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Artist News Top Stories
Tom Petty dies
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 3 October 2017
Tom Petty died yesterday after a cardiac arrest, it has been confirmed. He was 66.
According to reports, the musician was found unconscious and not breathing at his Malibu home in the early hours of Monday morning. He was taken to hospital, but could not be revived and was pronounced dead yesterday evening.
In a statement on behalf of Petty’s family, his manager Tony Dimitriades said: “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”.
Born in Florida in 1950, Petty became a professional musician as a teenager, and found fame in the 1970s with Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers. With the band, he produced hits such as ‘Free Fallin’, ‘American Girl’, ‘Learning To Fly’ and ‘Refugee’.
In the 1980s, he also founded the Travelling Wilburys supergroup with Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne and George Harrison. In a statement yesterday, Dylan said: “It’s shocking, crushing news. I thought the world of Tom. He was a great performer, full of the light, a friend, and I’ll never forget him”.
Last month, Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers completed a tour to mark their 40th anniversary, including a show at London’s British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park. The band’s most recent album, ‘Hypnotic Eye’, was released in 2014, going to number one in the US and number seven in the UK.
