Rock Legend TOM PETTY Passes Away
October 3, 2017, 7 years ago
Tony Dimitriades, longtime manager of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, has issued the following statement, dated Monday October 2nd:
"On behalf of the Tom Petty family we are devastated to announce the untimely death of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty.
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 8:40pm PST surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends."
Petty was 66 years old.
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers formed in 1976, and amassed a string of hits including “Breakdown”, “American Girl”, “Refugee”, “Don’t Do Me Like That”, “Don’t Come Around Here No More”, “Learning To Fly” and “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”. A a solo artist, Petty hit the charts with a number of songs, including “Free Fallin’”, “I Won’t Back Down”, and “Runnin’ Down A Dream”.
Petty had a huge hit with Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks on the song “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, which appeared on her 1981 solo album, Bella Donna. He also performed alongside Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George Harrison and Jeff Lynne in the hugely successful Travelin’ Wilburys.
Video footage of Tom Petty performing on May 5th at Perfect Vodka Amphitheater in West Palm Beach, Florida can be seen below:
