Howie Epstein

Howie Epstein
Background information
Birth name Howard Norman Epstein
Born July 21, 1955[1]
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Died February 23, 2003 (aged 47)
Santa Fe, New Mexico[2]
Occupation(s) Musician, song writer, producer
Instruments Bass guitar, vocals, Guitar, Mandolin
Associated acts Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Blue Stingrays, Del Shannon

Howard Norman "Howie" Epstein (July 21, 1955 – February 23, 2003) was a musician best known for his work with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as a bassist.

Early life

Epstein was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin[1] and grew up in a musical household. His father, Sam, was a top local record producer who worked with various rock and roll and soul groups in the 1950s and '60s.[1] Howie often visited the music studios, watching his father work and occasionally making recordings under his dad’s watchful eye at a very young age. "I would go into the bars with my father to check out the bands he was thinking of working with," Epstein recalls, "and a couple of times he let me use groups he was working with as back-up musicians for stuff I’d record." Howie attended Nicolet High School in Glendale, Wisconsin, as part of the class of 1973.

Career

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Howie played mostly rhythm guitar or mandolin and sang in a number of both rock and roll and country Milwaukee bands[1] that were regionally popular, including MHB Experience, Egz, Winks, Forearm Smash, and The Craze. When he felt he had gone as far as he could go in Milwaukee, Epstein decided to move to New York City, but before he could pack his gear, he was lured to the West Coast by a drummer friend to play bass in a new band that singer-songwriter John Hiatt was forming in Los Angeles. He stuck with Hiatt for two years and two albums (Slug Line and Two Bit Monsters)[1][3]

The Heartbreakers

Epstein did not start playing the bass until a couple of years before joining the Heartbreakers. He took a gig backing Del Shannon. While playing on a Shannon album that Tom Petty was producing (Drop Down And Get Me), Epstein impressed Petty with his ability. Consequently, when Ron Blair, who had been bassist with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers since their inception in 1976, announced that he had had enough of touring, Epstein was recruited to replace him. "We all kind of thought Howie would get the job," says original Heartbreakers' drummer Stan Lynch. "He seemed to have a real good feeling for what we were doing. He’s a good bass player, a real good singer, and he fit in real well." Epstein agreed that the transition of playing in these obscure bands to becoming part of a very popular, very established band was almost seamless. "It’s been easier than I thought it would be. I was already familiar with most of their music just because I’m a fan of the Heartbreakers, so it wasn’t like I was coming in cold."

After joining the Heartbreakers, he started to take up the bass seriously. "I had a tendency to play real busy, from all the years of playing rhythm guitar".[1] Epstein found a natural style, which he said emphasised "simplicity, playing in the pocket, getting into a steady groove. I’ve always considered myself a good team player and that’s the way that the Heartbreakers operate. Everyone listens to what everyone else is doing musically."[1] He made his live debut at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium on September 1, 1982 on a tour to promote the album Long After Dark. Epstein played (and sometimes sang) with Petty for 20 years and was with the Heartbreakers when they were inducted in March 2002 to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[3]

Tom Petty commended Epstein on his collaborative efforts:

You gotta love him, I don't know if I ever tell him how good he is. Tonight, there was a line early in the show I could just barely sing. I was having to work harder than I normally do to make it, I was getting really close on the mic. I was thinking, 'Oh boy, I hope I can do this...' I got to it and I heard Howie singing it with me over his mic. It sounded great, it sounded like a double track. I just looked at him, he caught my eye like 'Yeah!' It made me feel great, 'cause I know he was thinking the same thing, 'I know he's tired, I'll cover him. Wham! Got it!' That's what a great band's all about. That's what it's all about.[4]

Collaborations

Epstein played bass on recordings by Eric Andersen, Bob Dylan,[5] Carlene Carter, Johnny Cash, John Hiatt, Stevie Nicks, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, John Prine, Linda Ronstadt, Del Shannon, The Textones, The Village People and Warren Zevon.

He earned acclaim as a songwriter and a producer. Epstein produced two albums for John Prine, 1991’s The Missing Years, which won a Grammy Award[5] for Best Contemporary Folk Recording, and Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings.[3] He also produced Eric Andersen’s Memory Of The Future (1998).

Personal life

Epstein formed a creative and personal partnership with Carlene Carter following her divorce from the English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe and return to the United States in 1988. He helped Carter re-establish her career. Epstein produced her hit album I Fell in Love (1990), and co-authored the title track with his longtime collaborator, Milwaukee writer Perry M. Lamek. Carter's vocals "I Fell In Love" earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1991. Three years later, Epstein produced Carter's follow-up CD Little Love Letters. Epstein and Carter were engaged in the mid to late 1990s, but they never married.

Epstein died of complications due to drug use; but an overdose was not reported. Investigators were told Epstein had been using heroin. Howie was driven to St. Vincent Hospital by his girlfriend, who described him as "under distress."[5] Epstein was taking antibiotics for an illness, and he had recently suffered from flu,[2] stomach problems and an abscess on his leg, friends said.

He died on February 23, 2003, at the age of 47.[5] Reportedly, he was extremely despondent over the death of his 16-year-old German Shepherd a few days earlier. In recent interviews, Tom Petty admitted that Epstein's behavior had become unpredictable: "He was just degenerating on us to the point where we thought keeping Howie in the band was actually doing him more harm than getting rid of him. His personal problems were vast and serious." He was interred at Second Home Cemetery in Greenfield, Wisconsin.[1]

Petty wrote the following in an article for Rolling Stone in response to Epstein's death: "...there’s a great sadness, because Howie was never not a Heartbreaker. He just got to where he couldn’t do it anymore. ...It’s like you got a tree dying in the backyard. And you’re kind of used to the idea that it’s dying. But you look out there one day and they cut it down. And you just can’t imagine that beautiful tree isn’t there anymore."

Epstein was survived by a teenaged daughter, Jamie Leffler,[2] brothers Craig and Bradley Epstein, and nieces Sarah, Samantha, and Hope.

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Wawzenek, Bryan (23 February 2011). "This Day in Music Spotlight: The Heartbreaking Loss of Howie Epstein : February 23, 2003". Gibson.com. Gibson Guitar Corp. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Roth, Kristin (25 February 2003). "Former Tom Petty Bassist Howie Epstein Dies At 47". MTV.com. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Dansby, Andrew (25 February 2003). "Howie Epstein Dies — Bassist played with Tom Petty for twenty years". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Petty, Tom. Quoted in Musician, April 1990.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Howie Epstein, Bassist for Tom Petty, Dies at 47". The New York Times (Santa Fe, New Mexico). Associated Press. 27 February 2003. Retrieved 14 April 2015.

External links