title: Kaká

text: Ronaldinho states, "For two, maybe three seasons [at Milan] he was the best player in the world. There was nothing he couldn’t do”, while his Milan teammate Andrea Pirlo adds, "There was a point when teams just had no idea how to stop him." As well as his dribbling from midfield, Kaká was also renowned for his vision and passing ability, enabling him to create chances for teammates. Having performed predominantly as a playmaking attacking midfielder throughout his career, he was known for being capable of scoring goals as well as creating and assisting them. A versatile player, he was also deployed in several other attacking positions throughout his career, performing as a winger on either flank, as a supporting forward, and on occasion as an outright striker, or even in a deeper role as a midfield playmaker. In addition to these characteristics, Kaká also possessed a powerful and accurate shot from both inside and outside the penalty area, with either foot, despite being naturally right-footed; he preferred to strike the ball with finesse rather than power, however, and had a penchant for scoring from distance with bending shots. He was also an accurate penalty taker. In 2020, "90min.com" placed Kakà at number 42 in their list of "The 50 Greatest Footballers of All Time."


title: Kaká

text: Kaká married his childhood sweetheart Caroline Celico on 23 December 2005 at a Rebirth in Christ church in São Paulo. The couple have two children: son Luca Celico Leite (born 10 June 2008) and daughter Isabella (born 23 April 2011). In 2015, Kaká and Celico announced their divorce via social media.


title: Kaká

text: Kaká was sworn in as an Italian citizen on 12 February 2007. He features prominently in Adidas advertising and also has a modeling contract with Armani, the latter preventing him from appearing in a photo collection alongside his Milan teammates that was published by Dolce & Gabbana in early 2007.


title: Kaká

text: Kaká appeared on the cover of the Italian edition of EA Sports' "FIFA" video game "FIFA 07", alongside compatriot and global coverstar Ronaldinho; he was also featured on the cover of some regional editions of "FIFA 11", "FIFA 12", and "FIFA 16". He featured in "FIFA 20" as one of the new Ultimate Team Icons.


title: Kaká

text: Kaká cites Raí, the former Brazilian national team and São Paulo FC captain, as his footballing role model. He is best friends with Marcelo Saragosa, who also played professionally. They each served as the best man at the other's wedding. He is also close friends with Colombia striker Radamel Falcao.


title: Kaká

text: In April 2012, Kaká became the first sportsperson to amass ten million followers on Twitter, and by March 2015, Kaká had the fifth-highest social media rank in the world among athletes, behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, David Beckham and Neymar, with 33 million Facebook fans.


title: Kaká

text: Kaká is a devout evangelical Christian who was an active member of the São Paulo-based Rebirth in Christ Church. He became engrossed in religion at the age of 12: "I learnt that it is faith that decides whether something will happen or not." He removed his jersey to reveal an "I Belong to Jesus" T-shirt and openly engaged in prayer moments after the final whistle of Brazil's 2002 World Cup, as well as Milan's 2004 "Scudetto" and 2007 Champions League triumphs. He also had the same phrase, along with "God Is Faithful," stitched onto the tongues of his boots. During the post-match celebration following Brazil's 4–1 win over Argentina in the 2005 Confederations Cup final, he and several of his teammates wore T-shirts that read "Jesus Loves You" in various languages. While receiving the FIFA World Footballer of the Year award in 2007, he said when he was young he just wanted to be a professional player for São Paulo and play one game for the Brazil national team, but that "God gave [him] more than he ever asked for." Though sharing a common goal with "Atletas de Cristo" ("Athletes of Christ"), Kaká is not currently a formal member of the organization. In goal celebrations, he usually points to the sky as a gesture of thanks to God. Kaká's favourite music genre is gospel, and his favourite book is the Bible. In a 2006 interview with the Brazilian newspaper "O Globo", Kaka announced that he wanted to become an evangelical pastor.


title: Kaká

text: Since November 2004, Kaká has served as an Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations' World Food Programme, the youngest to do so at the time of his appointment. In August 2015, Kaká announced he would attend Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, and major in Sports Marketing. On 5 January 2019, he announced his engagement to Brazilian model Carolina Dias on Instagram. Kaká was one of several Brazilian international footballers to endorse Jair Bolsonaro in the 2018 Brazilian presidential election.


title: Kajol

text: Kajol Devgan (née Mukherjee; born 5 August 1974), known mononymously as Kajol, is an Indian actress. Described in the media as one of the most successful actresses of Hindi cinema, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including six Filmfare Awards, among which she shares the record for most Best Actress wins with her late aunt Nutan. In 2011, she was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India.


title: Kajol

text: The daughter of Tanuja and Shomu Mukherjee, Kajol made her acting debut with "Bekhudi" (1992) while still in school. She subsequently quit her studies, and had commercial successes in "Baazigar" (1993), opposite Shah Rukh Khan, and "Yeh Dillagi" (1994). Starring roles with Khan in the top-grossing romances "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (1995) and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" (1998) established her as a leading star in the 1990s and earned her two Filmfare Awards for Best Actress. She also gained critical appreciation for playing a psychopathic killer in "" (1997) and an avenger in "Dushman" (1998).


title: Kajol

text: After starring in the family drama "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham..." (2001), which won her a third Filmfare Award, Kajol took a sabbatical from full-time acting and worked infrequently over the next decades. She won two more Best Actress awards at Filmfare for starring in the romantic thriller "Fanaa" (2006) and the drama "My Name Is Khan" (2010). Her highest-grossing releases came with the comedy "Dilwale" (2015) and the period film "Tanhaji" (2020).


title: Kajol

text: In addition to acting in films, Kajol is a social activist and noted for her work with widows and children. She has featured as a talent judge for the reality show "Rock-N-Roll Family" in 2008, and holds a managerial position at Devgn Entertainment and Software Ltd. Kajol has been married to the actor and filmmaker Ajay Devgn, with whom she has two children, since 1999.


title: Kajol

text: Kajol was born in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) on 5 August 1974. Her mother, Tanuja, is an actress, while her father Shomu Mukherjee was a film director and producer. Her younger sister, Tanishaa, is also an actress. Her maternal aunt was actress Nutan and her maternal grandmother, Shobhna Samarth, and great-grandmother, Rattan Bai, were both involved in Hindi cinema. Her paternal uncles, Joy Mukherjee and Deb Mukherjee, are film producers, while her paternal and maternal grandfathers, Sashadhar Mukherjee and Kumarsen Samarth, respectively, were filmmakers. Kajol's cousins Rani Mukerji, Sharbani Mukherjee, and Mohnish Behl are also actors; whereas Ayan Mukerji is a director.


title: Kajol

text: Kajol describes herself as being mischievous, stubborn, and impulsive at a young age. Her parents separated when she was young, but Kajol was unaffected by it since the matter was never discussed at home. Kajol was looked after by her maternal grandmother, who "never let me feel that my mother was away and working". According to Kajol, her mother inculcated a sense of independence in her since she was young. Growing up between two separate cultures, she inherited her "Maharashtrian pragmatism" from her mother and her "Bengali temperament" from her father. As part of tradition, along with the Mukherjee family, Kajol, a pracitising Hindu, celebrates the Durga Puja festival in the suburban neighbourhood of Santacruz annually.


title: Kajol

text: Kajol was educated at St. Joseph's Convent School, Panchgani. Apart from her studies, she participated in extra-curricular activities, such as dancing. It was in school that she began to form an active interest in reading fiction, as it helped her "through the bad moments" in her life. In the early 1990s, Tanuja tried to direct a film to launched her as an actress, but it was shelved after a few days of shooting. At sixteen, Kajol began work on "Bekhudi", which according to her was a "big dose of luck"; she was cast by him when she visited the studio of the photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha, who also wrote the film's screenplay. She intended to return to school after shooting during her two-months summer vacation but eventually dropped out to pursue a full-time career in film—though she later regretted the decision.


title: Kajol

text: Kajol made her acting debut at age seventeen in the 1992 romantic drama "Bekhudi" alongside another debutant, Kamal Sadanah, and her mother Tanuja. Kajol played Radhika, who falls in love with Sadanah's character against her parents' disapproval. The film turned out to be a box office flop, but Kajol's performance gained positive notice. The following year, she was cast in Abbas–Mustan's crime thriller "Baazigar" (1993), the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year with revenues of . Co-starring Shah Rukh Khan and Shilpa Shetty, the film saw Kajol in the role of Priya Chopra, a young woman who falls in love with her sister's murderer, unaware of his identity. "Baazigar" marked the first of her many collaborations with Khan. Although her performance drew critical attention, Kajol was criticised for her looks.


title: Kajol

text: In 1994, Kajol appeared in "Udhaar Ki Zindagi" as an orphaned girl who visits her estranged grandparents (Jeetendra and Moushumi Chatterjee). It failed to do well at the box office, however, Kajol was named the Best Actress (Hindi) by the Bengal Film Journalists' Association. The film was an emotionally draining experience for Kajol, and she later maintained that it had affected her so deeply that after shooting ended, she was on the verge of a crisis. Consequently, she made a deliberate decision to sign up lighter films in which she would have roles of minimal importance and no intense dramatic efforts, including "Hulchul", "Gundaraj", and "Karan Arjun"—all released a year later.


title: Kajol

text: She gained wider public recognition for her role in "Yeh Dillagi", a romance produced by Yash Raj Films and based on the 1953 American play "Sabrina Fair". She starred as Sapna, a chauffeur's daughter who becomes a model and catches the interest of the two sons of her father's employers (Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan). A financial success, "Yeh Dillagi" proved to be a breakthrough for Kajol, earning her a first Best Actress nomination at the annual Filmfare Awards. "The Indian Express" took note of her believable performance, and "Screen" concluded that "Yeh Dillagi" had changed her screen persona from a girl next door to a beauty extraordinaire.


title: Kajol

text: In 1995, Kajol had two major commercial successes opposite Shah Rukh Khan: "Karan Arjun" and "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge". The former is an action film by Rakesh Roshan, based on the concept of reincarnation, and it offered her the small part of Sonia Saxena Singh, Khan's love interest. She explained her minor role in the film, saying that she wanted to be in an ornamental role and admitting she had nothing to do in the film except be glamorous. The film emerged as the second-highest-grossing film of the year in India. Kajol's next releases—"Taaqat", "Hulchul" and "Gundaraj"—underperformed at the box office; the latter two were her earliest collaborations with her future-husband, Ajay Devgn, and trade analysts linked the failure to their chemistry.


title: Kajol

text: In "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge", Kajol's final 1995 release, she and Shah Rukh Khan starred as non-resident Indians from London who fall in love during a trip across Europe and reunite in India to persuade her conservative father to call off her upcoming arranged marriage. Kajol spoke of her attachment to the project and her full emotional involvement with her character, Simran. One of the most successful films of all-time in India, it has been continuously running in Mumbai and, having surpassed 1000 weeks of screening in 2014, became the longest-running Indian film ever. Equally popular with critics, the film earned ten Filmfare Awards, including a first Best Actress for Kajol. It has been voted one of the best films ever made in polls by the British Film Institute. Raja Sen from Rediff.com thought Kajol was well-cast as Simran, arguing that "the real-as-life actress bringing warmth and credulity to the initially prudish and reluctant Simran". 1996 saw her in the poorly received action film "Bambai Ka Babu".


title: Kajol

text: In 1997, Kajol's portrayal of Isha Diwan, an obsessive lover turned psychopathic serial killer, in "", was labelled by critics a turning point. The director Rajiv Rai said that he "tapped the versatile artistry in Kajol", commending her for the finesse she brought to the part. The suspense thriller, also starring Bobby Deol and Manisha Koirala, was a mainstream success. "India Today" noted Kajol for outpacing her co-stars, and "The Times of India" wrote in 2016 that she was "probably the first to have broken her goody-two-shoes image". In 2002, Rediff.com included her performance in its listing of best villain performances. Kajol eventually became the first female actor to be nominated for and win the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role. In later years, Kajol said she accepted the part to avoid typecasting and expressed her desire to play more roles of the type.


title: Kajol

text: Following a leading role in the reincarnation-based film "Hameshaa", Kajol replaced Madhuri Dixit to play the lead opposite Prabhu Deva and Arvind Swamy in Rajiv Menon's Tamil-language romantic musical "Minsara Kanavu". Kajol found dancing alongside Deva (himself a dance choreographer) difficult and it took her dozens of retakes and rehearsals to get the steps right. She played Priya Amalraj, a convent student who aspires to become a nun, and her voice was dubbed by actress Revathi. "The Indian Express" reviewed: "Kajol is full of beans and fits into her character with commendable ease. Hers is perhaps one of the most expressive faces of the present." While the original version was embraced by audiences, the Hindi-dubbed version of the film (titled "Sapnay") was commercially failed. Her next release was Indra Kumar's comedy-drama "Ishq", alongside Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla and Ajay Devgn. A commercial success, the film won critical praise for the performances of the four leads.


title: Kajol

text: In 1998, Kajol reinforced her status as a leading actress of Hindi cinema by featuring in the three highest-grossing productions of the year: "Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya", "Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha" and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai"; all of which were nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Film, with the lattermost winning it. "Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya", where she played a naïve village girl, released first and won her positive feedback. She next played twin sisters, Sonia and Naina, in "Dushman". Revolving around Naina's quest to avenge the murder of Sonia, the film saw Kajol in one of her best-reviewed performances. Having initially refused the offer due to her lack of comfort shooting the rape scene, she finally accepted it on the condition that a body-double be used in it. The film won her the Screen Award for Best Actress. Suparn Verma noted her for being in "superb form" in both roles.


title: Kajol

text: Anees Bazmee's romantic comedy "Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha", a remake of the 1995 American film "French Kiss", followed. She played the comic role of Sanjana, a clumsy woman who travels from Paris to India in search of her philandering fiancé, but falls for another man (Ajay Devgn). The film became a hit and fetched Kajol another Best Actress nomination at Filmfare that year. Deepa Deosthalee from "The Indian Express" called "Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha" "Kajol's film all the way" and commended her presence that made the film to be worth-watching; Khalid Mohamed referred to her as "the show's super-saving grace. Bubbly and spontaneous as ever, hers is a perfectly balanced performance, rescuing even the loudest scenes from going over the top."


title: Kajol

text: The biggest success of 1998 for Kajol was her final release of that year, Karan Johar's directorial debut, "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai". The first Indian feature to be shot in Scotland, it emerged as an all-time blockbuster in both India and overseas. Kajol played Anjali Sharma, a tomboyish college student who is secretly in love with her best friend from college (Shah Rukh Khan). The story follows their renewed encounter years later when he is widowed and she has transformed her appearance and is already engaged to marry someone else. Critics considered Kajol's performance bold and convincing, despite an otherwise unrealistic plot. Nikhat Kazmi wrote that she is "almost mesmeric" in the part. She won her second Best Actress award at the 44th Filmfare Awards and first Zee Cine Award for Best Actor – Female for her work. "Filmfare" included Kajol's performances in both "Dushman" and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" in its listing of Indian cinema's "80 Most Iconic performances". In a year-end column, "The Tribune" Madhur Mittal reported that Kajol had "emerged as the consummate heroine with her excellent emoting and sensational screen presence in each portrayal".


title: Kajol

text: Journalists speculated that the supporting role of the other woman of Ajay Devgn's character in "Dil Kya Kare", Kajol's first release after marriage, would be "the acid test" for her. She explained that she accepted the role solely "because it had shades of grey". The film met with largely negative reviews, though "Deccan Herald" noted her for playing the role with finesse. Commercially too, the film failed to do well. The drama "Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain", on the other hand, performed well with critics and audiences. Co-starring Anil Kapoor, it gave her experience with "the stereotypical, sacrificing woman role" and earned her another Best Actress Filmfare nomination. The film generated media coverage for being one of the few woman-centered films to attract viewers in Indian cinemas. Her final release of the year was "Hote Hote Pyar Ho Gaya". The "Hindustan Times" noted her chemistry with Jackie Shroff but wrote off the film.


title: Kajol

text: The following year, Kajol and her husband starred together in his home-production "Raju Chacha", whose plot revolves on the love story between a conman and a governess of three children belonging to a wealthy family. The children's film, with a production cost of , was declared as among the most expensive Hindi films at the time. Dinesh Raheja wrote of the lack of imagination in the script, which affected the chemistry between Kajol and Ajay Devgn. In Rahul Rawail's "Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi" (2001) Kajol played twin sisters who are separated at birth. The film was poorly reviewed as was Kajol's dual role, dismissed as "a double bore". Roshmila Bhattacharya from "Screen" defended Kajol's presence and her energetic performance. Both "Raju Chacha" and "Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi" were flops at the box office, which Kajol professed to have left her frustrated.


title: Kajol

text: Later that year, Kajol played a leading role in Karan Johar's ensemble drama "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...", which was the top-grossing Indian production of all-time in the overseas market. She played Anjali Sharma, a young Punjabi woman from the Chandni Chowk area who falls for a wealthy man (Shah Rukh Khan). She identified herself with the character's noisy nature and found similarities between it and that of Hema Malini in "Sholay" (1975). The role required Kajol to speak in Punjabi, a language she was not fluent in, and although she struggled at first to master it, she achieved the pronunciation and diction with the help of producer Yash Johar and some of the crew members. Her comic-dramatic performance and Punjabi dialect met with critical acclaim and won her a third Filmfare Award in the Best Actress category. Ziya Us Salam, in a review for "The Hindu", asserted: "Kajol steals the thunder from under very high noses indeed. With her precise timing and subtle lingering expression, she is a delight all the way."


title: Kajol

text: Following "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...", Kajol took a sabbatical from full-time acting and declined a number of film roles. She revealed that she did not quit the cinema, but became more selective of her role choices and wanted to put more focus on her marriage. Film observers generally perceived at this time that her career was over.


title: Kajol

text: Kunal Kohli's romantic thriller "Fanaa" (2006) marked Kajol's return to films. She portrayed Zooni Ali Beg, a blind Kashmiri woman who unwittingly falls in love with a terrorist (Aamir Khan). The film was promoted as her comeback, a term she disliked saying that she did not retire but only took a break. Upon release, the film was a financial success, grossing against its budget. Both the film and Kajol's performance were received well. Sudhish Kamath of "The Hindu" wrote Kajol is enough of a reason to watch it, and Deepa Gahlot believed Kajol's conviction in the part made up for the film's flaws. "Fanaa" fetched Kajol a fourth Filmfare Award and second Zee Cine Award for Best Actress.


title: Kajol

text: Kajol worked intermittently through the rest of the decade. In 2007, she started filming for Rajkumar Santoshi's unreleased mythology film "Ramayana", based on the epic of the same name, where she played the goddess Sita. She considered her husband's directorial debut "U Me Aur Hum" (2008) a special film in her career. In it, she starred as Piya Thapar, a woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Although the film underperformed commercially, she received another Filmfare nomination for Best Actress for her performance. "The Economic Times" Gaurav Malini noted that Kajol's "simmering pace and ... recurring amnesiac spells, rather than getting repetitive, add compelling credibility to the story". Her physical appearance, however, generated negative response from critics.


title: Kajol

text: Kajol was next cast opposite Shah Rukh Khan in "My Name Is Khan" (2010), based on the discrimination faced by American Muslims after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was the first Indian film distributed by Fox Star Studios. It opened to mixed-to-positive reviews, and emerged as an international success. "My Name Is Khan" was screened at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival, the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, and the Rome Film Festival. Kajol's portrayal of Mandira, a Hindu single mother who marries a Muslim man with Asperger syndrome was praised by Indian and overseas critics. Rajeev Masand wrote positively of Kajol's sensitive performance, while the "Los Angeles Times" found her to be appealing in an emotion-based role. For the film, Kajol won her fifth Best Actress award at Filmfare, thereby sharing the record with her late aunt, Nutan. Additionally, she was nominated for the Screen Award for Best Actress, the Stardust Award for Best Actress in a Drama and the Zee Cine Award for Best Actor – Female.


title: Kajol

text: In the same year, Kajol was the protagonist in Siddharth Malhotra's "We Are Family", an adaptation of the 1998 American drama "Stepmom", alongside Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. Kajol played Maya, a character she identified with for being a "control freak" in chase of perfection, and found it largely different from the one played by Susan Sarandon in the original. Malhotra modelled Maya in part after his grandmother Bina Rai. Mayank Shekhar singled out Kajol's performance as being better than Sarandon's, and Rachel Saltz of "The New York Times" commented that "her naturalism gives the movie a genuine emotional kick". Kajol's next release that year, "Toonpur Ka Super Hero" featured her as Priya Kumar, a woman stuck in a cartoon world. Kajol spoke of the challenge and difficulty dubbing for the film. Dubbed the first Hindi live-action animated film, the film polarised critics and failed to attract an audience. Her role was dismissed as not having provided her with scope to perform. She followed it with a second hiatus upon the birth of her son in 2010 although she provided voiceover to the opening credits of the Hindi version of the fantasy film "Eega", which released in 2012.


title: Kajol

text: Following a five-year absence, Kajol teamed with Shah Rukh Khan for the seventh time in Rohit Shetty's action romance "Dilwale" (2015). She portrayed Meera Dev Malik, the daughter of a mafia don who falls for a man from the rival family. Reviewers were varied in their opinions about the film; "Mint" declared it as the "most tiresome film of the year". The mixed critical response led her to express regret over her choice of the film over the thriller "" (2016). Still, Kajol's performance drew positive comments despite a lesser character; in the words of Suhani Singh of "India Today", "Kajol is a radiant presence on the screen and delivers what's expected out of her—which is not much." "Dilwale" emerged as a major commercial success, grossing more than worldwide, and ranks among of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of all time. Kajol's performance garnered Best Actress nominations at various award ceremonies, including Filmfare.


title: Kajol

text: Later that year, she made her debut as a producer with the Marathi period drama "Vitti Dandu", co-produced by Ajay Devgn and Leena Deore, and exploring the relationship between a grandfather and his grandson. The film won the Best Marathi Film trophy at the Screen Awards and was well received by critics. In 2017, Kajol starred opposite Dhanush in "Velaiilla Pattadhari 2", a sequel to the 2014 masala film "Velaiilla Pattadhari" and her second Tamil-language film after "Minsara Kanavu". She was cast as Vasundhara Parameshwar, the chairwoman of the construction company Vasundhara Constructions. Kajol was somewhat apprehensive about doing the film but eventually accepted the role due to her faith in Dhanush and director Soundarya Rajinikanth, citing them for giving the bravery she needed to acting in a non-Hindi-language film. "Velaiilla Pattadhari 2" opened to a negative critical reception but succeeded financially, but Kajol was praised for her elegance and suitableness to the role.


title: Kajol

text: In 2018, Kajol portrayed a helicopter mother with an aspiration to be a singer who enrolls at her son's (Riddhi Sen) college to complete her education in the drama "Helicopter Eela", based on Anand Gandhi's Gujarati play "Beta, Kaagdo". She was particuraly drawn to the role for its colourful personality and her relationship with her son. The feature failed both commercially and with critics, and Kajol's performance was met with a mixed reception. A reviewer for Scroll.in wrote that she "doesn't have Riddhi Sen's comfort level in the comic scenes. She settles down when the movie finally does." Writing for the "Hindustan Times", Raja Sen criticised her boisterousness but said that the film's director Pradeep Sarkar "has lucked out with his heroine. Kajol is full of verve, and her enthusiasm is infectious even when her intensely eager character comes across as too chirrupy." The same year she dubbed the character Helen Parr in the computer-animated superhero film "Incredibles 2" Hindi version.


title: Kajol

text: By 2020, which "The Telegraph" declared a "big year" for Kajol, she has preferred to consider the importance of character rather than its length. Her first release of the year was the period drama "Tanhaji", co-starring Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan. Based on the life of Tanaji Malusare, it went onto become the highest-grossing film of the year, earning . She played Tanhaji's wife Savitribai whom she called a strong character which she found similar to herself. Critics were appreciative of her turn despite its limited screen time. Later in the year, she was seen in her first short film, "Devi", a suspense drama about nine women who stay in one room sheltered from the outer world. It was reviewed positively by critics, and Kajol was singled out for leading the diverse ensemble. "Devi" won the Best Film (Popular Choice) at the Filmfare Short Film Awards.


title: Kajol

text: Kajol's next project was Renuka Shahane's social drama "Tribhanga" (2021), which marked her first collaboration with Netflix. Set in Mumbai, it revolves around the intergenerational conflicts of three women from one family (Kajol, Mithila Palkar and Tanvi Azmi), with Kajol starring as foul-mouthed Odissi dancer Anuradha Apte. She found resemblance between the relationship of the three leading characters and her own with her mother and daughter. The film, along with Kajol's performance in it, received positive reviews. Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV praised her for providing the thrilling atmosphere the film needs "to keep trundling along at an even pace"; Stutee Ghosh of "The Quint" found Azmi and Kajol's strong performances to have "a stunning hold and it's difficult to focus on anyone else when they are in the frame". At the 2nd Filmfare OTT Awards, her performance was nominated for the Best Actress category.


title: Kajol

text: Kajol will next star in Revathi's family drama "Salaam Venky" and Disney+ Hotstar's Political and Legal drama, The Good Wife.


title: Kajol

text: In 1998, Kajol participated in concert tour "Awesome Foursome" alongside Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, and Akshay Kumar. After travelling across the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, Kajol refused to participate in any more world tours, unable to handle the stress. In 1999, following the launch of Ajay Devgn's production company, Devgan Films (renamed as Devgn Entertainment and Software Ltd.), Kajol worked towards building a website: "I'm computer savvy. Or at least I know more about computers than those around me. So I should be of some help there."


title: Kajol

text: In 2000, she launched the filmmaking-related online portal Cineexplore for the company, working as the supervisor. Devgn established another company, Ajay Devgn FFilms, in 2009. Kajol clarified she was not involved in its production aspect, but participated in the supervising and overseeing. She featured as a talent judge with husband Ajay Devgn and mother Tanuja in Zee TV's 2008 reality show "Rock-N-Roll Family", which she found to be a much tougher experience than that of in films. She was named a part-time member of the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati in 2016. In 2019, she wrote the foreword of a biography on the actress Sridevi, entitled "".


title: Kajol

text: Kajol has been actively involved in several philanthropic endeavours related to women and children. She is involved with Shiksha, a non-governmental organisation for children's education, and in 2009 she launched a campaign to support the cause. In 2011, Kajol participated in a fashion show organised by the Cancer Patients Aid Association, to generate funds for the organisation, and as the international goodwill ambassador and patron of The Loomba Trust (a charity organisation devoted to supporting widows and their children around the world, particularly in India). In 2012, Kajol was appointed as the brand ambassador of Pratham, a charity organization for children, and she featured in a short film on education and literacy, with the Hanuman Basti Primary School's students in Mumbai, to support it. Also that year, she made a documentary about protection of the girl child as a part of the Government of Maharashtra's campaign "Save the Girl Child". For her contribution in social service, Kajol was awarded the Karmaveer Puraskar.


title: Kajol

text: Kajol began dating actor Ajay Devgn in 1994, while filming "Gundaraj". Members of the media, however, labelled them as an "unlikely pair" due to their contrasting personalities. Devgn explained their relationship by saying, "We never resorted to the usual 'I love you' routine. A proposal never happened. We grew with each other. Marriage was never discussed, but it was always imminent". The couple married on 24 February 1999 in a traditional Maharashtrian ceremony at Devgn's house. The wedding was subject to wide media scrutiny, as certain members of the media criticised Kajol's decision to settle down at the pinnacle of her career. Kajol, however, maintained that she would not quit films, but would cut down on the amount of work that she did.


title: Kajol

text: Following her marriage, Kajol moved in with Devgn and his parents at the latter's ancestral house in Juhu. Tabloids have often romantically linked Devgn with other Bollywood actresses, and reported an imminent divorce. Dismissing the rumors as gossip, Kajol attested to not giving attention to such talk.


title: Kajol

text: Kajol prefers not to talk much about her personal life and dislikes being interviewed, considering it "a waste of time". She gave birth to a daughter, Nysa, on 20 April 2003. Seven years later, on 13 September 2010, she gave birth to a son, Yug. She described motherhood as "fab" and added that her kids brought out "the best in her". Kajol has used Devgn as her surname since 2015. She speaks English, Hindi and Marathi, and "can understand Bengali".


title: Kajol

text: After portraying leading roles in a series of family dramas, Kajol showed her acting versatility with "Gupt: The Hidden Truth" (1997), for which she was noted as being one of the first actresses of her era to play female anti-hero characters and becoming more popular than the male actors. She was also praised for her lively and spirited nature on-screen. Rajiv Menon credited Kajol as representing the "joie de vivre" of the 1990s, and Khalid Mohammed described her as "a great packet of talent". According to "Open", her spontaneity brought "a unique energy" to her films, and Karan Johar said, "I would call 'action' on a shoot and expect a little atom bomb explosion on set every time Kajol was around because that is who she was. She kept us all on our toes." "The Hindu" stated she "does not act out her scenes and deliver her lines; she inhabits her characters." The scholar Ashish Rajadhyaksha observed that she was the actress "around whom a script can be written and a film made".


title: Kajol

text: Kajol has been paired with the actor Shah Rukh Khan in many successful films, and commentators have described them as one of the greatest, on-screen pairs of the Hindi cinema. Summing up the total collection of their films ranging from "Baazigar" (1993) to "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham..." (2001), "India Today" estimated that they had grossed over worldwide, calling this "a magic that subsequent jodis have found hard to replicate". After the success of "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (1995), many directors have attempted to pair the two in their films; one of whom is Karan Johar, who directed them in three films and said that he did so in tribute to "Baazigar", the first film to feature the couple. In a 2013 poll conducted by "Filmfare", Kajol and Khan were voted as the "most stylish on-screen couple". In an article comparing her pairing with Khan to that with her husband Ajay Devgn published the same year, "Filmfare" Parampara Patil Hashmi concluded that both pairings performed well financially but noted that the former one is much superior since all films starring them succeeded at the box office.


title: Kajol

text: Unlike most of her contemporaries, Kajol has had a successful career post-marriage and motherhood, for which she was characterised as "the archetypal New Age woman". On breaking the stereotype, she opined: "Perceptions have changed a lot in the last few years. Married actresses don't necessarily have to play character roles in films. Filmmakers are experimenting and this is truly the best time for actresses like us." Following her marriage, journalists speculated it would be the ending point of her career. She continued to work in films but has been more selective, attributing it to the lack of worthy offers and her unwillingness to see herself in "films that are absolutely meaningless". Critics however noted that her success is attached to her collaborations with the filmmakers Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra. She defended this by saying of her preference to working with people she is comfortable with. Similar thoughts were expressed by the film distributor Ramesh Sippy, who stated that she added prospects to films she starred in.


title: Kajol

text: Known for her impulsive and stubborn nature, Kajol has been described by commentators to have a striking personality. Sukanya Verma wrote, "Think Kajol, think emotions. Either she is the firebrand or the emotional sensitive type. And sometimes she is pure, wicked fun." While interviewing her for the "Hindustan Times" in 2008, the journalist Hiren Kotwani took note of her straightforwardness when she was answering the given questions. "India Today" presumed that her outspoken behaviour have contributed in helping her winning film awards, and further commented, "There is a sparkling spontaneity to Kajol ... Film brats are rapidly tutored on the conventional wisdom of the industry, the line to success that needs to be toed. Maybe Tanuja never taught it, maybe Kajol never listened, for she has abandoned the predictable."


title: Kajol

text: Kajol has been criticised for her lack of interest in maintaining her appearance. Gautam Rajadhyaksha stated she was apathetic of hairstyles and clothes, and would be really happy if she was allowed to wear jeans, a white shirt, and a scarf every day. The journalist Kaveree Bamzai elaborated, "She hardly looks into the mirror, barely even glances at the set monitor, usually the crutch of every insecure actor, puts on make-up only under extreme duress, and ... never watches her old movies." Comparing her to Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil, the producer Mahesh Bhatt observed that Kajol "may not have [their] earthy sensuality but she has that extra sparkle in her eyes and a kind of energy she generates on screen which make her incredible". "Filmfare" however labelled her an "unconventional beauty", adding that she "set her own rules in the '90s".


title: Kajol

text: Kajol was listed in Box Office India's "Top Actresses" for five consecutive years (1995–1999), topping the list in 1998. In 2001 and 2006, Kajol featured in Rediff.com's annual "Top Bollywood Actresses" listing. Rediff.com also featured her in other lists: "Best Bollywood Actresses Ever", "Best Dressed Woman" and "Top 10 Actresses of 2000–2010". She peaked the fifth position as "the all-time favorite female star" in a 2008 poll conducted by "Outlook". In 2012, Kajol was placed at the fourth position by NDTV in the listing of "The Most Popular Actress of All Time", behind Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi and Meena Kumari, and Yahoo! featured her as "one of the ten most iconic beauties of Hindi cinema". Kajol was included on "Forbes India"s "Celebrity 100", a list based on the income and popularity of India's celebrities, in 2012, 2013 and 2017.


title: Kajol

text: In 2002, Kajol was presented with the Rajiv Gandhi Awards by the Mumbai Pradesh Youth Congress. She was one of the four Bollywood actors, alongside Priyanka Chopra, Hrithik Roshan and Shah Rukh Khan, whose miniature dolls were launched in the United Kingdom, under the name of "Bollywood Legends" in 2006. Kajol and Khan also became the first Indian actors to be invited by NASDAQ to open the NYSE American for promoting their film, "My Name Is Khan" (2010). In the next year, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour of the country, for her contribution to India's cinema. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis honoured her with the Swabhimani Mumbaikar Awards. Kajol unveiled her wax statue at London's Madame Tussauds museum in 2018.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians in the history of blues music, and one of the greatest guitarists of all time.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Born and raised in Dallas, Vaughan began playing guitar at age seven, initially inspired by his elder brother, Jimmie Vaughan. In 1972, he dropped out of high school and moved to Austin, where he began to gain a following after playing gigs on the local club circuit. Vaughan joined forces with Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums as Double Trouble in 1978 and established it as part of the Austin music scene; it soon became one of the most popular acts in Texas. He performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1982, where David Bowie saw him play. Bowie contacted him for a studio gig that resulted in Vaughan playing blues guitar on the album "Let's Dance" (1983), before being discovered by John Hammond who interested major label Epic Records in signing Vaughan and his band to a record deal. Within months, they achieved mainstream success for the critically acclaimed debut album "Texas Flood". With a series of successful network television appearances and extensive concert tours, Vaughan became the leading figure in the blues revival of the 1980s.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Playing his guitar behind his back or plucking the strings with his teeth as Jimi Hendrix did, he earned fame in Europe, which later resulted in breakthroughs for guitar players like Robert Cray, Jeff Healey, Robben Ford, and Walter Trout, amongst others.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: During the majority of his life, Vaughan struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction. He also struggled with the personal and professional pressures of fame and his marriage to Lenora "Lenny" Bailey. He successfully completed rehabilitation and began touring again with Double Trouble in November 1986. His fourth and final studio album "In Step" reached number 33 in the United States in 1989; it was one of Vaughan's most critically and commercially successful releases and included his only number-one hit, "Crossfire". He became one of the world's most highly demanded blues performers, and he headlined Madison Square Garden in 1989 and the Beale Street Music Festival in 1990.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: On August 27, 1990, Vaughan and four others were killed in a helicopter crash in East Troy, Wisconsin, after performing with Double Trouble at Alpine Valley Music Theatre. An investigation concluded that the cause of the accident was pilot error and Vaughan's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Omniflight Helicopters which was settled out of court. Vaughan's music continued to achieve commercial success with several posthumous releases and has sold over 15 million albums in the United States alone. In 2003, David Fricke of "Rolling Stone" ranked him the seventh greatest guitarist of all time. Vaughan was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, along with Double Trouble bandmates Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon, and Reese Wynans.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Vaughan's grandfather, Thomas Lee Vaughan, married Laura Belle LaRue and moved to Rockwall County, Texas where they lived by sharecropping.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Stevie's father, Jimmie Lee Vaughan, was born on September 6, 1921. Jimmie Vaughan, also known as Jim or Big Jim, dropped out of school at age sixteen and enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After his discharge from the military, he married Martha Jean ("née" Cook; 1928–2009) on January 13, 1950. They had a son, Jimmie, in 1951. Stevie was born at Methodist Hospital on October 3, 1954, in Dallas. Big Jim secured a job as an asbestos worker. The family moved frequently and lived in other states such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma before ultimately moving to the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. A shy and insecure boy, Vaughan was deeply affected by his childhood experiences. His father struggled with alcohol abuse and often terrorized his family and friends with his bad temper. In later years, Vaughan recalled that he had been a victim of his father's violence. His father died on August 27, 1986, exactly four years before Vaughan himself.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In the early 1960s, Vaughan's admiration for his brother Jimmie resulted in his trying different instruments such as the drums and saxophone. In 1961, for his seventh birthday, Vaughan received his first guitar, a toy guitar from Sears with a Western motif. Learning by ear he diligently committed himself, following along to songs by the Nightcaps, particularly "Wine, Wine, Wine" and "Thunderbird". He listened to blues artists such as Albert King, Otis Rush, and Muddy Waters, and rock guitarists including Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack, as well as jazz guitarists including Kenny Burrell. In 1963, he acquired his first electric guitar, a Gibson ES-125T, as a hand-me-down from Jimmie.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Soon after he acquired the electric guitar, Vaughan joined his first band, the Chantones, in 1965. Their first show was at a talent contest held in Dallas' Hill Theatre, but after realizing that they could not perform a Jimmy Reed song in its entirety, Vaughan left the band and joined the Brooklyn Underground, playing professionally at local bars and clubs. He received Jimmie's Fender Broadcaster, which he later traded for an Epiphone Riviera. When Jimmie left home at age sixteen, Vaughan's apparent obsession with the instrument caused a lack of support from his parents. Miserable at home, he took a job at a local hamburger stand, where he washed dishes and dumped trash for seventy cents an hour. After falling into a barrel of grease, he grew tired of the job and quit to devote his life to a music career.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In May 1969, after leaving the Brooklyn Underground, Vaughan joined a band called the Southern Distributor. He had learned the Yardbirds' "Jeff's Boogie" and played the song at the band audition. Mike Steinbach, the group's drummer, commented: "The kid was fourteen. We auditioned him on 'Jeff's Boogie,' really fast instrumental guitar, and he played it note for note." Although they played pop rock covers, Vaughan conveyed his interest in the addition of blues songs to the group's repertoire; he was told that he wouldn't earn a living playing blues music and he and the band parted ways. Later that year, bassist Tommy Shannon walked into a Dallas club and heard Vaughan playing guitar. Fascinated by the skillful playing, which he described as "incredible even then", Shannon borrowed a bass guitar and the two jammed. Within a few years, they began performing together in a band called Krackerjack.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In February 1970, Vaughan joined a band called Liberation, which was a nine-piece group with a horn section. Having spent the past month briefly playing bass with Jimmie in Texas Storm, he had originally auditioned as bassist. Impressed by Vaughan's guitar playing, Scott Phares, the group's original guitarist, modestly became the bassist. In mid-1970, they performed at the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas, where ZZ Top asked them to perform. During Liberation's break, Vaughan jammed with ZZ Top on the Nightcaps song "Thunderbird". Phares later described the performance: "they tore the house down. It was awesome. It was one of those magical evenings. Stevie fit in like a glove on a hand."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Attending Justin F. Kimball High School during the early 1970s, Vaughan's late-night shows contributed to his neglect of his studies, including music theory; he would often sleep during class. His pursuit of a musical career was disapproved of by many of the school's administrators but he was also encouraged by many people, including his art teacher, to strive for a career in art. In his sophomore year, he attended an evening class for experimental art at Southern Methodist University, but left when it conflicted with rehearsal. Vaughan later spoke of his dislike of the school and recalled having received daily notes from the principal about his grooming.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In September 1970, Vaughan made his first studio recordings with the band Cast of Thousands, which included future actor Stephen Tobolowsky. They recorded two songs, "Red, White and Blue" and "I Heard a Voice Last Night", for a compilation album, "A New Hi", that featured various teenage bands from Dallas. In late January 1971, feeling confined by playing pop hits with Liberation, Vaughan formed his own band, Blackbird. After growing tired of the Dallas music scene, he dropped out of school and moved with the band to Austin, Texas, which had more liberal and tolerant audiences. There, Vaughan initially took residence at the Rolling Hills Club, a local blues venue that would later become the Soap Creek Saloon. Blackbird played at several clubs in Austin and opened shows for bands such as Sugarloaf, Wishbone Ash, and Zephyr, but could not maintain a consistent lineup. In early December 1972, Vaughan left Blackbird and joined Krackerjack; he performed with them for less than three months.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In March 1973, Vaughan joined Marc Benno's band, the Nightcrawlers, having met Benno at a jam session years before. The band featured vocalist Doyle Bramhall, who met Vaughan when he was twelve years old. The next month, the Nightcrawlers recorded an album at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood for A&M Records. While the album was rejected by A&M, it included Vaughan's first songwriting efforts, "Dirty Pool" and "Crawlin'". Soon afterward, he and the Nightcrawlers traveled back to Austin without Benno. In mid-1973, they signed a contract with Bill Ham, manager for ZZ Top, and played various gigs across the Southern United States, although many of them were unsuccessful. Ham left the band stranded in Mississippi without any way to make it back home and demanded reimbursement from Vaughan for equipment expenses; Ham was never reimbursed.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In 1975, Vaughan joined a six-piece band called Paul Ray and the Cobras which included guitarist Denny Freeman and saxophonist Joe Sublett. For the next two-and-a-half years, he earned a living performing weekly at a popular venue in town, the Soap Creek Saloon, and ultimately the newly opened Antone's, widely known as Austin's "home of the blues". In late 1976, Vaughan recorded a single with them, "Other Days" as the A-side and "Texas Clover" as the B-side. Playing guitar on both tracks, the single was released on February 7, 1977. In March, readers of the "Austin Sun" voted them as Band of the Year. In addition to playing with the Cobras, Vaughan jammed with many of his influences at Antone's, including Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin, Jimmy Rogers, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Albert King.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Vaughan toured with the Cobras during much of 1977, but near the end of September, when they decided to strive for a mainstream musical direction, he left the band and formed Triple Threat Revue, which included singer Lou Ann Barton, bassist W. C. Clark, and drummer Fredde "Pharaoh" Walden. In January 1978, they recorded four songs in Austin, including Vaughan's composition "I'm Cryin'". The thirty-minute audio recording marks the only known studio recording of the band.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In mid-May 1978, Clark left to form his own group and Vaughan renamed the band Double Trouble, taken from the title of an Otis Rush song. Following the recruitment of bassist Jackie Newhouse, Walden quit in July, and was briefly replaced by Jack Moore, who had moved to Texas from Boston; he performed with the band for about two months. Vaughan then began looking for a drummer and soon after, he met Chris Layton through Sublett, who was his roommate. Layton, who had recently parted ways with Greezy Wheels, was taught by Vaughan to play a shuffle rhythm. When Vaughan offered Layton the position, he agreed. In early July, Vaughan befriended Lenora Bailey, known as "Lenny", who became his girlfriend, and ultimately his wife. The marriage was to last for six and a half years.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In early October 1978, Vaughan and Double Trouble earned a frequent residency performing at one of Austin's most popular nightspots, the Rome Inn. During a performance, Edi Johnson, an accountant at Manor Downs, noticed Vaughan. She remembered: "I'm not an authority on music—it's whatever turned me on—but this did." She recommended him to Manor Downs owner Frances Carr and general manager Chesley Millikin, who was interested in managing artists and saw Vaughan's musical potential. After Barton quit Double Trouble in mid-November 1979, Millikin signed Vaughan to a management contract. Vaughan also hired Robert "Cutter" Brandenburg as road manager, whom he had met in 1969. Addressing him as "Stevie Ray", Brandenburg convinced Vaughan to use his middle name on stage.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In October 1980, bassist Tommy Shannon attended a Double Trouble performance at Rockefeller's in Houston. Shannon, who was playing with Alan Haynes at the time, participated in a jam session with Vaughan and Layton halfway through their set. Shannon later commented: "I went down there that night, and I'll never forget this: it was like, when I walked in the door and I heard them playing, it was like a revelation. 'That's where I want to be; that's where I belong, right there.' During the break, I went up to Stevie and told him that. I didn't try to sneak around and hide it from the bass player [Jackie Newhouse]—I didn't know if he was listening or not. I just really wanted to be in that band. I sat in that night and it sounded great." Almost three months later, when Vaughan offered Shannon the position, he readily accepted.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: On December 5, 1979, while Vaughan was in a dressing room before a performance in Houston, an off-duty police officer arrested him after witnessing his usage of cocaine near an open window. He was formally charged with cocaine possession and subsequently released on $1,000 bail. Double Trouble was the opening act for Muddy Waters, who said about Vaughan's substance abuse: "Stevie could perhaps be the greatest guitar player that ever lived, but he won't live to get 40 years old if he doesn't leave that white powder alone." The following year, he was required to return on January 16 and February 29 for court appearances.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: During the final court date on April 17, 1980, Vaughan was sentenced with two years' probation and was prohibited from leaving Texas. Along with a stipulation of entering treatment for drug abuse, he was required to "avoid persons or places of known disreputable or harmful character"; he refused to comply with both of these orders. After a lawyer was hired, his probation officer had the sentence revised to allow him to work outside of the state. The incident later caused him to refuse maid service while staying in hotels during concert tours.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Although popular in Texas at the time, Double Trouble failed to gain national attention. The group's visibility improved when record producer Jerry Wexler recommended them to Claude Nobs, organizer of the Montreux Jazz Festival. He insisted the festival's blues night would be great with Vaughan, whom he called "a jewel, one of those rarities who comes along once in a lifetime", and Nobs agreed to book Double Trouble on July 17, 1982.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Vaughan opened with a medley arrangement of Freddie King's song "Hide Away" and his own fast instrumental composition, "Rude Mood". Double Trouble went on to perform renditions of Larry Davis' "Texas Flood", Hound Dog Taylor's "Give Me Back My Wig", and Albert Collins' "Collins Shuffle", as well as three original compositions: "Pride and Joy", "Love Struck Baby", and "Dirty Pool". The set ended with boos from the audience. "People"'s James McBride wrote:


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: According to road manager Don Opperman: "the way I remember it, the 'ooos' and the 'boos' were mixed together, but Stevie was pretty disappointed. Stevie [had] just handed me his guitar and walked off stage, and I'm like, 'are you coming back?' There was a doorway back there; the audience couldn't see the guys, but I could. He went back to the dressing room with his head in his hands. I went back there finally, and that was the end of the show." According to Vaughan: "it wasn't the whole crowd [that booed]. It was just a few people sitting right up front. The room there was built for acoustic jazz. When five or six people boo, wow, it sounds like the whole world hates you. They thought we were too loud, but shoot, I had four army blankets folded over my amp, and the volume level was on 2. I'm used to playin' on 10!" The performance was filmed and later released on DVD in September 2004.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: On the following night, Double Trouble was booked in the lounge of the Montreux Casino, with Jackson Browne in attendance. Browne jammed with Double Trouble until the early morning hours and offered them free use of his personal recording studio in downtown Los Angeles. In late November the band accepted his offer and recorded ten songs in two days. While they were in the studio, Vaughan received a telephone call from David Bowie, who had met him after the Montreux performance, and he invited him to participate in a recording session for his next studio album, "Let's Dance". In January 1983, Vaughan recorded guitar on six of the album's eight songs, including the title track and "China Girl". The album was released on April 14, 1983, and sold over three times as many copies as Bowie's previous album.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In mid-March 1983, Gregg Geller, vice president of A&R at Epic Records, signed Double Trouble to the label at the recommendation of record producer John Hammond. Soon afterward, Epic financed a music video for "Love Struck Baby", which was filmed at the Cherry Tavern in New York City. Vaughan recalled: "we changed the name of the place in the video. Four years ago I got married in a club where we used to play all the time called the Rome Inn. When they closed it down, the owner gave me the sign, so in the video we put that up behind me on the stage."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: With the success of "Let's Dance", Bowie requested Vaughan as the featured instrumentalist for the upcoming Serious Moonlight Tour, realizing that he was an essential aspect of the album's groundbreaking success. In late April, Vaughan began rehearsals for the tour in Las Colinas, Texas. When contract renegotiations for his performance fee failed, Vaughan abandoned the tour days before its opening date, and he was replaced by Earl Slick. Vaughan commented: "I couldn't gear everything on something I didn't really care a whole lot about. It was kind of risky, but I really didn't need all the headaches." Although contributing factors were widely disputed, Vaughan soon gained major publicity for quitting the tour.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: On May 9, the band performed at The Bottom Line in New York City, where they opened for Bryan Adams, with Hammond, Mick Jagger, John McEnroe, Rick Nielsen, Billy Gibbons, and Johnny Winter in attendance. Brandenburg described the performance as "ungodly": "I think Stevie played every lick as loud and as hard and with as much intensity as I've ever heard him." The performance earned Vaughan a positive review published in the "New York Post", asserting that Double Trouble outperformed Adams. "Fortunately, Bryan Adams, the Canadian rocker who is opening arena dates for Journey, doesn't headline too often", wrote Martin Porter, who claimed that after the band's performance, the stage had been "rendered to cinders by the most explosively original showmanship to grace the New York stage in some time."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: After acquiring the recordings from Browne's studio, Double Trouble began assembling the material for a full-length LP. The album, "Texas Flood", opens with the track "Love Struck Baby", which was written for Lenny on their "love-struck day". He composed "Pride and Joy" and "I'm Cryin'" for one of his former girlfriends, Lindi Bethel. Although both are musically similar, their lyrics are two different perspectives of the relationship. Along with covers of Howlin' Wolf, the Isley Brothers, and Buddy Guy, the album included Vaughan's cover of Larry Davis' "Texas Flood", a song which he became strongly associated with. "Lenny" served as a tribute to his wife, which he composed at the end of their bed.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: "Texas Flood" featured cover art by illustrator Brad Holland, who is known for his artwork for "Playboy" and "The New York Times". Originally envisioned with Vaughan sitting on a horse depicting a promotable resemblance, Holland painted an image of him leaning against a wall with a guitar, using a photograph as a reference. Released on June 13, 1983, "Texas Flood" peaked at number 38 and ultimately sold half a million copies. While "Rolling Stone" editor Kurt Loder asserted that Vaughan did not possess a distinctive voice, according to AllMusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the release was a "monumental impact". "Billboard" described it as "a guitar boogie lovers delight". Agent Alex Hodges commented: "No one knew how big that record would be, because guitar players weren't necessarily in vogue, except for some that were so established they were undeniable ... he was one of the few artists that was recouped on every record in a short period of time."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: On June 16, Vaughan gave a performance at Tango nightclub in Dallas, which celebrated the album's release. Assorted VIPs attended the performance, including Ted Nugent, Sammy Hagar, and members of The Kinks and Uriah Heep. Jack Chase, vice president of marketing for Epic, recalled: "the coming-out party at Tango was very important; it was absolutely huge. All the radio station personalities, DJs, program directors, all the retail record store owners and the important managers, press, all the executives from New York came down—about seven hundred people. We attacked in Dallas first with Q102-FM and [DJ] Redbeard. We had the Tango party—it was hot. It was "the" ticket." "The Dallas Morning News" reviewed the performance, starting with the rhetorical question; "what if Stevie Ray Vaughan had an album release party and everybody came? It happened Thursday night at Tango. ... The adrenalin must have been gushing through the musicians' veins as they performed with rare finesse and skill."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Following a brief tour in Europe, Hodges arranged an engagement for Double Trouble as The Moody Blues' opening act during a two-month tour of North America. Hodges stated that many people disliked the idea of Double Trouble opening for The Moody Blues, but asserted that a common thread which both bands shared was "album-oriented rock". Tommy Shannon described the tour as "glorious": "Our record hadn't become that successful yet, but we were playing in front of coliseums full of people. We just went out and played, and it fit like a glove. The sound rang through those big coliseums like a monster. People were going crazy, and they had no idea who we were!" After appearing on the television series "Austin City Limits", the band played a sold-out concert at New York City's Beacon Theatre. "Variety" wrote that their ninety-minute set at the Beacon "left no doubt that this young Texas musician is indeed the 'guitar hero of the present era.'"


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In January 1984, Double Trouble began recording their second studio album, "Couldn't Stand the Weather", at the Power Station, with John Hammond as executive producer and engineer Richard Mullen. Layton later recalled working with Hammond: "he was kind of like a nice hand on your shoulder, as opposed to someone that jumped in and said, 'let's redo this, let's do that more.' He didn't get involved in that way at all. He was a feedback person." As the sessions began, Vaughan's cover of Bob Geddins' "Tin Pan Alley" was recorded while audio levels were being checked. Layton remembers the performance: "... we did probably the quietest version we ever did up 'til that point. We ended it and [Hammond] said; 'that's the best that song will ever sound,' and we went; 'we haven't even got sounds, have we?' He goes, 'that doesn't matter. That's the best you'll ever do that song.' We tried it again five, six, seven times - I can't even remember. But it never quite sounded like it did that first time."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: During recording sessions, Vaughan began experimenting with other combinations of musicians, including Fran Christina and Stan Harrison, who played drums and saxophone respectively on the jazz instrumental, "Stang's Swang". Jimmie Vaughan played rhythm guitar on his cover of Guitar Slim's "The Things That I Used to Do" and the title track, in the latter of which Vaughan carries a worldly message in his lyrics. According to musicologist Andy Aledort, Vaughan's guitar playing throughout the song is marked by steady rhythmic strumming patterns and improvised lead lines, with a distinctive R&B and soul single-note riff, doubled in octaves by guitar and bass.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: "Couldn't Stand the Weather" was released on May 15, 1984, and two weeks later it had rapidly outpaced the sales of "Texas Flood". It peaked at number 31 and spent 38 weeks on the charts. The album includes Vaughan's cover of Jimi Hendrix's song, "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", which provoked inevitable comparisons to Hendrix. According to AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine, "Couldn't Stand the Weather" "confirmed that the acclaimed debut was no fluke, while matching, if not bettering, the sales of its predecessor, thereby cementing Vaughan's status as a giant of modern blues." According to authors Joe Nick Patoski and Bill Crawford, the album "was a major turning point in Stevie Ray Vaughan's development" and Vaughan's singing improved.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: On October 4, 1984, Vaughan headlined a performance at Carnegie Hall that included many guest musicians. For the second half of the concert, he added Jimmie as rhythm guitarist, drummer George Rains, keyboardist Dr. John, Roomful of Blues horn section, and featured vocalist Angela Strehli. The ensemble rehearsed for less than two weeks before the performance, and despite the solid dynamics of Double Trouble for the first half of the performance, according to Patoski and Crawford, the big band concept never entirely took form. Before arriving at the engagement, the venue sold out, which made Vaughan overexcited and nervous as he did not calm down until halfway through the third song. The benefit for the T.J. Martell Foundation's work in leukemia and cancer research was an important draw for the event. As his scheduled time slot drew closer, he indicated that he preferred traveling to the venue by limousine to avoid being swarmed by fans on the street; the band took the stage around 8:00 p.m. The audience of 2,200 people, which included Vaughan's wife, family and friends, transformed the venue into what Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" described as "a whistling, stomping roadhouse".


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Introduced by Hammond as "one of the greatest guitar players of all time", Vaughan opened with "Scuttle Buttin'", wearing a custom-made mariachi suit he described as a "Mexican tuxedo". Double Trouble went on to perform renditions of the Isley Brothers' "Testify", The Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", "Tin Pan Alley", Elmore James' "The Sky Is Crying", and W. C. Clark's "Cold Shot", along with four original compositions including "Love Struck Baby", "Honey Bee", "Couldn't Stand the Weather", and "Rude Mood". During the second half of the performance, Vaughan performed covers by Larry Davis, Buddy Guy, Guitar Slim, Albert King, Jackie Wilson, and Albert Collins. The set ended with Vaughan performing solo renditions of "Lenny" and "Rude Mood".


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: The "Dallas Times-Herald" wrote of the performance at Carnegie Hall as; "was full of stomping feet and swaying bodies, kids in blue jeans hanging off the balconies, dancing bodies that clogged the aisles." "The New York Times" asserted that, despite the venue's "muddy" acoustics, their performance was "filled with verve", and Vaughan's playing was "handsomely displayed". Jimmie Vaughan later commented: "I was worried the crowd might be a little stiff. Turned out they're just like any other beer joint." Vaughan commented: "We won't be limited to just the trio, although that doesn't mean we'll stop doing the trio. I'm planning on doing that too. I ain't gonna stay in one place. If I do, I'm stupid." The performance was recorded and later released as an official live LP. The album was released posthumously on July 29, 1997, by Epic Records; it was ultimately certified gold.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Immediately after the concert, Vaughan attended a private party at a downtown club in New York, which was sponsored by MTV, where he was greeted by an hour's worth of supporters. On the following day, Double Trouble made an appearance at a record store in Greenwich Village, where they signed autographs for fans. In late October 1984, the band toured Australia and New Zealand, which included one of their first appearances on Australian television—on "Hey Hey It's Saturday"—where they performed "Texas Flood", and an interview on "Sounds". On November 5 and 9, they played sold-out concerts at the Sydney Opera House. Upon returning to the U.S., Double Trouble went on a brief tour in California. Soon afterward, Vaughan and Lenny went to the island of Saint Croix, on the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea, where they had spent some time vacationing in December. The next month, Double Trouble flew to Japan, where they appeared for five performances, including at Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan in Osaka.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In March 1985, recording for Double Trouble's third studio album, "Soul to Soul", began at the Dallas Sound Lab. As the sessions progressed, Vaughan became increasingly frustrated with his own lack of inspiration. He was also allowed a relaxed pace of recording the album, which contributed to a lack of focus due to excesses in alcohol and other drugs. Roadie Byron Barr later recalled: "the routine was to go to the studio, do dope, and play ping-pong." Vaughan, who found it increasingly difficult to be able to play rhythm guitar parts and sing at the same time, wanted to add another dimension to the band, so he hired keyboardist Reese Wynans to record on the album; he joined the band soon thereafter.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: During the album's production, Vaughan appeared at the Houston Astrodome on April 10, 1985, where he performed a slide guitar rendition of the U.S. national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner"; his performance was met with booing. Upon leaving the stage, Vaughan acquired an autograph from former player for the New York Yankees, Mickey Mantle. Astrodome publicist Molly Glentzer wrote in the "Houston Press": "As Vaughan shuffled back behind home plate, he was only lucid enough to know that he wanted Mickey Mantle's autograph. Mantle obliged. 'I never signed a guitar before.' Nobody asked Vaughan for his autograph. I was sure he'd be dead before he hit 30." Critics associated his performance with Jimi Hendrix's rendition at Woodstock in 1969, yet Vaughan disliked this comparison: "I heard they even wrote about it in one of the music magazines and they tried to put the two versions side by side. I hate that stuff. His version was great."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Released on September 30, 1985, "Soul to Soul" peaked at number 34 and remained on the Billboard 200 through mid-1986, eventually certified gold. Critic Jimmy Guterman of "Rolling Stone" wrote: "there's some life left in their blues rock pastiche; it's also possible that they've run out of gas." According to Patoski and Crawford, sales of the album "did not match "Couldn't Stand the Weather", suggesting Stevie Ray and Double Trouble were plateauing". Vaughan commented: "as far as what's on there song-wise, I like the album a lot. It meant a lot to us what we went through to get this record. There were a lot of odds and we still stayed strong. We grew a lot with the people in the band and immediate friends around us; we learned a lot and grew a lot closer. That has a lot to do with why it's called ["Soul to Soul"]."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: After touring for nine and a half months, Epic requested a fourth album from Double Trouble as part of their contractual obligation. In July 1986, Vaughan decided that they would record the LP, "Live Alive", during three live appearances in Austin and Dallas. On July 17 and 18, the band performed sold-out concerts at the Austin Opera House, and July 19 at the Dallas Starfest. They used recordings of these concerts to assemble the LP, which was produced by Vaughan. Shannon was backstage before the Austin concert and predicted to new manager Alex Hodges that both Vaughan and he were "headed for a brick wall". Guitarist Denny Freeman attended the Austin performances; he called the shows a "musical mess, because they would go into these chaotic jams with no control. I didn't know what exactly was going on, but I was concerned." Both Layton and Shannon remarked that their work schedule and drugs were causing the band to lose focus. According to Wynans: "Things were getting illogical and crazy."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: The "Live Alive" album was released on November 17, 1986, and was the only official live Double Trouble LP made commercially available during Vaughan's lifetime, though it never appeared on the Billboard 200 chart. Though many critics claimed that most of the album was overdubbed, engineer Gary Olazabal, who mixed the album, asserted that most of the material was recorded poorly. Vaughan later admitted that it was not one of his better efforts; he recalled: "I wasn't in very good shape when we recorded "Live Alive". At the time, I didn't realize how bad a shape I was in. There were more fix-it jobs done on the album than I would have liked. Some of the work sounds like [it was] the work of half-dead people. There were some great notes that came out, but I just wasn't in control; nobody was."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In 1960 when Vaughan was six years old, he began stealing his father's drinks. Drawn in by its effects, he started making his own drinks and this resulted in alcohol dependence. He explained: "that's when I first started stealing daddy's drinks. Or when my parents were gone, I'd find the bottle and make myself one. I thought it was cool ... thought the kids down the street would think it was cool. That's where it began, and I had been depending on it ever since." According to the authors Joe Nick Patoski and Bill Crawford: "In the ensuing twenty-five years, he had worked his way through the "Physicians' Desk Reference" before finding his poisons of preference—alcohol and cocaine."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: While Vaughan asserted that he first experienced the effects of cocaine when a doctor prescribed him a liquid solution containing it as a nasal spray, according to Patoski and Crawford, the earliest that Vaughan is known to have used it is in 1975, while performing with the Cobras. Before that, Vaughan had briefly used other drugs such as cannabis, methamphetamine, and Quaaludes, the brand name for methaqualone. After 1975, he regularly drank whiskey and used cocaine, particularly mixing the two substances together. According to Hopkins, by the time of Double Trouble's European tour in September 1986, "his lifestyle of substance abuse had reached a peak, probably better characterized as the bottom of a deep chasm."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: At the height of Vaughan's substance abuse, he drank of whiskey and used of cocaine each day. Personal assistant Tim Duckworth explained: "I would make sure he would eat breakfast instead of waking up drinking every morning, which was probably the worst thing he was doing." According to Vaughan: "it got to the point where if I'd try to say "hi" to somebody, I would just fall apart crying. It was like solid doom."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In September 1986, Double Trouble traveled to Denmark for a one-month tour of Europe. During the late night hours of September 28, Vaughan became ill after a performance in Ludwigshafen, Germany, suffering from near-death dehydration, for which he received medical treatment. The incident resulted in his checking into The London Clinic under the care of Dr. Victor Bloom, who warned him that he was a month away from death. After staying in London for more than a week, he returned to the United States and entered Peachford Hospital in Atlanta, where he spent four weeks in rehabilitation, and then checked into rehab in Austin.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In November 1986, following his departure from rehab, Vaughan moved back into his mother's Glenfield Avenue house in Dallas, which is where he had spent much of his childhood. During this time, Double Trouble began rehearsals for the "Live Alive" tour. Although Vaughan was nervous about performing after achieving sobriety, he received positive reassurance. Wynans later recalled: "Stevie was real worried about playing after he'd gotten sober...he didn't know if he had anything left to offer. Once we got back out on the road, he was very inspired and motivated." The tour began on November 23 at Towson State University, which was Vaughan's first performance with Double Trouble after rehab. On December 31, 1986, they played a concert at Atlanta's Fox Theatre, which featured encore performances with Lonnie Mack.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: As the tour progressed, Vaughan was longing to work on material for his next LP, but in January 1987, he filed for a divorce from Lenny, which restricted him from any projects until the proceedings were finalized. This prevented him from writing and recording songs for almost two years, but Double Trouble wrote the song "Crossfire" with Bill Carter and Ruth Ellsworth. Layton recalled: "we wrote the music, and they had to write the lyrics. We had just gotten together; Stevie was unable to be there at that time. He was in Dallas doing some things, and we just got together and started writing some songs. That was the first one we wrote." On August 6, 1987, Double Trouble appeared at the Austin Aqua Festival, where they played to one of the largest audiences of their career. According to biographer Craig Hopkins, as many as 20,000 people attended the concert. Following a month-long tour as the opening act for Robert Plant in May 1988, which included a concert at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, the band was booked for a European leg, which included 22 performances, and ended in Oulu, Finland on July 17. This would be Vaughan's last concert appearance in Europe.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: After Vaughan's divorce from Lenora "Lenny" Darlene Bailey became final, recording for Double Trouble's fourth and final studio album, "In Step", began at Kiva Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, working with producer Jim Gaines and co-songwriter Doyle Bramhall. Initially, he had doubts about his musical and creative abilities after achieving sobriety, but he gained confidence as the sessions progressed. Shannon later recalled: ""In Step" was, for him, a big growing experience. In my opinion, it's our best studio album, and I think he felt that way, too." Bramhall, who had also entered rehab, wrote songs with Vaughan about addiction and redemption. According to Vaughan, the album was titled "In Step" because "I'm finally in step with life, in step with myself, in step with my music." The album's liner notes include the quote; "'thank God the elevator's broken," a reference to the twelve-step program proposed by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: After the "In Step" recording sessions moved to Los Angeles, Vaughan added horn players Joe Sublett and Darrell Leonard, who played saxophone and trumpet respectively on both "Crossfire" and "Love Me Darlin". Shortly before the album's production was complete, Vaughan and Double Trouble appeared at a presidential inaugural party in Washington, D.C. for George H. W. Bush. "In Step" was released on June 13, 1989, and eight months later, it was certified gold. The album was Vaughan's most commercially successful release and his first one to win a Grammy Award. It peaked at number 33 on the Billboard 200, spending 47 weeks on the chart. "In Step" included the song, "Crossfire", which was written by Double Trouble, Bill Carter, and Ruth Ellsworth; it became his only number one hit. The album also included one of his first recordings to feature the use of a Fuzz Face on Vaughan's cover of the Howlin' Wolf song, "Love Me Darlin.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In July 1989, Neil Perry, a writer for "Sounds" magazine, wrote: "the album closes with the brow-soothing swoon of 'Riviera Paradise,' a slow, lengthy guitar and piano workout that proves just why Vaughan is to the guitar what Nureyev is to ballet." According to music journalist Robert Christgau, Vaughan was "writing blues for AA...he escapes the blues undamaged for the first time in his career." In October 1989, the "Boca Raton News" described Vaughan's guitar solos as "determined, clear-headed and downright stinging" and his lyrics as "tension-filled allegories".


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: On Monday, August 27, 1990, at 12:50 a.m. (CDT), Vaughan and members of Eric Clapton's touring entourage played an all-star encore jam session at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Alpine Valley Resort in East Troy, Wisconsin. They then left for Midway International Airport in Chicago in a Bell 206B helicopter, the most common way for acts to enter and exit the venue, as there is only one road in and out, heavily used by fans. The helicopter crashed into a nearby ski hill shortly after takeoff. Vaughan and the four others on board—pilot Jeff Brown, agent Bobby Brooks, bodyguard Nigel Browne, and tour manager Colin Smythe—died. The helicopter was owned by Chicago-based company Omniflight Helicopters. The Elkhorn coroner's inquest found that all five men died instantly.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: The investigation determined the aircraft departed in foggy conditions with visibility reportedly under , according to a local forecast. The National Transportation Safety Board report stated: "As the third helicopter was departing, it remained at a lower altitude than the others, and the pilot turned southeasterly toward rising terrain. Subsequently, the helicopter crashed on hilly terrain about three-fifths of a mile from the takeoff point." Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records showed that Brown was qualified to fly by instruments in a fixed-wing aircraft, but not in a helicopter. Toxicology tests performed on the victims revealed no traces of drugs or alcohol in their systems. Vaughan's funeral service was held on August 31, 1990, at Laurel Land Cemetery in Dallas, Texas. His wooden casket quickly became adorned with bouquets of flowers. An estimated 3,000 mourners joined a procession led by a white hearse. Among those at the public ceremony were Jeff Healey, Charlie Sexton, ZZ Top, Colin James, Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt and Buddy Guy. Vaughan's grave marker reads: "Thank you ... for all the love you passed our way."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Vaughan's music was rooted in blues, rock, and jazz. He was influenced by Johnny Winter, Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, Lonnie Mack, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, Guitar Slim, Chuck Berry, and Muddy Waters. According to nightclub owner Clifford Antone, who opened Antone's in 1975, Vaughan jammed with Albert King at Antone's in July 1977 and it almost "scared him to death", saying that "it was the best I've ever saw Albert or the best I ever saw Stevie". While Albert King had a substantial influence on Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix was Vaughan's greatest inspiration. Vaughan declared: "I love Hendrix for so many reasons. He was so much more than just a blues guitarist—he played damn well any kind of guitar he wanted. In fact I'm not sure if he even played the guitar—he played music." He was also influenced by such jazz guitarists as Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, and George Benson.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In 1987, Vaughan listed Lonnie Mack first among the guitarists he had listened to, both as a youngster and as an adult. Vaughan observed that Mack was "ahead of his time" and said, "I got a lot of my fast stuff from Lonnie". On another occasion, Vaughan said that he had learned tremolo picking and vibrato from Mack and that Mack had taught him to "play guitar from the heart." Mack recalled his first meeting with Vaughan in 1978:


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Vaughan's relationship with another Texas blues legend, Johnny Winter, was a little more complex. Although they met several times, and often played sessions with the same musicians or even performed the same material, as in the case of "Boot Hill", Vaughan always refrained from acknowledging Winter in any form. In his biography, "Raisin' Cain", Winter says that he was unnerved after reading Vaughan stating in an interview that he never met or knew Johnny Winter. "We even played together over at Tommy Shannon's house one time." Vaughan settled the issue in 1988 on the occasion of a blues festival in Europe where both he and Winter were on the bill, explaining that he has been misquoted and that "Every musician in Texas knows Johnny and has learned something from him". Asked to compare their playing styles in an interview in 2010, Winter admitted that "mine's a little bit rawer, I think."


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Vaughan owned and used a variety of guitars during his career. His guitar of choice, and the instrument that he became most associated with, was the Fender Stratocaster, his favorite being a 1963 body with a 1962 neck and pickups dated from 1959. This is why Vaughan usually referred to his Stratocaster as a "1959 Strat". He explained why he favored this guitar in a 1983 interview: "I like the strength of its sound. Any guitar I play has got to be pretty versatile. It's got a big, strong tone and it'll take anything I do to it." Vaughan also referred to this instrument as his "first wife", or "Number One". Another favourite guitar was a slightly later Strat he named 'Lenny' after his wife, Lenora. While at a local pawn shop in 1980, Vaughan had noticed this particular guitar, a 1965 Stratocaster that had been refinished in red, with the original sunburst finish peeking through. It also had a 1910 Mandolin inlay just below the bridge. The pawn shop was asking $300 for it, which was way more than Vaughan had at the time. Lenny saw how badly he wanted this guitar, so she got six of their friends to chip in $50 each, and bought it for him. The guitar was presented to him on his birthday in 1980, and that night, after bringing "Lenny" (the guitar, and wife) home with him, he wrote the song, "Lenny". He started using a borrowed Stratocaster during high school and used Stratocasters predominantly in his live performances and recordings, although he did play other guitars, including custom guitars.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: One of the custom guitars—nicknamed "Main"—was built by James Hamilton of Hamiltone Guitars in Buffalo, New York. It was a gift from Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Gibbons had commissioned Hamilton to build the guitar in 1979. There were some delays, including having to re-do the mother of pearl inlay of Vaughan's name on the fretboard when he changed his stage name from Stevie Vaughan to Stevie Ray Vaughan. The guitar was presented to him by Jim Hamilton on April 29, 1984. Hamilton recalls that Stevie Ray Vaughan was so happy with the guitar that he played it that night at Springfest on the University of Buffalo campus. It remained one of the main guitars he used on stage and in studio. Vaughan made some alterations to the guitar, including replacing the bronze color Gibson knobs with white Fender knobs, as he preferred the ribbing on the Fender knobs. The pickups had to be changed after the guitar was used in the "Couldn't Stand the Weather" video, in which Stevie and "Main" were drenched with water, and the pickups were ruined. Vaughan's preferred guitar has been summarized as his,


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Number One Strat, which Stevie claimed to be a '59, since that was the date stamped on the back of the pickups… this was incorrect, however, as guitar tech Rene Martinez (who oversaw SRV's guitars since 1980) found the stamp of 1963 on the body and 1962 on the original neck (the neck was replaced in 1989 after it could no longer be refretted properly; Rene used the neck from another SRV favorite, "Red", as it was also a 1962 model). The pickups are also relatively low output, not the hot overwound myth that gained legs during the 80s… all 3 pickups are rumored to be under 6k ohms output impedance, which would be typical of a 1959 set (the neck pickups tended to be hottest, but not by much). Although the Fender SRV signature model uses Texas Special pickups, which Stevie was heavily involved in the making of, they do not accurately represent the sound of his original Number One.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Vaughan bought many Stratocasters and gave some away as gifts. A sunburst Diplomat Strat-style guitar was purchased by Vaughan and given to his girlfriend Janna Lapidus to learn to play on. Vaughan used a custom set of uncommonly heavy strings, gauges .013, .015, .019, .028, .038, .058, and tuned a half-step below standard tuning. He played with so much tension that it was not uncommon for him to separate his fingernail because of his quick movement along the strings. The owner of an Austin club recalled Vaughan coming into the office between sets to borrow super glue, which he used to keep fingernail split from widening while he continued to play. The super glue was suggested by Rene Martinez, who was Stevie's guitar technician. Martinez eventually convinced Stevie to change to slightly lighter strings. He preferred a guitar neck with an asymmetrical profile (thicker at the top), which was more comfortable for his thumb-over style of playing. Heavy use of the vibrato bar necessitated frequent replacements; Vaughan often had his roadie, Byron Barr, obtain custom stainless steel bars made by Barr's father.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Vaughan was also photographed playing a Rickenbacker Capri, a National Duolian, Epiphone Riviera, Gibson Flying V, as well as several other models. Vaughan used a Gibson Johnny Smith to record "Stang's Swang", and a Guild 12-string acoustic for his performance on "MTV Unplugged" in January 1990. On June 24, 2004, one of Vaughan's Stratocasters, the aforementioned "Lenny" strat, was sold at an auction to benefit Eric Clapton's Crossroads Centre in Antigua; the instrument was bought by Guitar Center for $623,500.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Vaughan was a catalyst in the revival of vintage amplifiers and effects during the 1980s. His loud volume required powerful and robust amplifiers. Vaughan used two black-face Fender Super Reverbs, which were crucial in shaping his clear overdriven sound. He would often blend other amps with the Super Reverbs, including black-face Fender Vibroverbs, and brands including Dumble and Marshall, which he used for his clean sound.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: While an Ibanez Tube Screamer and a Vox wah-wah pedal were his mainstay effects, Vaughan experimented with a range of effects. He used a Fender Vibratone, designed as a Leslie speaker for electric guitars which provided a warbling chorus effect; it can be heard on the track "Cold Shot". He used a vintage Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face that can be heard on "In Step", as well as an Octavia. The Guitar Geek website provides a detailed illustration of Vaughan's 1985 equipment set up based on interviews with his guitar tech and effects builder, Cesar Diaz.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Vaughan throughout his career revived blues rock and paved the way for many other artists. Vaughan's work continues to influence numerous blues, rock, and alternative artists, including John Mayer, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Mike McCready, Albert Cummings, Los Lonely Boys and Chris Duarte among others. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Vaughan as "the leading light in American blues" and developed "a uniquely eclectic and fiery style that sounded like no other guitarist, regardless of genre". In 1983, "Variety" magazine called Vaughan the "guitar hero of the present era".


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In the months that followed his death, Vaughan sold over 5.5 million albums in the United States. On September 25, 1990, Epic released "Family Style", an LP the Vaughan brothers cut at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The label released several promotional singles and videos for the collaborative effort. In November 1990, CMV Enterprises released "Pride and Joy", a collection of eight Double Trouble music videos. Sony signed a deal with the Vaughan estate to obtain control of his back catalog, as well as permission to release albums with previously unreleased material and new collections of released work. On October 29, 1991, "The Sky Is Crying" was released as Vaughan's first posthumous album with Double Trouble, and featured studio recordings from 1984 to 1985. Other compilations, live albums, and films have also been released since his death.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: On October 3, 1991, Texas governor Ann Richards proclaimed "Stevie Ray Vaughan Commemoration Day", during which a memorial concert was held at the Texas Theatre. In 1993, a memorial statue of Vaughan was unveiled on Auditorium Shores and is the first public monument of a musician in Austin. In September 1994, a Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Run for Recovery was held in Dallas; the event was a benefit for the Ethel Daniels Foundation, established to help those in recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction who cannot afford treatment. In 1999, the Musicians' Assistance Program (later renamed MusiCares MAP Fund) created the "Stevie Ray Vaughan Award" to honor the memory of Vaughan and to recognize musicians for their devotion to helping other addicts struggling with the recovery process. The recipients include Eric Clapton, David Crosby, Steven Tyler, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Pete Townshend, Chris Cornell, Jerry Cantrell, and Mike McCready among others. In 1993, Martha Vaughan established the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Scholarship Fund, awarded to students at W.E. Greiner Middle School in Oakcliff who intend to attend college and pursue the arts as a profession.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: Vaughan won five W. C. Handy Awards and was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2000. In 1985, he was named an honorary admiral in the Texas Navy. Vaughan had a single number-one hit on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for the song "Crossfire". His album sales in the U.S. stand at over 15 million units. "Family Style", released shortly after his death, won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album and became his best-selling, non-Double Trouble studio album with over a million shipments in the U.S. In 2003, "Rolling Stone" ranked him seventh among the "100 Greatest Guitar Players of All Time". He also became eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, but did not appear on a nominations roster until 2014. He was inducted in the RRHOF alongside Double Trouble in 2015. "Guitar World" magazine ranked him as Number One in its list of the greatest blues guitarists.


title: Stevie Ray Vaughan

text: In 1994 the city of Austin, Texas, erected the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial on the hiking trail beside Lady Bird Lake.


title: Gianluigi Buffon

text: Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian professional footballer who captains and plays as a goalkeeper for the club Parma. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. He is one of the few recorded players to have made over 1,100 professional career appearances.


title: Gianluigi Buffon

text: At club level, Buffon's professional career began with Parma in 1995, where he made his Serie A debut. He soon broke into the starting line-up and earned a reputation as one of the most promising young goalkeepers in Italy, helping Parma to win the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup and the Supercoppa Italiana in 1999. After joining Juventus in 2001, for the world record fee for a goalkeeper of €52 million at the time, Buffon won Serie A titles in both of his first two seasons at the club, and established himself as one of the best players in the world in his position. In his first spell at Juventus, he won a record nine Serie A titles, four Coppa Italias, and five Supercoppa Italianas. He was the first goalkeeper to win the Serie A Footballer of the Year award, and was named Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year a record twelve times. After reaching the 2015 and 2017 UEFA Champions League finals, he was named to the Champions League Squad of the Season on both occasions, and won the inaugural The Best FIFA Goalkeeper award in the latter year. After 17 years with Juventus, Buffon signed with French club Paris Saint-Germain at the age of 40 in 2018, where he was used in a rotational role with Alphonse Areola; he won the Trophée des Champions and the Ligue 1 title in his only season with the team, before returning to Juventus the following year. During the 2019–20 season, Buffon served primarily as a back-up to Wojciech Szczęsny, but still managed to break Paolo Maldini's record of 647 appearances in Serie A, as he won a record tenth Serie A title with the club. The following season he continued to serve as a back-up, but started in the Coppa Italia, winning his record sixth title. In June 2021, he returned to his boyhood club Parma, who were relegated to Serie B for that season.