February 29, 1968 – The Beatles win three Grammys for their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band release – Album of the Year, Best Cover and Best-Engineered and Recorded album.
February 29, 1980 – Buddy Holly's glasses and the Big Bopper's wrist watch are discovered in the Mason City, Iowa sheriff's office. In the violence of the crash back in February 1959, they were thrown clear of the other wreckage and buried in snow but found when melting snow made them visible again. They sat filed away for the next 21 years in a sealed manila envelope. The glasses were eventually returned to Holly's widow, and can now be seen in the exhibit at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, Texas.
February 29, 1977 – Gary Rossington and Artimus Pyle of Lynyrd Skynyrd are both knocked unconscious during a melee and need medical treatment after a fight breaks out between the band and members of the metropolitan police boxing team, who are holding a dinner at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.
ROCK REMEMBRANCES:February 29, 2012 – Davy Jones dies of a severe heart attack due to coronary artery disease. He was 66. Jones was a teen idol and lead singer of The Monkees. Although Jones started his career as a jockey, he became an actor after starring as the Artful Dodger in Oliver! in London's West End. Guitarist Michael Nesmith stated, "For me, David was the Monkees. They were his band. We were his side men." Bassist Peter Tork said, "Adios to the Manchester Cowboy", and drummer/singer Micky Dolenz said, "He was the brother I never had and this leaves a gigantic hole in my heart."
February 29, 2000 – Dennis Danell dies of a brain aneurysm in Costa Mesa, CA. He was 38. Danell was the guitarist for Social Distortion. "He was as healthy as a horse – he surfed or ran every day and was very much a family guy," manager Jim Guerinot said. Danell collapsed in the driveway of his Newport Beach home while in the midst of moving with his wife and two young children.
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