Tom Petty
Tom Petty was a renowned American singer-songwriter and musician, born on October 20, 1950, in Gainesville, Florida. He gained fame as the lead of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, a band that formed in 1976 and became known for hits like "American Girl," "Refugee," and "Free Fallin'." Petty's career was marked by his commitment to artistic control; he famously declared bankruptcy in 1979 to regain rights to his music after a dispute with MCA Records. His work not only included the Heartbreakers but also collaborations with the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, alongside legendary artists like Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison.
Throughout his life, Petty faced personal struggles, including battles with depression and substance abuse, which he openly discussed later in his career. He released numerous critically acclaimed albums, including "Full Moon Fever" and "Wildflowers," the latter featuring hits such as "You Don't Know How It Feels." Petty's legacy includes multiple Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was also recognized for his philanthropic efforts, particularly in support of homeless organizations. Petty passed away on October 2, 2017, leaving behind a lasting impact on rock music and culture.
Tom Petty
Singer-songwriter, guitarist
- Born: October 20, 1950
- Birthplace: Gainesville, Florida
- Died: October 2, 2017
- Place of death: Santa Monica, California
American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter
Fusing country, rhythm and blues, and 1950s-era rock, Petty created popular rock-and-roll anthems, in his early, aggressive new wave approach and in his later twelve-string-guitar-dominated acoustic sound.
Member of The Heartbreakers; the Traveling Wilburys; Mudcrutch
The Life
Thomas Earl Petty was born on October 20, 1950, in Gainesville, Florida. Described by Petty as abusive, his father, an insurance salesman, did not appreciate Petty’s artistic nature. However, his mother and his brother, Bruce, supported Petty’s early musical interests. Fortunately, Petty found his musical counterparts in Gainesville. His longtime band, the Heartbreakers, formed when Mike Campbell (guitar), Benmont Tench (keyboards), and Petty (guitar and vocals), all formerly of the local band Mudcrutch, joined forces with the local Gainesville rhythm section of Ron Blair (bass) and Stan Lynch (drums) in 1976. The original Mudcrutch members of the Heartbreakers continued to record and tour with Petty.
As soon as Petty and the Heartbreakers began releasing successful records, Petty began to confront record companies about maintaining creative, legal, and financial control over his music. In 1979 Petty set a precedent in the music industry when he refused to be sold to MCA Records when it purchased ABC Records. Petty declared bankruptcy, which voided his record contract, and he then re-signed to an MCA subsidiary with the rights to his music in hand. In 1981 Petty refused to allow MCA to hike the price of his Hard Promises album from $8.98 to $9.98.
Petty was married to Jane Benyo, and they had two daughters, Adria and Anna Kim. Petty and Benyo divorced in 1996, and in 2001 Petty married Dana York and had a stepson, Dylan.
The Music
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the band’s 1976 debut album, was received with lukewarm reviews and sales. In 1977, however, Shelter Records rereleased one of the tracks, “Breakdown,” which placed on the Billboard Top 50. The final track on the debut album, “American Girl,” eventually became a national rock anthem. The Heartbreakers’ second record, You’re Gonna Get It!, was the band’s first gold record, and it featured the hit “Listen to Her Heart.” The band hit its creative stride with its third record, Damn the Torpedoes, produced by Jimmy Iovine, and it is recalled today as setting the standard for pristine 1980s rock-and-roll production. The record contained such hits as “Refugee,” “Here Comes My Girl,” and “Don’t Do Me Like That.” Hard Promises, the band’s fourth record, was also produced by Iovine, and it opened with “The Waiting” and featured “Insider,” a duet with Fleetwood Mac frontwoman Stevie Nicks. After Hard Promises, bassist Blair left the group, and he was replaced by Howie Epstein, who was working as Del Shannon’s musical director at the time. He lent his bass playing and high harmony vocal talents to the Heartbreakers’ next three records, Long After Dark, Southern Accents, and Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough). Petty also tried his hand at acting with appearances in 1987's Made in Heaven and 1997's The Postman.
The Traveling Wilburys and Full Moon Fever.In 1988, after ten years of near-constant touring and studio work with the Heartbreakers (including a world tour in 1986 as Bob Dylan’s backing band), the band went on hiatus while Petty joined up with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne to form a songwriting supergroup known as the Traveling Wilburys. When it came time for Petty to record his next album, he enlisted fellow Wilbury Jeff Lynne and Heartbreakers’ guitarist Campbell as producers for the non-Heartbreakers’ effort Full Moon Fever. The acoustic-based album featured some of Petty’s biggest hits, from “Free Fallin’” to “I Won’t Back Down” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream.” In 1993 Petty and Heartbreakers released a greatest-hits album (featuring a new hit single, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”) that remains one of their best-selling records, reaching diamond record status.
Wildflowers.In 1994 Petty released Wildflowers, another non-Heartbreakers’ project (even though most of the Heartbreakers participated), and it was produced by Rick Rubin, Petty, and Campbell for Warner Bros. Records. This album was the first to feature Steve Ferrone on drums, and he became a permanent member of the Heartbreakers. Once again, the album featured multiple hit songs, from “You Don’t Know How It Feels” to “You Wreck Me” and “It’s Good to Be King.”
Petty's depression and divorce at this time led him to abuse heroin, and eventually to therapy and rehabilitation. He first spoke openly about the experience in 2015 for Petty: The Biography.
Later Works. After Wildflowers, Petty and the Heartbreakers released Echo and The Last DJ. The Heartbreakers celebrated their thirtieth anniversary as a band with a concert in Gainesville, Florida, with Campbell, Tench, Blair (who rejoined the band after Epstein’s death in 2003), Ferrone, and Scott Thurston (a multi-instrumentalist who began touring and recording with the Heartbreakers in 1991). Beginning in 2005, Petty also curated Tom Petty Radio, a three-hour slot on Sirius XM Radio. For that, he hosted the show Tom Petty's Buried Treasure, revealing his own musical interests.
Petty released Highway Companion in 2006, reuniting with the production team of Lynne and Campbell. Between 2005 and 2007, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers filmed the documentary Runnin' Down a Dream with director Peter Bogdanovich. The following year, Petty reunited with Mudcrutch to release its debut album of the same name and to tour together. In 2014, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released Hypnotic Eye, their first studio album to top the Billboard chart, and they put forth the digital albums Through the Cracks and Nobody's Children in 2015. The next year, Petty and Mudcrutch recorded a second studio album titled simply 2. It would be Petty's last.
For the Heartbreakers' fortieth anniversary, the band launched a tour, capped off with a performance at the Hollywood Bowl on September 22, 2017. Petty died suddenly on October 2 in Santa Monica, California. He was sixty-six.
Legacy
Petty released consistently revered rock music with a profoundly American point of view. Through his combination of intelligent yet accessible lyrics and the infusion of various genres of American music, Petty amassed a massive collection of hit records since the 1970’s. He won three Grammy Awards (one as a member of the Traveling Wilburys, one for “You Don’t Know How It Feels” from Wildflowers, and one for Runnin' Down a Dream). He has also received the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement (University of California, Los Angeles, 1996), the Golden Note Award (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, 1996), a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (with the Heartbreakers in 1999), and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (with the Heartbreakers in 2002) and the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2016). In 2008, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed the halftime show at Super Bowl XLII.
Petty also gained recognition as a philanthropist. He and his wife Dana organized a benefit concert for the Midnight Mission, a Los Angeles nonprofit organization helping the homeless, for which they received the 2011 Golden Heart Award. Petty was also named the MusiCares Person of the Year 2017.
Principal Recordings
albums (solo): Full Moon Fever, 1989; Wildflowers, 1994; Highway Companion, 2006.
albums (with the Heartbreakers): Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 1976; You’re Gonna Get It!, 1978; Damn the Torpedoes, 1979; Hard Promises, 1981; Long After Dark, 1982; Southern Accents, 1985; Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough), 1987; Into the Great Wide Open, 1991; Echo, 1999; The Last DJ, 2002; Mojo, 2010; Hypnotic Eye, 2014; Through the Cracks, 2015; Nobody's Children, 2015.
albums (with Mudcrutch): Mudcrutch, 2008; 2, 2016.
albums (with the Traveling Wilburys): Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1, 1988; Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 3, 1990.
Bibliography
Block, Debbie Galante, with Melinda Newman and Craig Rosen. “Getting at the Essence of the Heartbreakers.” Billboard 118.12 (2006): 46–48. Print.
Grow, Kory, and Andy Greene. "Tom Petty, Rock Icon Who Led the Heartbreakers, Dead at 66." Rolling Stone, 2 Oct. 2017, www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tom-petty-rock-iconoclast-who-led-the-heartbreakers-dead-at-66-w506651. Accessed 3 Oct. 2017.
Pareles, Jon. "Tom Petty, a Mainstay of Rock with the Heartbreakers, Dies at 66." The New York Times, 3 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/03/arts/music/tom-petty-dead.html. Accessed 3 Oct. 2017.
Petty, Tom. Running Down a Dream: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2007. Print.
Waterman, Douglas J. Song: The World’s Best Songwriters on Creating the Music that Moves Us. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 2007. Print.
Wixen, Randall. The Plain and Simple Guide to Music Publishing. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 2005. Print.
Zanes, Warren. Petty: The Biography. New York: Holt, 2015. Print.
Zollo, Paul. Conversations with Tom Petty. London: Omnibus Press, 2005. Print.