Feb. 23: On This Day in Music
In 2003 – Howie Epstein, 47, former bassist for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, dies at a hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A female companion who transports Epstein to the hospital claims that he had been doing heroin and taking prescription antibiotics for an illness.
In 1983 – A collection of former studio musicians who call themselves Toto win Album Of The Year for “Toto IV” and Record Of The Year for “Rosanna”, at the 25th Grammy Awards.
In 1979 – The first tour of the U.S. and Canada by Dire Straits opens at the Paradise Club in Boston. The group logs 51 sold-out shows in 38 days.
And in 1944 – Johnny Winter is born. Signing to Columbia records in 1969 called largest solo artist deal of it’s time, Johnny immediately laid out the blueprint for his fresh take on classic blues a prime combination for the legions of fans just discovering the blues via the likes of Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton. Constantly shifting between simple country blues in the vein of Robert Johnson, to all-out electric slide guitar blues-rock, – Johnny has always been one of the most respected singers and guitar players in rock and the clear link between British blues-rock and American Southern rock (a la the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.) Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, Johnny was the unofficial torch-bearer for the blues, championing and aiding the careers of his idols like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.
