American rock musician, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer known as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He was also a member and co-founder of the late 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, and his early band Mudcrutch. Petty recorded a number of hit singles with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist. In his career, he sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In 2002, Petty was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
His interest in rock and roll music began at age ten when he met Elvis Presley. In the summer of 1961, his uncle was working on the set of Presley’s film Follow That Dream in nearby Ocala, and invited Petty to come down and watch the shoot. He instantly became an Elvis Presley fan.
Petty married Jane Benyo in 1974, and they divorced in 1996. Petty and Benyo had two daughters; Adria is a director, and AnnaKim Violette an artist. Petty married Dana York on 3 June 2001.
In May 1987, an arsonist set fire to Petty’s house in Encino, California. Firefighters were able to salvage the basement recording studio and the original tapes stored there, as well as his Gibson Dove acoustic guitar.
Petty spoke in 2014 of the benefits from his practice of Transcendental Meditation.
Petty suffered cardiac arrest early in the morning of 2 October 2017, and died that night at the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, California. On 19 January 2018, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner announced that Petty died from an accidental overdose of prescription pain medication, and that the autopsy found these drugs in Petty’s system: fentanyl, oxycodone, acetyl fentanyl and despropionyl fentanyl, which are opioids; temazepam and alprazolam, which are sedatives; and citalopram, an antidepressant.
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