The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just got a new member, inducted at the organization’s annually held ceremony in Cleveland. Stevie Ray Vaughan was the star to be added in particular, and he was inducted by none other than John Mayer, who identifies himself as a “Stevie Ray Vaughan wannabe”. Not many people would have been that appropriate for this particular induction, and the event was met with a lot of approval by fans overall.
Mayer gave a speech in which he expressed his fondness of Vaughan in detail, and called him “the ultimate guitar hero” multiple times. He then went on to describe exactly how Vaughan had managed to impact his life and career, explaining that he was raised by the sounds of “Thriller”, “1984”, and the soundtrack to “Footloose”, all of which had a huge impact on his development as a professional later on.
And then, he found out about Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, and it was like he had discovered an entirely new world of music, yet one that sounded somewhat familiar to him in a pleasant way. He immediately knew that this music will have an important place in his life.
He also attributed his ability to avoid drugs throughout his lifetime to Vaughan, explaining how he grew up constantly turning down offers for drugs, and thus managed to stay away from addiction for his whole life. In a professional world where this is a real problem for some, it’s always good to hear a more inspiring, motivational story like this one.
The award was accepted by the star’s brother Jimmie, who also gave a brief speech about Stevie Ray Vaughan and said that he wanted to thank the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as the numerous fans of his brother who voted for his induction. He reassured everyone that Stevie Ray Vaughan would be proud to see this, and he himself took great pride in the whole event.
In addition, Vaughan stated that his brother had had a huge impact on his development as a person and as a professional, in a similar way to what John Mayer described. It’s clear that Stevie Ray Vaughan has managed to touch a lot of people in his life, but hearing his brother talk about the impact on his own life like that was touching, as described by many people. The star’s legacy is going to live on for a long time, and we can only hope that more of the people he’s managed to inspire with his work will eventually come forward and describe that for everyone else.
Stevie Ray Vaughan will always be the man