October 5, 2017

On Monday, October 2, American rock music icon Tom Petty died at age 66 in southern California after suffering a cardiac arrest. Petty’s songs—both as leader of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist—topped FM radio charts for several decades. His hit songs included “American Girl,” “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” “Don’t Do Me Like That,” “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” and “Refugee.”

Tom Petty performs with the Heartbreakers during the halftime show at Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3, 2008, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Credit: © Jeff Kravitz, Getty Images

Petty’s somewhat grainy voice wavered over sharp guitar riffs, and his powerful songwriting gave an anthem quality to many of his songs, which proved both immediately and enduringly popular. Petty sold more than 80 million albums throughout his career, and he headlined arenas and festivals well into 2017.

Petty was born on Oct. 20, 1950, in Gainesville, Florida. Enthralled by rock music in his youth, Petty started his first band while still in high school. Success began with the 1976 debut of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which featured “Breakdown” and “American Girl.” The band’s third release, Damn the Torpedoes (1979), began a string of top-selling albums that lasted until the band’s breakup in 1987. Petty then played three years with the Traveling Wilburys, a group that included rock legends Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison.

Petty’s solo 1989 release Full Moon Fever included the smash hits “I Won’t Back Down,” “Free Fallin’,” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream.” In 1991, he rejoined the Heartbreakers for Into the Great Wide Open, which included the title hit song and “Learning to Fly.” Petty’s diverse career expanded to include many artists, but he continued to record with the Heartbreakers. The group’s last album, Hypnotic Eye, was released in 2014. Petty entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, and he played the 2008 Super Bowl halftime show.