Is Howie Epstein Dead or Still Alive? Howie Epstein Birthday and Date of Death

Howie Epstein Death

Howard passed away on February 23, 2003 at the age of 47 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. Howard's cause of death was drug overdose.

Howie Epstein Birthday and Date of Death

Howie Epstein was born on July 21, 1955 and died on February 23, 2003. Howard was 47 years old at the time of death.

Birthday: July 21, 1955
Date of Death: February 23, 2003
Age at Death: 47

Howie Epstein - Biography

Howard Norman "Howie" Epstein (July 21, 1955 – February 23, 2003) was a musician best known as a bassist with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Epstein formed a creative and personal partnership with Carlene Carter following her divorce from the English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe and her return to the United States in 1988, helping 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 songwriter Perry M. Lamek. Carter's vocals on the title track "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 from the mid- to late-1990s, living together in Tesuque, New Mexico but they never married.

Prior to Carlene Carter, Howie was engaged to and lived with Laurie June, an actress, model, and legal secretary, in Laurel Canyon, California. They were together from approximately 1979 to 1987.
On February 23, 2003, Epstein died from complications related to drug use. MTV News reported that Epstein's death was caused by a heroin overdose. He was 47. Investigators were told Epstein had been using heroin. On the day of his death, Howie was driven to St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico by his girlfriend, who described him as "under distress". Epstein was taking antibiotics for an illness and had recently suffered from influenza, stomach problems, and an abscess on his leg, friends said. Additionally, it was reported that he had been extremely distraught over the death of his 16-year-old dog a few days earlier.
In later 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.
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."