″It’s a hole no one can fill.″Īndy Schwartz, a spokesman for Epic Records in New York, which owns Vaughan’s label, said Vaughan had toured this summer with blues singer Joe Cocker and was to release a new record in September with his brother, Jimmie. ″This is the worst accident to happen to Texas music since Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper went down in the ’50s,″ said Casey Monahan, director of the Texas Music Office in Austin, where Vaughan got his musical start. ″He was one of the greatest I ever met,″ Guy said. He was just beginning to be appreciated and develop his potential.″Ĭhicago blues guitarist Buddy Guy, a longtime friend of Vaughan who had participated in Sunday night’s concert, choked back tears after learning about the crash. ″The loss is a great loss for blues music and all fans of music around the world. ″Stevie Ray Vaughan was like one of my children, and I felt a great loss when I heard the news,″ B.B. King said he was ″saddened beyond words″ after learning of Vaughan’s death. Vaughan, 35, who overcame a 1986 drug problem to win two Grammy awards and the musician of the decade honors in his home state of Texas, gained popularity in the middle 1980s with his guitar jamming and blues sound, borrowed much from music legends B.B. Walworth County Coroner John Griebel identified the other victims as Nigel Browne of London, a Clapton bodyguard Colin Smythe of London, one of Clapton’s tour managers, and pilot Jeff Brown of East Chicago, Ind. ″Obviously we were not aware of the tragic circumstances until the early hours when daybreak broke and they discovered it on a ski slope directly behind the building in which we had just performed.″Īmong the victims was Bobby Brooks, 34, Clapton’s agent at Creative Artists Agency, whose clients also included Crosby, Stills & Nash Whoopi Goldberg Pat Benatar Jackson Browne and Dolly Parton. Wreckage and bodies were scattered over 200 feet, authorities said.Ĭlapton’s manager, Roger Forrester, told Britain’s Sky News: ″We had four helicopters and Eric and I were in one directly behind it when it suddenly disappeared from vision.″ The helicopter, owned by Omni Flight Helicopters Inc., crashed into a field shortly after leaving the Alpine Valley Music Theater, an open-air stage and ski resort near East Troy, 30 miles southwest of Milwaukee, said Omni spokesman Phil Huth. This is a tragic loss of some very special people.″ Lippin said there was no truth to a report that Vaughan had begged to get on the helicopter that crashed because it would arrive at its destination earlier.Ĭlapton said the victims, who included his agent, bodyguard, and tour manager, ″were my companions, my associates, and my friends. His publicist, Ronnie Lippin, announced Vaughan’s death. The other victims were three members of rock star Eric Clapton’s entourage and a pilot.Ĭlapton, who played with Vaughan at the concert Sunday night, landed safely in Chicago on another helicopter. (AP) _ Grammy-winning blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan was among five people killed early Monday when their helicopter slammed into a hill in dense fog after leaving a concert, authorities said.