Tom Petty

Tom Petty was an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ main singer and guitarist. A global music superstar, he sold over 80 million recordings. These include “Don’t Do Me Like That” (1979), “Refugee” (1980), “The Waiting” (1981), and “Learning to Fly” (1985). (1991). He was also with the Travelling Wilburys in the late 1980s. “I Won’t Back Down,” “Free Fallin’,” and “You Don’t Know How It Feels” are some of his solo hits (1994).

On October 2, 2017, Tom Petty died of an accidental drug overdose in Santa Monica.

Known For: Tom Petty

• Tom Petty’s principal singer and guitarist.

Tom Petty’s Origins

Tom Petty was born in 1950. He was born Thomas Earl Petty. His birthplace was Gainesville, Florida. He was an American. Her parents were Earl Petty and Kitty Katherine. Bruce is his only sibling. He was white and Christian. He was a Libra.

Tom Petty’s Career

• Tom Petty’s love of music started when he met Elvis Presley at the age of ten.
• In a band after witnessing the Beatles. The Rolling Stones inspired him by proving that artists like him could succeed in rock and roll.
• He left out of high school at 17 to join his new band, Epics.
• Mudcrutch included future Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench.
• “Depot Street” was the band’s lone single.
• After Mudcrutch broke up, Petty went solo.
• He founded his own band with Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Ron Blair, and Stan Lynch.
• The band issued their self-titled first album, which did better in the UK than the US. It included “American Girl” and “Breakdown”.
• The band made 12 additional albums.
• Hard Promises (1981), Long After Dark (1982), Southern Accents (1985), Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) (1987), Into the Great Wide Open (1991), Songs and Music from “She’s the One” (1996), Echo (1999),
• The Last DJ (2002), Mojo (2010), and Hypnotic Eye (2014).
• In 1988, Petty joined George Harrison’s Traveling Wilburys. Rob Orbison and Jeff Lynne were on it.
  Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 and Vol. 3 were the band’s first two albums. A series of bootlegged studio sessions marketed as Travelling Wilburys Vol. 2 prompted the album’s title.
• On his own, he published Full Moon Fever (1989), Wildflowers (1994), and Highway Companion (2001). (2006).
• In 2017, The Heartbreakers went on a 40th Anniversary Tour in the USA. The group’s last gig was at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California.
• He acted in several films and TV series. He made his debut cinematic appearance in 1978’s FM as a cameo.
• Among his films were Made in Heaven and The Postman.
• From 2004 until 2009, he portrayed Lucky/Mud Dobber in King of the Hill.
• Runnin’ Down a Dream, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, debuted at the 2007 New York Film Festival.
• He earned the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award from UCLA in 1994.
• In 1996, he received the ASCAP Golden Note Award.
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999.
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were inducted in December 2001.
• On December 6, 2005, he earned the Billboard Century Award, the organization’s highest artistic distinction.
• In 2006, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were given the keys to Gainesville.
• In February 2017, he was named MusiCares Person of the Year for his music and charity.

Tom Petty’s Relationship Status

Tom Petty initially married Jane Benyo in 1974. Adria and Annakim were their daughters.

Petty York in 2001.

Tom Petty’s Body Measurements

Tom Petty was roughly 1.76 m (5 feet 9 inches) tall. He weighs roughly 154 pounds (70 kg). He had bright blue eyes and blonde hair. He was a straight man.

Tom Petty’s Death

From 1996 to 1999, Tom Petty battled heroin addiction. He attributed his addiction to his divorce grief to Benyo. In 1999, he entered a rehab clinic and beat his addiction. He was discovered unconscious at his house on October 2, 2017. A paramedic resuscitated him and took him to UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica. He died of an unintentional drug overdose of fentanyl, oxycodone, acetyl fentanyl, despropionyl fentanyl (all opioids), temazepam, alprazolam (both sedatives), and citalopram (citalopram) (an antidepressant). He has various health difficulties. The Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades hosted a memorial ceremony on October 16, 2017.

Tom Petty’s Net Worth

Tom Petty was a commercially successful musician. In all, he has sold over 80 million albums worldwide. His musical career included Mudcrutch, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and the Traveling Wilburys. He also worked alone. He has nearly 20 albums out as a band or solo. His main sources of revenue were album sales, label deals, performances, tours, and sponsorships. His record label has a significant recording deal. His net worth was about $95 million at the time of his death.

Do you Know?

• His father was a traveler.
• His mother worked at a tax agency.
• When he was ten, he met Elvis Presley and became a fan.
• Rolling Stones was his favorite punk band.
• Petty’s first guitar instructor was Don Felde.
• He worked as a gravedigger and on the University of Florida’s grounds crew.
• He allegedly planted the Tom Petty tree at the University of Florida.
• He sang on multiple episodes of Saturday Night Live.
• He sang in the Super Bowl XLII halftime performance.
• His father was harsh, but he loved his mother and brother.
• He was recognized for defending his creative authority and independence.
• He became bankrupt in 1979.
• Mary’s New Car” was used in a TV advertisement by B.F. Goodrich in 1987, and he sued them for $1 million.
• In 2000, he forbade George W. Bush from using “I Won’t Back Down.” His family would support Trump in 2020.
• In 1987, an arsonist set fire to Petty’s Encino home. The assailant evade
• Between 1976 and 1982, he played a sunburst 1964 Fender Stratocaster.
• He began using Rickenbacker guitars in 1979.
• He also used Telecasters.
• Basing his sound on the Rickenbacker 4003, Höfner Club Bass, and Danelectro Longhorn.
• On October 20, 2018, the day before his 68th birthday, the Northeast Park where Petty regularly played as a child was renamed Tom Petty Park in his honor.