Tom Petty Dead At Age 66

Quintessential American rock star Tom Petty is dead at age 66, a day after suffering a cardiac arrest in his Malibu, California home.  It followed a day in which some US media outlets were roundly castigated for prematurely announcing the tragedy.

"On behalf of the Tom Petty family we are devastated to announce the untimely death of of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty," wrote his long-time manager Tony Dimitriades.  "He suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu in the early hours of this morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived.  He died peacefully at 8:40 PM Pacific Time surrounded by family, his bandmates, and friends."

Petty was found on Sunday not breathing and unresponsive in the kitchen of his home in the beachfront community next to Los Angeles.  EMTs were able to find a pulse, and he was rushed to UCLA Medical Center.  Doctors could find no brain activity and he never regained consciousness.  A decision was made to pull life support, and he passed on Monday night.

Earlier on Monday, the CBS television network reported that Petty was dead, based on information from an unnamed Los Angeles police officer; the network later rescinded that report.  The gossip website TMZ also erroneously reported Petty's death, followed by Rolling Stone magazine and the rest of the world media.  Rolling Stone was singled out for an angry message on the Instagram account of the singer's daughter Annakim Violette. 

"It's shocking, crushing news," said Petty's friend, Traveling Wilburys bandmate, and legend in his own right Bob Dylan in a statement.  "I thought the world of Tom.  He was a great performer, full of the light, a friend, and I'll never forget him."

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers had on 25 September just wrapped up what was billed as Tom's "last trip around the country", although there was already some talk about going out and doing some shows based around his 1994 solo album "Wildflowers".

Petty was born and raised in Gainesville, Florida in what he called the "redneck, hillbilly" part of town.  "It's an interesting place," he told National Public Radio (NPR) in 2006, "because you can meet almost any kind of person from many walks of life because of the university."  However, "My family wasn't involved in the college, you know.  They were more of just your white trash kind of.. family."  Petty would often note that he was one of the few members of his family and community who didn't speak with a southern accent.

Here come the links:

He left high school at age 17, joined the Southern Rock band Mudcrutch, and moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s.  But that band broke up, and he formed the Heartbreakers with Mudcrutch guitarist Tom Campbell and pianist Benmont Tench.  The climb had begun.  "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers" was released in 1976, yielding the hits "Breakdown" and "American Girl."  1978's "You're Gonna Get It" went gold with the songs "Listen to Her Heart" and "Need to Know".

But it was 1979's "Damn the Torpedoes" that cemented his legacy.  Tall and blond and slinging an anachronistic Rickenbacker guitar in an era of "distortion" pickups and Marshall Stacks, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers came upon their signature sound that blended the best of everything they idolized as young men - from old Country and Bluegrass to Rockabilly, to the jangling Southern California sound, to the British Invasion and the second British wave of Blues-Rock guitar heroes.  Energetic, edgy, and powerful songs "Don't Do Me Like That", "Refugee", and "Here Comes My Girl" took over the world.  The album's title reflected Petty's defiance of oft-shifting musical trends of the day (Punk, Disco, New Wave, Corporate Rock), his record company, and especially the bad business deals that left him bankrupt.  Within months, he'd be calling the shots to the record labels.

The rest of the story is well known, so here are the links to the songs:  "The Waiting", "A Woman in Love", "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (with Stevie Nicks), "You Got Lucky", "Change of Heart", "Don't Come Around here No More", "Rebels", "Jammin' Me", "I Won't Back Down", "Running Down a Dream", "Free Fallin'", "Yer So Bad", "Learning To Fly", "Into The Great Wide Open", "Mary Jane's Last Dance", "You Don't Know How It Feels", "You Wreck Me", "The Last DJ".

In between, there were worthwhile diversions with his idol Roger McGuinn ("King of the Hill"), The Travelling Wilburys ("Handle With Care", which he also played with the Heartbreakers), and acting (portraying personal injury scam artist "Lucky" on "King of the Hill", not related to the earlier single).