February 23rd

2003: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ bassist Howie Epstein died of complications due to drug use at St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, NM. He was 47 years old.

2000: Carlos Santana tied Michael Jackson’s record of eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for his album Supernatural, Record of the Year & Song of the Year for Smooth, Santana’s collaboration with Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas.

1994: Eddie Van Halen, B.B. King and Chris Issak were among those in attendance for the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas that opened the following year.

1983: At the 25th annual Grammy Awards, Toto were the big winners, winning six Grammys including Album of the Year for Toto IV & Record of the Year for Rosanna.

1980: Queen reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for the first time with Crazy Little Thing Called Love, which began a four week run on top.

Iron Maiden released their debut single Running Free on EMI Records in the U.K. where it peaked at number 34.

1979: Dire Straits kicked off their first tour of North America at the Paradise Club in Boston.

1978: David Coverdale’s Whitesnake made their live debut at the Sky Bird Club in Nottingham, U.K.

1970: Ringo Starr made a guest appearance on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. This was Starr’s first solo television appearance.

Birthdays:
Johnny Winter born in 1944
Brad Whitford-guitarist for Aerosmith born in 1952
Michael Wilton-guitarist for Queensryche born in 1962