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10-02 RIP Tom Petty
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Tom Petty, known in his early years as "Tommy", was born in Gainesville, Florida and grew up in Northeast Gainesville. Asa teen-aged,
amateur musician he often practiced at home with friends and sometimes even in the family owned fall-outshelter located in his back yard.
Petty is a graduate of Gainesville High School. Petty did not have any musical aspirationsuntil Elvis Presley came to Ocala, Florida, 25 miles
south of Petty's hometown, to work on a movie; and Petty went downthere to watch him. After working with his early bands The Sundowners,
The Epics, and Mudcrutch with ace drumme ...read more
Tom Petty, known in his early years as "Tommy", was born in Gainesville, Florida and grew up in Northeast Gainesville. Asa teen-aged,
amateur musician he often practiced at home with friends and sometimes even in the family owned fall-outshelter located in his back yard.
Petty is a graduate of Gainesville High School. Petty did not have any musical aspirationsuntil Elvis Presley came to Ocala, Florida, 25 miles
south of Petty's hometown, to work on a movie; and Petty went downthere to watch him. After working with his early bands The Sundowners,
The Epics, and Mudcrutch with ace drummerRandall Marsh, (which also included future Heartbreakers members Mike Campbell and Benmont
Tench) he began hisrecording career with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers when the band broke onto the national music scene with their
1976self-titled debut album. Still, it took America a full year to catch up to the album. "Breakdown" was re-released to radioand became a Top
40 hit in 1977 after word filtered back the band was creating a firestorm in England.
Their 1978 second album You're Gonna Get It! proved the debut album's intensity was no fluke. Marking the band's firstgold album, it
features the singles "Listen To Her Heart" and "I Need To Know". Shortly after its release the band wasdragged into a legal dispute when ABC
Records was sold to MCA Records. Petty refused to simply be transferred to anotherrecord label without his consent. He held fast to his
principles for nine long months, which eventually led to him filing forbankruptcy.
After the dispute was settled, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers released their third album Damn the Torpedoes (1979) thatrapidly became
triple-platinum. It includes "Refugee", their U.S. breakthrough single.
Though he was at a peak of popularity, Petty ran into record company trouble again when he and the Heartbreakersprepared to release Hard
Promises (1981), the follow-up to Damn the Torpedoes. MCA wanted to release the record at thelist price of $9.98, which was a high price at
the time. Petty refused to comply to their wishes, threatening to change thealbum title to "The 8.98 Album" & actually withhold the album
from the label. He organized a fan protest that forced thecompany to release the record at 8.98. Hard Promises became a Top Ten hit, going
platinum and spawning the hit single"The Waiting."
On their fifth album Long After Dark (1982) bass player Ron Blair was replaced by Howie Epstein, giving TheHeartbreakers their line up until
1994. However, Petty had problems coping with the stress and success and decided toslow things down.
On their comeback album Southern Accents (1985) Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers picked up where they had left off.The recording was not
without problems � Petty became frustrated during the mixing process and broke his left handafter punching through a wall. The album
includes the hit single "Don't Come Around Here No More" which was producedby Dave Stewart. The video for the single, featuring Tom
dressed as the Mad Hatter mocking and chasing Alice from thebook Alice in Wonderland, then cutting and eating her as if she were a cake,
caused some controversy after it wascriticized by feminist groups.
A successful concert tour led to the live album Pack Up The Plantation-Live! (1985). The band's live capabilities were putto the test when Bob
Dylan invited Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers to join him on his True Confessions tour through theU.S., Australia, Japan (1986) and Europe
(1987).
Also in 1987, the group released Let Me Up (I've Had Enough), a studio album made to sound like a live recording using atechnique they
borrowed from Bob Dylan. It includes "Jammin' Me", which Petty wrote with Dylan.
Petty also appeared in several episodes of It's Garry Shandling's Show (1987 - 1990), playing himself as one of GarryShandling's neighbors.
This show appeared on the then-fledgling Fox network.
In 1989, Petty released Full Moon Fever. Though nominally a solo project, other Heartbreakers and well-known musiciansparticipated in the
album's production. Mike Campbell co-produced the album with Petty and Jeff Lynne of Electric LightOrchestra. It was in the Billboard Top Ten
chart for over 34 weeks and earned triple-platinum status, along the wayspawning such hits as "I Won't Back Down", "Free Fallin'" and
"Runnin' Down A Dream".
Prior to Full Moon Fever, Lynne and Petty worked together in the all-stars band Traveling Wilburys, which also countedBob Dylan, George
Harrison and Roy Orbison as members. Traveling Wilburys started as a joke in order to record a B-sidefor a George Harrison single, but the
song "Handle With Care" was such a success that the group decided to record a fullalbum, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 (1988). Roy Orbison's
sudden death cast a shadow on the success and shortly afterwardsDel Shannon, whom the remaining Wilburys had in mind as a replacement,
committed suicide. A second Wilburys album,mysteriously called Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 (1990), followed but couldn't quite live up to
expectations.
Petty rejoined with the Heartbreakers for his next album, Into the Great Wide Open in 1991. It was again produced byJeff Lynne and includes
the hit singles "Learning To Fly" and "Into The Great Wide Open", the latter featuring JohnnyDepp, Gabrielle Anwar and Faye Dunaway in the
video.
In 1994, Petty released his second solo album, Wildflowers, which included hit singles "You Don't Know How It Feels","You Wreck Me", "It's
Good to Be King", "A Higher Place" and "Honey Bee". A year later, a six CD Tom Petty and theHeartbreakers box-set was released, entitled
Playback. Approximately half of the tracks were previously available onalbums, while the rest were B-sides, demos and live tracks. Two
notable tracks are a version of Tom's famous duet withStevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around", which Tom sings
alone, and the song "Waiting ForTonight," which features vocals from The Bangles. The latter song also appeared on the two CD anthology
released in2000.
1996 saw the release of Tom's solo soundtrack to the movie She's the One, starring Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Aniston.Three singles were
released from this album, "Walls (Circus)" (featuring Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac), "Climbthat Hill" and "Change the Locks". The
album also included a cover of a song by Beck, "Asshole".
Three years after the release of She's the One, Tom recorded the album Echo, with the Heartbreakers. Two songs werereleased as singles in
the U.S., "Room at the Top" and "Free Girl Now". The album reached number 10 in the U.S. albumcharts. A Tom Petty Anthology was released
in 2000, compiled by film director Cameron Crowe.
Tom's most recent album was The Last DJ, released in 2002. Many of the tracks are stinging attacks on the musicindustry, criticising the
greediness inherent within it, as well as the tendency of record companies to water down popularrock acts and release throwaway pop music
made by scantily-clad young girls. The album reached number 9 in the U.S.charts.
Petty has been honored with 16 Grammy Award nominations since 1981. In that year he received his first nomination for"Stop Draggin' My
Heart Around" in the category of Best Rock Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal. Petty earned aGrammy Award in 1989 for Best Rock
Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal for his work with the TravelingWilburys. In 1994 he received another two Grammy Awards: Best
Male Rock Vocal Performance (for "You Don't KnowHow It Feels") and Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical). Wildflowers also garnered a
Grammy nomination for Best RockAlbum.
Other Wildflowers achievements included Best Male Video Award for "You Don't Know How It Feels" at the 1995 MTVVideo Music Awards. Tom
Petty & The Heartbreakers won the same award in 1994 with the video "Mary Jane's LastDance". At the 1994 ceremony, Petty was also
presented with the Video Vanguard Award, citing his longtimecontributions to the field.
As a songwriter, Tom Petty was acknowledged in May 1996 with the prestigious Golden Note Award from ASCAP. In April1996, Petty received
UCLA's George And Ira Gershwin Award For Lifetime Musical Achievement. In 2002 the group wasinducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Petty appeared in the 1997 movie, The Postman, directed by and starring Kevin Costner. This was his second appearanceon the silver screen,
having had a small part in the 1987 movie Made in Heaven.
In 1999 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Blvd., anhonor that acknowledges
both their musical achievements and their humanitarian involvement with such organizationsas Greenpeace, the National Veteran's
Foundation, USA Harvest, Rock And Wrap It Up, and AmFAR (the AmericanFoundation for AIDS Research).
In 2002 he appeared on The Simpsons in the episode "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation". He has also voiced thecharacter Lucky in King of
the Hill.
In 2005, Tom Petty began hosting his own show "Buried Treasure" on XM Radio. On the show, Tom shares selectionsfrom his personal record
collection. On December 6, 2005, he received the Billboard Century Award for his lifetimeachievements. Later in the month, Tom agreed to
sign on with XM Radio for a second season of his show "BuriedTreasure."
In February 2006 Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers agreed to be the headline act at the fifth annual Bonnaroo Music andArts Festival.In
addition to Bonnaroo, Petty will be on tour throughout the summer in 2006. The tour will start inCharlotte, North Carolina on June 9th and
end in Houston, Texas on August 30th. Stops include major cities such as NewYork, St.Louis, Indianapolis and Denver.
In 2006 Petty will release a new solo album titled Highway Companion. The highly anticipated album has promptedspeculation and hoaxes
among fans surrounding possible release dates. Although the album has no official release date,an article posted at Petty's website suggests
the album will be released in July. Also that year, the ABC U.S. televisionnetwork hired Petty to do the music for it's NBA Playoffs coverage.
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