In the early morning of Monday, August 27, 1990, American musician Stevie Ray Vaughan was killed in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin, at age 35.

Vaughan spent his last days performing with his band Double Trouble as the opening act for Eric Clapton at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, thirty miles (50 km) southwest of Milwaukee.

After the concert concluded, Vaughan and three members of Clapton's entourage boarded a helicopter that crashed into the side of a nearby ski hill shortly after takeoff.

The autopsy concluded that Vaughan suffered multiple internal injuries and died of exsanguination (bleeding to death) due to blunt trauma of the chest and abdomen.

The day before his death, Stevie Ray Vaughan allegedly told his band and crew members about a nightmare that he had in which he was at his own funeral and saw thousands of mourners.

[4] Backstage after the show that evening, the musicians talked about playing together again, particularly with Eric Clapton for a series of dates at London's Royal Albert Hall in early 1991 as a tribute to Jimi Hendrix.

Vaughan boarded the third helicopter alongside Clapton's agent Bobby Brooks, bodyguard Nigel Browne, and assistant tour manager Colin Smythe.

Among the other mourners were Clapton, Stevie Wonder, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, ZZ Top, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and Nile Rodgers.

Many other artists recorded songs in remembrance of Vaughan, including Eric Johnson, Tommy Emmanuel, Buddy Guy, Steve Vai, Ezra Charles, White Lion, and Wayne Perkins.

[36] The city of Austin, Texas, erected the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Statue at Auditorium Shores on Lady Bird Lake, the site of a number of his concerts.

[39] In 2008, residents voted to rename Industrial Boulevard in Dallas, with Vaughan's name being one of the finalists, alongside Stanley Marcus, Eddie Bernice Johnson, and César Chávez.