Tom Petty
Thomas Earl Petty ( born October 20, 1950 in Gainesville, Florida ) is an American musician.
Life
Petty finished in 1968, the high school and went to college for a year. His first band The Sundowners notified shortly thereafter into Epics. The band quickly became known locally. In 1970 the band was renamed Mudcrutch. For appearances, they often shared the stage with another distinguished group: Lynyrd Skynyrd. Mudcrutch had their own music and combined the influence of British bands with the Californian style of the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and The Flying Burrito Brothers. In 1974 she got a first recording contract.
Between 1974 and 1996 Tom Petty was married to Jane Benyo. From this marriage two daughters were born. Since 2001 he has been married to Dana York.
Career as a musician
The actual career began in 1976 with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and the eponymous debut album by the band (consisting of Mike Campbell on guitar, Benmont Tench on keyboards and piano, Stan Lynch on drums and Ron Blair on bass ). Recorded were the pieces in the Shelter Studios in Los Angeles. Denny Cordell produced the album, which became a moderate success with songs like Breakdown and American Girl, especially in Europe.
In 1978, the follow-up album You're Gonna Get It, also produced by Danny Cordell and included in the Shelter Studios. It contains, among other things, the single I Need to Know. This was followed by five more albums and a live CD.
In 1987, Petty Bob Dylan on a world tour in September 1987 and played with Dylan and Roger McGuinn ( The Byrds ) in front of 81,000 fans in Treptower Park, East Berlin.
Published in 1989, Petty released his first solo album, Full Moon Fever, co-produced by Jeff Lynne (his partner in the Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Roy Orbison ) and Mike Campbell. Hits this album were I Will not Back Down, Free Fallin ' and Runnin ' Down a Dream. In addition, a cover version of the Byrds - piece Feel a Whole Lot Better on the album included, which should be Petty's commercial breakthrough. It reached the third place in the U.S. album charts and was honored three times with the platinum record.
Petty was awarded in 1989 for his work with the Traveling Wilburys with a Grammy Award.
In 1994 Petty's second solo album, Wildflowers, for which he received another Grammy Award. Among the hits of this album, whose guest musicians also ex-Beatle Ringo Starr counted was You Do not Know How It Feels, You Wreck Me and It's Good to Be King. On November 29, 2002, exactly one year after the death of George Harrison, Petty took in London's Royal Albert Hall in part at the memorial concert for the late associate. In July 2006, the album Highway Companion was published, again produced by Jeff Lynne.
Petty is friends with the American singer Stevie Nicks, with whom he released the 1981 hit Stop Draggin ' My Heart Around. In many of his concerts she accompanies him. Must also be mentioned his friendship with Johnny Cash, whose backing band albums of the last of the American Recordings series is largely composed of members of the Heartbreakers since 1996. Last but not least published cash there also own versions of Petty's Southern Accents and I Will not Back Down.
In 1997, he played himself in a small guest role alongside Kevin Costner in the movie Postman.
In 2002 he made a guest appearance in an episode of The Simpsons, in which he spoke his cartoon character.
In February 2008, he joined with the Heartbreakers at the halftime show at Super Bowl XLII.
In April 2008 appeared a new album, a Reunionsalbum his former band Mudcrutch.