to think the next week or month or year will only get better than it is today. So I just keep waiting to see how great it will get!" He left us a body of great work indeed, but at only 35, we can only imagine just what Stevie Ray could have given to the world of music if he had only lived a while longer.
Playing: "Stairway To Heaven" By: Led Zeppelin
Thanks to Jake Haegele, Wisconsin, for his valuable assistance in constructing this page.
Randy Rhoads played a major part in the bizarre creative impulses of the Ozzy Osbourne rock group. The widely-acclaimed British guitarist, who died in a fiery plane crash March 10, 1982, was called a "musician's musician" by Record Magazine. Rhoads, 25, who lived in Burbank, Calif., joined the Osbourne group without even auditioning. Group leader Osbourne is quoted as saying, "He was only tuning up his guitar when I said, You've got the gig. Phenomenal!" Osbourne said, "I have a feeling about people. You could be the greatest player in the world, but if you haven't got the feeling that I want to get, I don't go for it. Randy (had) presence." Ironically one of Rhoads' and Osbourne's last songs was, "Flying high Again".
"Got a crazy feeling I don't understand - Gotta get away from here -Feeling like I shoulda kept my feet on the ground - Waiting for the sun to appear."
Kurt Cobain "Nirvana"
Kurt Cobain, vocalist and guitarist for grunge rock band, "NIRVANA" rode up the charts with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and was instrumental in introducing the world to a new style of music, which has influenced countless others worldwide. Kurt left behind many hardcore and devoted fans, when he ended his life at his home, April 5, 1994 with a shotgun blast to the head in an apparent suicide. He was 27. Kurt is survived by his wife Courtney Love of punk band "HOLE", and a daughter, Frances.
Jim Morrison "The Doors"
"There are things known and things unknown and in between are "The Doors." Jim Morrison and "The Doors" burst onto the music scene with "Light My Fire", the summer of 1967. That song would later be referred to as the "Anthem of a Generation". A heavy user of LSD and an alcoholic, who would drink anything at any time of the day, was hell bent on killing himself young. Jim along with his "wife" Pamela Courson were living in Paris, France, when Jim died of heart failure while taking a hot bath during the early morning hours of July 3, 1971. He was 27; a poet, a man, the "Lizard King", a legendary outlaw who rocked America's consciousness - forever. (Pamela joined Jim in 1974, three years later)
Jimi Hendrix "The Jimi Hendrix Experience"
Widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive popularity of the electric guitar. Hendrix's innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form. Entirely self-taught, Jimmy's inability to read music made him concentrate even harder on the music he could hear.
Because he was unable to read or write music, it's nothing short of remarkable that Jimi Hendrix's meteoric rise in the music world took place in just four short years. His unique musical language continues to influence a whole host of modern musicians, from George Clinton to Miles Davis, and Steve Vai to Jonny Lang. The summer of 1969 brought emotional and musical growth to Jimi Hendrix. The Woodstock performance was highlighted by the renegade version of "Star Spangled Banner," which brought the thousands of mud-soaked audience members to a frenzy. In 1970, Jimi brought drummer Mitch Mitchell to the group and together with Billy Cox on bass, this new trio once again formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the studio, the group recorded several tracks for a two LP set, tentatively titled First Rays Of The New Rising Sun. Unfortunately, Hendrix was unable to see this new musical vision through to completion due to his frantic worldwide touring schedules and tragic death. On September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix, the most influential guitarist that ever lived, suffocated in his own vomit after an overdose of barbiturates. He was 27. Fortunately, the recordings Hendrix slated for release on the album were finally issued through the support of his family and original studio engineer Eddie Kramer on the 1997 release First Rays Of The New Rising Sun.
John Bonham "Led Zeppelin"
The style of John Bonham's drumming instantly conjurs up visions of the thunderous power he created. His contributions to rock music were revolutionary, and his talent unmatched and irreplaceable. You can only imagine Jimmy Page's reaction to first seeing him in 1968, ending his search for a new drummer to form a new band, the New Yardbirds (later renamed Led Zeppelin). As John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have all stated many times, Led Zeppelin wouldn't have been half as good without him. Live performances truly showcased his abilities during the numerous improvised jams throughout every concert and of course his famous "Moby Dick" drum solo; reaching a half-hour in length at times! His legendary right foot (on his bass pedal) and lightning-fast triplets were his instant trademark. He later refined his style from the hard skin-bashing approach to a more delicate wrist controlled one, which produced an even more powerful & louder sound with less effort.
His tragic passing on September 25th, 1980 immortalized his legacy forever. John Bonham died of asphyxiation after a day of heavy drinking. He was thirty-two. His only son, Jason proudly continues the tradition. Daughter Zoe also has a strong interest in music and is experimenting with her own original material.
Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines & Allen Collins "Lynyrd Skynyrd"
Lynyrd Skynyrd was discovered playing in an Atlanta club by Blood Sweat And Tears founder Al Kooper in 1972. Kooper signed them to his new Sounds of the South record label and released Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, which included the classic "Freebird," probably the second most requested song in rock history.("Stairway to Heaven" is the first)The band, which drew heavily from the hard English bluesrock sound, had the good fortune to have a fan in the Who's Pete Townshend, who requested that Skynyrd open for the 1973 Quadrophenia tour. As a result the band developed a strong fan base early in their career. "Sweet Home Alabama" from Second Helping was the band's biggest single. Other singles included "Saturday Night Special," "What's your Name," and "You Got That Right". Tragically the band's career was cut short when their plane crashed At 6:42 PM October 20, 1977. Steve Gaines, his sister Cassie Gaines (one of three female backup singers), Ronnie Van Zant, and their personal manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed when their rented single-engine Convair 240 plane, short of fuel, crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, MS enroute to play at a Louisiana University on a 50 city tour. Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkinson were all seriously injured but eventually recovered. One week earlier, the band had released its fourth album, Street Survivors, which pictured the band surrounded by flames. Five hundred thousand copies had already been sold when the crash occurred. The remaining copies were pulled and a new cover was designed. Ronny van Zant was buried in Jacksonville. "Freebird", the song he wrote as a tribute to Duane Allman, was played in dedication to him.
Surviving guitar player Allen Collins lost his wife in 1980 and in 1986 his girlfriend. Allen who formed the short-lived "Rossington-Collins Band" with other Lynyrd Skynyrd survivors, became wheelchair-bound from a car accident, and died of pneumonia on January 23, 1990 at the age of 37.
Janis Joplin
On October 4, 1970, four years and four months after she bolted from Austin, TX, Janis Joplin overdosed in her room at the Landmark Hotel in Los Angeles, having scored a particularly pure batch of heroin. She was 27. Her career had been virtually meteoric, but her ascent as the first goddess of rock was doused by her sad, lonely death, which followed that of Jimi Hendrix, who'd died two weeks earlier. Janis was cremated and her ashes were scattered along the Marin County coastline off California. The album she was recording at the time, Pearl, was released after her death. Although Janis Joplin's career lasted only a few years, she has been hailed as the greatest white female blues singer who ever lived.
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the leading blues and rock guitarists of his generation came from obscurity to enjoy a meteoric success in the early 1980s. He was a technical virtuoso who played with lightning speed and was a master of the explosive sound effects that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially a blues traditionalist, he played solos in a style that was characterized by one critic as "a smooth, long-lined summation of Texas blues, ornately filigreed phrase after phrase." Stevie Ray Vaughan who was born in Dallas, was the youngest brother of Jimmy Vaughan, of the successful rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was through listening to his older brother's collection of guitar records by B. B. King, Lonnie Mack, Albert Collins and others, that Stevie Ray began picking up the instrument. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to move to Austin, Texas where he formed a blues group, the Cobras, in 1975. Two years later he put together a revue, Triple Threat, which remained together until 1981, when he decided to form a harder-driving rock oriented band. The new group, Double Trouble, which included Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, was a powerful trio in the mold of ZZ Top. The unknown group, thanks to word of mouth, soon performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The concert attacked the attention of David Bowie who later asked Stevie Ray to play lead guitar on Bowie's next album, "let's Dance." After playing as a sideman with the Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne, he finally recorded his first solo album in 1983 called "Texas Flood." The record and Stevie Ray Vaughan were a success, the album sold 500,000 copies and won two Grammy nominations. The following year the band won it's first Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording in 1984 for "Blues Explosion." By 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a sought after master of the blues guitar - but the years of hard work were only starting to pay off with world-wide audiences when he was killed with four others in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin on August 27, 1990. Stevie Ray Vaughan was only 35 years old. As he once said in a radio interview, "I was taught to think the next week or month or year will only get better than it is today. So I just keep waiting to see how great it will get!" He left us a body of great work indeed, but at only 35, we can only imagine just what Stevie Ray could have given to the world of music if he had only lived a while longer.
Playing: "Stairway To Heaven" By: Led Zeppelin
Thanks to Jake Haegele, Wisconsin, for his valuable assistance in constructing this page.
Kurt Cobain, vocalist and guitarist for grunge rock band, "NIRVANA" rode up the charts with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and was instrumental in introducing the world to a new style of music, which has influenced countless others worldwide. Kurt left behind many hardcore and devoted fans, when he ended his life at his home, April 5, 1994 with a shotgun blast to the head in an apparent suicide. He was 27. Kurt is survived by his wife Courtney Love of punk band "HOLE", and a daughter, Frances.
Jim Morrison "The Doors"
"There are things known and things unknown and in between are "The Doors." Jim Morrison and "The Doors" burst onto the music scene with "Light My Fire", the summer of 1967. That song would later be referred to as the "Anthem of a Generation". A heavy user of LSD and an alcoholic, who would drink anything at any time of the day, was hell bent on killing himself young. Jim along with his "wife" Pamela Courson were living in Paris, France, when Jim died of heart failure while taking a hot bath during the early morning hours of July 3, 1971. He was 27; a poet, a man, the "Lizard King", a legendary outlaw who rocked America's consciousness - forever. (Pamela joined Jim in 1974, three years later)
Jimi Hendrix "The Jimi Hendrix Experience"
Widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive popularity of the electric guitar. Hendrix's innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form. Entirely self-taught, Jimmy's inability to read music made him concentrate even harder on the music he could hear.
Because he was unable to read or write music, it's nothing short of remarkable that Jimi Hendrix's meteoric rise in the music world took place in just four short years. His unique musical language continues to influence a whole host of modern musicians, from George Clinton to Miles Davis, and Steve Vai to Jonny Lang. The summer of 1969 brought emotional and musical growth to Jimi Hendrix. The Woodstock performance was highlighted by the renegade version of "Star Spangled Banner," which brought the thousands of mud-soaked audience members to a frenzy. In 1970, Jimi brought drummer Mitch Mitchell to the group and together with Billy Cox on bass, this new trio once again formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the studio, the group recorded several tracks for a two LP set, tentatively titled First Rays Of The New Rising Sun. Unfortunately, Hendrix was unable to see this new musical vision through to completion due to his frantic worldwide touring schedules and tragic death. On September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix, the most influential guitarist that ever lived, suffocated in his own vomit after an overdose of barbiturates. He was 27. Fortunately, the recordings Hendrix slated for release on the album were finally issued through the support of his family and original studio engineer Eddie Kramer on the 1997 release First Rays Of The New Rising Sun.
John Bonham "Led Zeppelin"
The style of John Bonham's drumming instantly conjurs up visions of the thunderous power he created. His contributions to rock music were revolutionary, and his talent unmatched and irreplaceable. You can only imagine Jimmy Page's reaction to first seeing him in 1968, ending his search for a new drummer to form a new band, the New Yardbirds (later renamed Led Zeppelin). As John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have all stated many times, Led Zeppelin wouldn't have been half as good without him. Live performances truly showcased his abilities during the numerous improvised jams throughout every concert and of course his famous "Moby Dick" drum solo; reaching a half-hour in length at times! His legendary right foot (on his bass pedal) and lightning-fast triplets were his instant trademark. He later refined his style from the hard skin-bashing approach to a more delicate wrist controlled one, which produced an even more powerful & louder sound with less effort.
His tragic passing on September 25th, 1980 immortalized his legacy forever. John Bonham died of asphyxiation after a day of heavy drinking. He was thirty-two. His only son, Jason proudly continues the tradition. Daughter Zoe also has a strong interest in music and is experimenting with her own original material.
Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines & Allen Collins "Lynyrd Skynyrd"
Lynyrd Skynyrd was discovered playing in an Atlanta club by Blood Sweat And Tears founder Al Kooper in 1972. Kooper signed them to his new Sounds of the South record label and released Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, which included the classic "Freebird," probably the second most requested song in rock history.("Stairway to Heaven" is the first)The band, which drew heavily from the hard English bluesrock sound, had the good fortune to have a fan in the Who's Pete Townshend, who requested that Skynyrd open for the 1973 Quadrophenia tour. As a result the band developed a strong fan base early in their career. "Sweet Home Alabama" from Second Helping was the band's biggest single. Other singles included "Saturday Night Special," "What's your Name," and "You Got That Right". Tragically the band's career was cut short when their plane crashed At 6:42 PM October 20, 1977. Steve Gaines, his sister Cassie Gaines (one of three female backup singers), Ronnie Van Zant, and their personal manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed when their rented single-engine Convair 240 plane, short of fuel, crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, MS enroute to play at a Louisiana University on a 50 city tour. Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkinson were all seriously injured but eventually recovered. One week earlier, the band had released its fourth album, Street Survivors, which pictured the band surrounded by flames. Five hundred thousand copies had already been sold when the crash occurred. The remaining copies were pulled and a new cover was designed. Ronny van Zant was buried in Jacksonville. "Freebird", the song he wrote as a tribute to Duane Allman, was played in dedication to him.
Surviving guitar player Allen Collins lost his wife in 1980 and in 1986 his girlfriend. Allen who formed the short-lived "Rossington-Collins Band" with other Lynyrd Skynyrd survivors, became wheelchair-bound from a car accident, and died of pneumonia on January 23, 1990 at the age of 37.
Janis Joplin
On October 4, 1970, four years and four months after she bolted from Austin, TX, Janis Joplin overdosed in her room at the Landmark Hotel in Los Angeles, having scored a particularly pure batch of heroin. She was 27. Her career had been virtually meteoric, but her ascent as the first goddess of rock was doused by her sad, lonely death, which followed that of Jimi Hendrix, who'd died two weeks earlier. Janis was cremated and her ashes were scattered along the Marin County coastline off California. The album she was recording at the time, Pearl, was released after her death. Although Janis Joplin's career lasted only a few years, she has been hailed as the greatest white female blues singer who ever lived.
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the leading blues and rock guitarists of his generation came from obscurity to enjoy a meteoric success in the early 1980s. He was a technical virtuoso who played with lightning speed and was a master of the explosive sound effects that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially a blues traditionalist, he played solos in a style that was characterized by one critic as "a smooth, long-lined summation of Texas blues, ornately filigreed phrase after phrase." Stevie Ray Vaughan who was born in Dallas, was the youngest brother of Jimmy Vaughan, of the successful rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was through listening to his older brother's collection of guitar records by B. B. King, Lonnie Mack, Albert Collins and others, that Stevie Ray began picking up the instrument. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to move to Austin, Texas where he formed a blues group, the Cobras, in 1975. Two years later he put together a revue, Triple Threat, which remained together until 1981, when he decided to form a harder-driving rock oriented band. The new group, Double Trouble, which included Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, was a powerful trio in the mold of ZZ Top. The unknown group, thanks to word of mouth, soon performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The concert attacked the attention of David Bowie who later asked Stevie Ray to play lead guitar on Bowie's next album, "let's Dance." After playing as a sideman with the Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne, he finally recorded his first solo album in 1983 called "Texas Flood." The record and Stevie Ray Vaughan were a success, the album sold 500,000 copies and won two Grammy nominations. The following year the band won it's first Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording in 1984 for "Blues Explosion." By 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a sought after master of the blues guitar - but the years of hard work were only starting to pay off with world-wide audiences when he was killed with four others in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin on August 27, 1990. Stevie Ray Vaughan was only 35 years old. As he once said in a radio interview, "I was taught to think the next week or month or year will only get better than it is today. So I just keep waiting to see how great it will get!" He left us a body of great work indeed, but at only 35, we can only imagine just what Stevie Ray could have given to the world of music if he had only lived a while longer.
Playing: "Stairway To Heaven" By: Led Zeppelin
Thanks to Jake Haegele, Wisconsin, for his valuable assistance in constructing this page.
"There are things known and things unknown and in between are "The Doors." Jim Morrison and "The Doors" burst onto the music scene with "Light My Fire", the summer of 1967. That song would later be referred to as the "Anthem of a Generation". A heavy user of LSD and an alcoholic, who would drink anything at any time of the day, was hell bent on killing himself young. Jim along with his "wife" Pamela Courson were living in Paris, France, when Jim died of heart failure while taking a hot bath during the early morning hours of July 3, 1971. He was 27; a poet, a man, the "Lizard King", a legendary outlaw who rocked America's consciousness - forever. (Pamela joined Jim in 1974, three years later)
Jimi Hendrix "The Jimi Hendrix Experience"
Widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive popularity of the electric guitar. Hendrix's innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form. Entirely self-taught, Jimmy's inability to read music made him concentrate even harder on the music he could hear.
Because he was unable to read or write music, it's nothing short of remarkable that Jimi Hendrix's meteoric rise in the music world took place in just four short years. His unique musical language continues to influence a whole host of modern musicians, from George Clinton to Miles Davis, and Steve Vai to Jonny Lang. The summer of 1969 brought emotional and musical growth to Jimi Hendrix. The Woodstock performance was highlighted by the renegade version of "Star Spangled Banner," which brought the thousands of mud-soaked audience members to a frenzy. In 1970, Jimi brought drummer Mitch Mitchell to the group and together with Billy Cox on bass, this new trio once again formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the studio, the group recorded several tracks for a two LP set, tentatively titled First Rays Of The New Rising Sun. Unfortunately, Hendrix was unable to see this new musical vision through to completion due to his frantic worldwide touring schedules and tragic death. On September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix, the most influential guitarist that ever lived, suffocated in his own vomit after an overdose of barbiturates. He was 27. Fortunately, the recordings Hendrix slated for release on the album were finally issued through the support of his family and original studio engineer Eddie Kramer on the 1997 release First Rays Of The New Rising Sun.
John Bonham "Led Zeppelin"
The style of John Bonham's drumming instantly conjurs up visions of the thunderous power he created. His contributions to rock music were revolutionary, and his talent unmatched and irreplaceable. You can only imagine Jimmy Page's reaction to first seeing him in 1968, ending his search for a new drummer to form a new band, the New Yardbirds (later renamed Led Zeppelin). As John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have all stated many times, Led Zeppelin wouldn't have been half as good without him. Live performances truly showcased his abilities during the numerous improvised jams throughout every concert and of course his famous "Moby Dick" drum solo; reaching a half-hour in length at times! His legendary right foot (on his bass pedal) and lightning-fast triplets were his instant trademark. He later refined his style from the hard skin-bashing approach to a more delicate wrist controlled one, which produced an even more powerful & louder sound with less effort.
His tragic passing on September 25th, 1980 immortalized his legacy forever. John Bonham died of asphyxiation after a day of heavy drinking. He was thirty-two. His only son, Jason proudly continues the tradition. Daughter Zoe also has a strong interest in music and is experimenting with her own original material.
Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines & Allen Collins "Lynyrd Skynyrd"
Lynyrd Skynyrd was discovered playing in an Atlanta club by Blood Sweat And Tears founder Al Kooper in 1972. Kooper signed them to his new Sounds of the South record label and released Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, which included the classic "Freebird," probably the second most requested song in rock history.("Stairway to Heaven" is the first)The band, which drew heavily from the hard English bluesrock sound, had the good fortune to have a fan in the Who's Pete Townshend, who requested that Skynyrd open for the 1973 Quadrophenia tour. As a result the band developed a strong fan base early in their career. "Sweet Home Alabama" from Second Helping was the band's biggest single. Other singles included "Saturday Night Special," "What's your Name," and "You Got That Right". Tragically the band's career was cut short when their plane crashed At 6:42 PM October 20, 1977. Steve Gaines, his sister Cassie Gaines (one of three female backup singers), Ronnie Van Zant, and their personal manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed when their rented single-engine Convair 240 plane, short of fuel, crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, MS enroute to play at a Louisiana University on a 50 city tour. Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkinson were all seriously injured but eventually recovered. One week earlier, the band had released its fourth album, Street Survivors, which pictured the band surrounded by flames. Five hundred thousand copies had already been sold when the crash occurred. The remaining copies were pulled and a new cover was designed. Ronny van Zant was buried in Jacksonville. "Freebird", the song he wrote as a tribute to Duane Allman, was played in dedication to him.
Surviving guitar player Allen Collins lost his wife in 1980 and in 1986 his girlfriend. Allen who formed the short-lived "Rossington-Collins Band" with other Lynyrd Skynyrd survivors, became wheelchair-bound from a car accident, and died of pneumonia on January 23, 1990 at the age of 37.
Janis Joplin
On October 4, 1970, four years and four months after she bolted from Austin, TX, Janis Joplin overdosed in her room at the Landmark Hotel in Los Angeles, having scored a particularly pure batch of heroin. She was 27. Her career had been virtually meteoric, but her ascent as the first goddess of rock was doused by her sad, lonely death, which followed that of Jimi Hendrix, who'd died two weeks earlier. Janis was cremated and her ashes were scattered along the Marin County coastline off California. The album she was recording at the time, Pearl, was released after her death. Although Janis Joplin's career lasted only a few years, she has been hailed as the greatest white female blues singer who ever lived.
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the leading blues and rock guitarists of his generation came from obscurity to enjoy a meteoric success in the early 1980s. He was a technical virtuoso who played with lightning speed and was a master of the explosive sound effects that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially a blues traditionalist, he played solos in a style that was characterized by one critic as "a smooth, long-lined summation of Texas blues, ornately filigreed phrase after phrase." Stevie Ray Vaughan who was born in Dallas, was the youngest brother of Jimmy Vaughan, of the successful rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was through listening to his older brother's collection of guitar records by B. B. King, Lonnie Mack, Albert Collins and others, that Stevie Ray began picking up the instrument. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to move to Austin, Texas where he formed a blues group, the Cobras, in 1975. Two years later he put together a revue, Triple Threat, which remained together until 1981, when he decided to form a harder-driving rock oriented band. The new group, Double Trouble, which included Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, was a powerful trio in the mold of ZZ Top. The unknown group, thanks to word of mouth, soon performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The concert attacked the attention of David Bowie who later asked Stevie Ray to play lead guitar on Bowie's next album, "let's Dance." After playing as a sideman with the Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne, he finally recorded his first solo album in 1983 called "Texas Flood." The record and Stevie Ray Vaughan were a success, the album sold 500,000 copies and won two Grammy nominations. The following year the band won it's first Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording in 1984 for "Blues Explosion." By 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a sought after master of the blues guitar - but the years of hard work were only starting to pay off with world-wide audiences when he was killed with four others in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin on August 27, 1990. Stevie Ray Vaughan was only 35 years old. As he once said in a radio interview, "I was taught to think the next week or month or year will only get better than it is today. So I just keep waiting to see how great it will get!" He left us a body of great work indeed, but at only 35, we can only imagine just what Stevie Ray could have given to the world of music if he had only lived a while longer.
Playing: "Stairway To Heaven" By: Led Zeppelin
Thanks to Jake Haegele, Wisconsin, for his valuable assistance in constructing this page.
Widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive popularity of the electric guitar. Hendrix's innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form. Entirely self-taught, Jimmy's inability to read music made him concentrate even harder on the music he could hear.
Because he was unable to read or write music, it's nothing short of remarkable that Jimi Hendrix's meteoric rise in the music world took place in just four short years. His unique musical language continues to influence a whole host of modern musicians, from George Clinton to Miles Davis, and Steve Vai to Jonny Lang. The summer of 1969 brought emotional and musical growth to Jimi Hendrix. The Woodstock performance was highlighted by the renegade version of "Star Spangled Banner," which brought the thousands of mud-soaked audience members to a frenzy. In 1970, Jimi brought drummer Mitch Mitchell to the group and together with Billy Cox on bass, this new trio once again formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the studio, the group recorded several tracks for a two LP set, tentatively titled First Rays Of The New Rising Sun. Unfortunately, Hendrix was unable to see this new musical vision through to completion due to his frantic worldwide touring schedules and tragic death. On September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix, the most influential guitarist that ever lived, suffocated in his own vomit after an overdose of barbiturates. He was 27. Fortunately, the recordings Hendrix slated for release on the album were finally issued through the support of his family and original studio engineer Eddie Kramer on the 1997 release First Rays Of The New Rising Sun.
John Bonham "Led Zeppelin"
The style of John Bonham's drumming instantly conjurs up visions of the thunderous power he created. His contributions to rock music were revolutionary, and his talent unmatched and irreplaceable. You can only imagine Jimmy Page's reaction to first seeing him in 1968, ending his search for a new drummer to form a new band, the New Yardbirds (later renamed Led Zeppelin). As John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have all stated many times, Led Zeppelin wouldn't have been half as good without him. Live performances truly showcased his abilities during the numerous improvised jams throughout every concert and of course his famous "Moby Dick" drum solo; reaching a half-hour in length at times! His legendary right foot (on his bass pedal) and lightning-fast triplets were his instant trademark. He later refined his style from the hard skin-bashing approach to a more delicate wrist controlled one, which produced an even more powerful & louder sound with less effort.
His tragic passing on September 25th, 1980 immortalized his legacy forever. John Bonham died of asphyxiation after a day of heavy drinking. He was thirty-two. His only son, Jason proudly continues the tradition. Daughter Zoe also has a strong interest in music and is experimenting with her own original material.
Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines & Allen Collins "Lynyrd Skynyrd"
Lynyrd Skynyrd was discovered playing in an Atlanta club by Blood Sweat And Tears founder Al Kooper in 1972. Kooper signed them to his new Sounds of the South record label and released Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, which included the classic "Freebird," probably the second most requested song in rock history.("Stairway to Heaven" is the first)The band, which drew heavily from the hard English bluesrock sound, had the good fortune to have a fan in the Who's Pete Townshend, who requested that Skynyrd open for the 1973 Quadrophenia tour. As a result the band developed a strong fan base early in their career. "Sweet Home Alabama" from Second Helping was the band's biggest single. Other singles included "Saturday Night Special," "What's your Name," and "You Got That Right". Tragically the band's career was cut short when their plane crashed At 6:42 PM October 20, 1977. Steve Gaines, his sister Cassie Gaines (one of three female backup singers), Ronnie Van Zant, and their personal manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed when their rented single-engine Convair 240 plane, short of fuel, crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, MS enroute to play at a Louisiana University on a 50 city tour. Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkinson were all seriously injured but eventually recovered. One week earlier, the band had released its fourth album, Street Survivors, which pictured the band surrounded by flames. Five hundred thousand copies had already been sold when the crash occurred. The remaining copies were pulled and a new cover was designed. Ronny van Zant was buried in Jacksonville. "Freebird", the song he wrote as a tribute to Duane Allman, was played in dedication to him.
Surviving guitar player Allen Collins lost his wife in 1980 and in 1986 his girlfriend. Allen who formed the short-lived "Rossington-Collins Band" with other Lynyrd Skynyrd survivors, became wheelchair-bound from a car accident, and died of pneumonia on January 23, 1990 at the age of 37.
Janis Joplin
On October 4, 1970, four years and four months after she bolted from Austin, TX, Janis Joplin overdosed in her room at the Landmark Hotel in Los Angeles, having scored a particularly pure batch of heroin. She was 27. Her career had been virtually meteoric, but her ascent as the first goddess of rock was doused by her sad, lonely death, which followed that of Jimi Hendrix, who'd died two weeks earlier. Janis was cremated and her ashes were scattered along the Marin County coastline off California. The album she was recording at the time, Pearl, was released after her death. Although Janis Joplin's career lasted only a few years, she has been hailed as the greatest white female blues singer who ever lived.
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the leading blues and rock guitarists of his generation came from obscurity to enjoy a meteoric success in the early 1980s. He was a technical virtuoso who played with lightning speed and was a master of the explosive sound effects that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially a blues traditionalist, he played solos in a style that was characterized by one critic as "a smooth, long-lined summation of Texas blues, ornately filigreed phrase after phrase." Stevie Ray Vaughan who was born in Dallas, was the youngest brother of Jimmy Vaughan, of the successful rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was through listening to his older brother's collection of guitar records by B. B. King, Lonnie Mack, Albert Collins and others, that Stevie Ray began picking up the instrument. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to move to Austin, Texas where he formed a blues group, the Cobras, in 1975. Two years later he put together a revue, Triple Threat, which remained together until 1981, when he decided to form a harder-driving rock oriented band. The new group, Double Trouble, which included Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, was a powerful trio in the mold of ZZ Top. The unknown group, thanks to word of mouth, soon performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The concert attacked the attention of David Bowie who later asked Stevie Ray to play lead guitar on Bowie's next album, "let's Dance." After playing as a sideman with the Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne, he finally recorded his first solo album in 1983 called "Texas Flood." The record and Stevie Ray Vaughan were a success, the album sold 500,000 copies and won two Grammy nominations. The following year the band won it's first Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording in 1984 for "Blues Explosion." By 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a sought after master of the blues guitar - but the years of hard work were only starting to pay off with world-wide audiences when he was killed with four others in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin on August 27, 1990. Stevie Ray Vaughan was only 35 years old. As he once said in a radio interview, "I was taught to think the next week or month or year will only get better than it is today. So I just keep waiting to see how great it will get!" He left us a body of great work indeed, but at only 35, we can only imagine just what Stevie Ray could have given to the world of music if he had only lived a while longer.
Playing: "Stairway To Heaven" By: Led Zeppelin
Thanks to Jake Haegele, Wisconsin, for his valuable assistance in constructing this page.
The style of John Bonham's drumming instantly conjurs up visions of the thunderous power he created. His contributions to rock music were revolutionary, and his talent unmatched and irreplaceable. You can only imagine Jimmy Page's reaction to first seeing him in 1968, ending his search for a new drummer to form a new band, the New Yardbirds (later renamed Led Zeppelin). As John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have all stated many times, Led Zeppelin wouldn't have been half as good without him. Live performances truly showcased his abilities during the numerous improvised jams throughout every concert and of course his famous "Moby Dick" drum solo; reaching a half-hour in length at times! His legendary right foot (on his bass pedal) and lightning-fast triplets were his instant trademark. He later refined his style from the hard skin-bashing approach to a more delicate wrist controlled one, which produced an even more powerful & louder sound with less effort.
His tragic passing on September 25th, 1980 immortalized his legacy forever. John Bonham died of asphyxiation after a day of heavy drinking. He was thirty-two. His only son, Jason proudly continues the tradition. Daughter Zoe also has a strong interest in music and is experimenting with her own original material.
Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines & Allen Collins "Lynyrd Skynyrd"
Lynyrd Skynyrd was discovered playing in an Atlanta club by Blood Sweat And Tears founder Al Kooper in 1972. Kooper signed them to his new Sounds of the South record label and released Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, which included the classic "Freebird," probably the second most requested song in rock history.("Stairway to Heaven" is the first)The band, which drew heavily from the hard English bluesrock sound, had the good fortune to have a fan in the Who's Pete Townshend, who requested that Skynyrd open for the 1973 Quadrophenia tour. As a result the band developed a strong fan base early in their career. "Sweet Home Alabama" from Second Helping was the band's biggest single. Other singles included "Saturday Night Special," "What's your Name," and "You Got That Right". Tragically the band's career was cut short when their plane crashed At 6:42 PM October 20, 1977. Steve Gaines, his sister Cassie Gaines (one of three female backup singers), Ronnie Van Zant, and their personal manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed when their rented single-engine Convair 240 plane, short of fuel, crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, MS enroute to play at a Louisiana University on a 50 city tour. Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkinson were all seriously injured but eventually recovered. One week earlier, the band had released its fourth album, Street Survivors, which pictured the band surrounded by flames. Five hundred thousand copies had already been sold when the crash occurred. The remaining copies were pulled and a new cover was designed. Ronny van Zant was buried in Jacksonville. "Freebird", the song he wrote as a tribute to Duane Allman, was played in dedication to him.
Surviving guitar player Allen Collins lost his wife in 1980 and in 1986 his girlfriend. Allen who formed the short-lived "Rossington-Collins Band" with other Lynyrd Skynyrd survivors, became wheelchair-bound from a car accident, and died of pneumonia on January 23, 1990 at the age of 37.
Janis Joplin
On October 4, 1970, four years and four months after she bolted from Austin, TX, Janis Joplin overdosed in her room at the Landmark Hotel in Los Angeles, having scored a particularly pure batch of heroin. She was 27. Her career had been virtually meteoric, but her ascent as the first goddess of rock was doused by her sad, lonely death, which followed that of Jimi Hendrix, who'd died two weeks earlier. Janis was cremated and her ashes were scattered along the Marin County coastline off California. The album she was recording at the time, Pearl, was released after her death. Although Janis Joplin's career lasted only a few years, she has been hailed as the greatest white female blues singer who ever lived.
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the leading blues and rock guitarists of his generation came from obscurity to enjoy a meteoric success in the early 1980s. He was a technical virtuoso who played with lightning speed and was a master of the explosive sound effects that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially a blues traditionalist, he played solos in a style that was characterized by one critic as "a smooth, long-lined summation of Texas blues, ornately filigreed phrase after phrase." Stevie Ray Vaughan who was born in Dallas, was the youngest brother of Jimmy Vaughan, of the successful rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was through listening to his older brother's collection of guitar records by B. B. King, Lonnie Mack, Albert Collins and others, that Stevie Ray began picking up the instrument. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to move to Austin, Texas where he formed a blues group, the Cobras, in 1975. Two years later he put together a revue, Triple Threat, which remained together until 1981, when he decided to form a harder-driving rock oriented band. The new group, Double Trouble, which included Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, was a powerful trio in the mold of ZZ Top. The unknown group, thanks to word of mouth, soon performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The concert attacked the attention of David Bowie who later asked Stevie Ray to play lead guitar on Bowie's next album, "let's Dance." After playing as a sideman with the Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne, he finally recorded his first solo album in 1983 called "Texas Flood." The record and Stevie Ray Vaughan were a success, the album sold 500,000 copies and won two Grammy nominations. The following year the band won it's first Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording in 1984 for "Blues Explosion." By 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a sought after master of the blues guitar - but the years of hard work were only starting to pay off with world-wide audiences when he was killed with four others in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin on August 27, 1990. Stevie Ray Vaughan was only 35 years old. As he once said in a radio interview, "I was taught to think the next week or month or year will only get better than it is today. So I just keep waiting to see how great it will get!" He left us a body of great work indeed, but at only 35, we can only imagine just what Stevie Ray could have given to the world of music if he had only lived a while longer.
Playing: "Stairway To Heaven" By: Led Zeppelin
Thanks to Jake Haegele, Wisconsin, for his valuable assistance in constructing this page.
Lynyrd Skynyrd was discovered playing in an Atlanta club by Blood Sweat And Tears founder Al Kooper in 1972. Kooper signed them to his new Sounds of the South record label and released Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, which included the classic "Freebird," probably the second most requested song in rock history.("Stairway to Heaven" is the first)The band, which drew heavily from the hard English bluesrock sound, had the good fortune to have a fan in the Who's Pete Townshend, who requested that Skynyrd open for the 1973 Quadrophenia tour. As a result the band developed a strong fan base early in their career. "Sweet Home Alabama" from Second Helping was the band's biggest single. Other singles included "Saturday Night Special," "What's your Name," and "You Got That Right". Tragically the band's career was cut short when their plane crashed At 6:42 PM October 20, 1977. Steve Gaines, his sister Cassie Gaines (one of three female backup singers), Ronnie Van Zant, and their personal manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed when their rented single-engine Convair 240 plane, short of fuel, crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, MS enroute to play at a Louisiana University on a 50 city tour. Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkinson were all seriously injured but eventually recovered. One week earlier, the band had released its fourth album, Street Survivors, which pictured the band surrounded by flames. Five hundred thousand copies had already been sold when the crash occurred. The remaining copies were pulled and a new cover was designed. Ronny van Zant was buried in Jacksonville. "Freebird", the song he wrote as a tribute to Duane Allman, was played in dedication to him.
Surviving guitar player Allen Collins lost his wife in 1980 and in 1986 his girlfriend. Allen who formed the short-lived "Rossington-Collins Band" with other Lynyrd Skynyrd survivors, became wheelchair-bound from a car accident, and died of pneumonia on January 23, 1990 at the age of 37.
Janis Joplin
On October 4, 1970, four years and four months after she bolted from Austin, TX, Janis Joplin overdosed in her room at the Landmark Hotel in Los Angeles, having scored a particularly pure batch of heroin. She was 27. Her career had been virtually meteoric, but her ascent as the first goddess of rock was doused by her sad, lonely death, which followed that of Jimi Hendrix, who'd died two weeks earlier. Janis was cremated and her ashes were scattered along the Marin County coastline off California. The album she was recording at the time, Pearl, was released after her death. Although Janis Joplin's career lasted only a few years, she has been hailed as the greatest white female blues singer who ever lived.
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the leading blues and rock guitarists of his generation came from obscurity to enjoy a meteoric success in the early 1980s. He was a technical virtuoso who played with lightning speed and was a master of the explosive sound effects that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially a blues traditionalist, he played solos in a style that was characterized by one critic as "a smooth, long-lined summation of Texas blues, ornately filigreed phrase after phrase." Stevie Ray Vaughan who was born in Dallas, was the youngest brother of Jimmy Vaughan, of the successful rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was through listening to his older brother's collection of guitar records by B. B. King, Lonnie Mack, Albert Collins and others, that Stevie Ray began picking up the instrument. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to move to Austin, Texas where he formed a blues group, the Cobras, in 1975. Two years later he put together a revue, Triple Threat, which remained together until 1981, when he decided to form a harder-driving rock oriented band. The new group, Double Trouble, which included Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, was a powerful trio in the mold of ZZ Top. The unknown group, thanks to word of mouth, soon performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The concert attacked the attention of David Bowie who later asked Stevie Ray to play lead guitar on Bowie's next album, "let's Dance." After playing as a sideman with the Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne, he finally recorded his first solo album in 1983 called "Texas Flood." The record and Stevie Ray Vaughan were a success, the album sold 500,000 copies and won two Grammy nominations. The following year the band won it's first Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording in 1984 for "Blues Explosion." By 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a sought after master of the blues guitar - but the years of hard work were only starting to pay off with world-wide audiences when he was killed with four others in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin on August 27, 1990. Stevie Ray Vaughan was only 35 years old. As he once said in a radio interview, "I was taught to think the next week or month or year will only get better than it is today. So I just keep waiting to see how great it will get!" He left us a body of great work indeed, but at only 35, we can only imagine just what Stevie Ray could have given to the world of music if he had only lived a while longer.
Playing: "Stairway To Heaven" By: Led Zeppelin
Thanks to Jake Haegele, Wisconsin, for his valuable assistance in constructing this page.
On October 4, 1970, four years and four months after she bolted from Austin, TX, Janis Joplin overdosed in her room at the Landmark Hotel in Los Angeles, having scored a particularly pure batch of heroin. She was 27. Her career had been virtually meteoric, but her ascent as the first goddess of rock was doused by her sad, lonely death, which followed that of Jimi Hendrix, who'd died two weeks earlier. Janis was cremated and her ashes were scattered along the Marin County coastline off California. The album she was recording at the time, Pearl, was released after her death. Although Janis Joplin's career lasted only a few years, she has been hailed as the greatest white female blues singer who ever lived.
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the leading blues and rock guitarists of his generation came from obscurity to enjoy a meteoric success in the early 1980s. He was a technical virtuoso who played with lightning speed and was a master of the explosive sound effects that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially a blues traditionalist, he played solos in a style that was characterized by one critic as "a smooth, long-lined summation of Texas blues, ornately filigreed phrase after phrase." Stevie Ray Vaughan who was born in Dallas, was the youngest brother of Jimmy Vaughan, of the successful rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was through listening to his older brother's collection of guitar records by B. B. King, Lonnie Mack, Albert Collins and others, that Stevie Ray began picking up the instrument. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to move to Austin, Texas where he formed a blues group, the Cobras, in 1975. Two years later he put together a revue, Triple Threat, which remained together until 1981, when he decided to form a harder-driving rock oriented band. The new group, Double Trouble, which included Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, was a powerful trio in the mold of ZZ Top. The unknown group, thanks to word of mouth, soon performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The concert attacked the attention of David Bowie who later asked Stevie Ray to play lead guitar on Bowie's next album, "let's Dance." After playing as a sideman with the Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne, he finally recorded his first solo album in 1983 called "Texas Flood." The record and Stevie Ray Vaughan were a success, the album sold 500,000 copies and won two Grammy nominations. The following year the band won it's first Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording in 1984 for "Blues Explosion." By 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a sought after master of the blues guitar - but the years of hard work were only starting to pay off with world-wide audiences when he was killed with four others in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin on August 27, 1990. Stevie Ray Vaughan was only 35 years old. As he once said in a radio interview, "I was taught to think the next week or month or year will only get better than it is today. So I just keep waiting to see how great it will get!" He left us a body of great work indeed, but at only 35, we can only imagine just what Stevie Ray could have given to the world of music if he had only lived a while longer.
Playing: "Stairway To Heaven" By: Led Zeppelin
Thanks to Jake Haegele, Wisconsin, for his valuable assistance in constructing this page.
Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the leading blues and rock guitarists of his generation came from obscurity to enjoy a meteoric success in the early 1980s. He was a technical virtuoso who played with lightning speed and was a master of the explosive sound effects that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially a blues traditionalist, he played solos in a style that was characterized by one critic as "a smooth, long-lined summation of Texas blues, ornately filigreed phrase after phrase." Stevie Ray Vaughan who was born in Dallas, was the youngest brother of Jimmy Vaughan, of the successful rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was through listening to his older brother's collection of guitar records by B. B. King, Lonnie Mack, Albert Collins and others, that Stevie Ray began picking up the instrument. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to move to Austin, Texas where he formed a blues group, the Cobras, in 1975. Two years later he put together a revue, Triple Threat, which remained together until 1981, when he decided to form a harder-driving rock oriented band. The new group, Double Trouble, which included Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, was a powerful trio in the mold of ZZ Top. The unknown group, thanks to word of mouth, soon performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The concert attacked the attention of David Bowie who later asked Stevie Ray to play lead guitar on Bowie's next album, "let's Dance." After playing as a sideman with the Rolling Stones and Jackson Browne, he finally recorded his first solo album in 1983 called "Texas Flood." The record and Stevie Ray Vaughan were a success, the album sold 500,000 copies and won two Grammy nominations. The following year the band won it's first Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording in 1984 for "Blues Explosion." By 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a sought after master of the blues guitar - but the years of hard work were only starting to pay off with world-wide audiences when he was killed with four others in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin on August 27, 1990. Stevie Ray Vaughan was only 35 years old. As he once said in a radio interview, "I was taught to think the next week or month or year will only get better than it is today. So I just keep waiting to see how great it will get!" He left us a body of great work indeed, but at only 35, we can only imagine just what Stevie Ray could have given to the world of music if he had only lived a while longer.
Playing: "Stairway To Heaven" By: Led Zeppelin
Thanks to Jake Haegele, Wisconsin, for his valuable assistance in constructing this page.
Thanks to Jake Haegele, Wisconsin, for his valuable assistance in constructing this page.