Before the last song of the last show of a two-night stand at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, guitar legend Eric Clapton stepped up to the microphone. "I'd like to bring out to join me, in truth, the best guitar players in the entire world: Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray... Jimmie Vaughan." The group lit into an extended jam of the classic "Sweet Home Chicago," with 40,000 people soaking up blistering guitar licks as the performers traded vocals.

Shortly after midnight on Aug. 27, 1990 — 25 years ago Thursday — four helicopters left Alpine Valley for Chicago, carrying performers and crew members. Three made it. The other flew barely a half-mile before crashing into a ski slope. Among the five dead: Stevie Ray Vaughan — 35 years old, newly sober, on the cusp of real stardom, and already considered one of the greatest electric guitarists who ever lived.

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The Dallas-born Vaughan and his band, Double Trouble, first gained international attention in 1982 with a set at the Montreux Jazz Festival. After the performance, David Bowie hired Vaughan to record lead guitar for his "Let's Dance" album. Vaughan's breakout debut album "Texas Flood" came out the following year, which introduced the world to his wild style.

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To this day, you can hear Vaughan's influence when modern-day guitar masters like John Mayer and Gary Clark Jr. wail. And this past April, Vaughan and Double Trouble were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, "making sure Stevie Ray's work will be honored and preserved," Hanley said. "Stevie's legacy lives on."