Tom Petty, known in his early years as "Tommy", was born in and grew up in northeast Gainesville. As a teenager he often practiced at home with friends and sometimes even in the family located in his back yard. Petty graduated from in 1968.
Petty did not have any musical aspirations until came to , , 25 miles south of Petty's hometown, to work on a film, " ". Petty went down to watch him and was inspired. His family disowned him at one point in his life because of his infatuation with music and women.
After working with his early bands The Sundowners, The Epics and Mudcrutch (the latter with ace Randall Marsh and future Heartbreakers members and ) he began his recording career with when the band broke onto the national music scene with their 1976 debut album. Still, it took America a full year to catch up to the album. "Breakdown" was re-released to radio and became a hit in 1977.
This was after word filtered back to the States that the band was creating a firestorm in the .
Their 1978 second album proved the debut album's intensity was no fluke. Marking the band's first , it featured the singles "Listen To Her Heart" and "I Need To Know".
Shortly after its release, the band was dragged into a legal dispute, when was sold to .
Petty refused to simply be transferred to another record label without his consent. He held fast to his principles for nine long months, which eventually led to him filing for bankruptcy.
After the dispute was settled, Tom Petty the Heartbreakers released their third album (1979) which rapidly became . It includes "Don't Do Me Like That" and "Refugee", their breakthrough singles.
Petty was appealing to a wide range of musical tastes, as , and fans alike were taking notice.
Though he was already extremely successful, Petty ran into trouble again when he and the Heartbreakers prepared to release (1981), the follow-up album to Damn the Torpedoes. MCA wanted to release the record at the list price of $9.98, which was considered a high price for a record album at the time.
Petty refused to comply to their wishes, threatening to change the album title to "The 8.98 Album." He actually withheld the album from the label.
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' next album, Hard Promises became a Top Ten hit, going platinum and spawning the hit single "The Waiting." Tom also recorded his first duet "Insider," with .
On their fifth album (1982) bass player was replaced by , giving The Heartbreakers their line-up until 1994.
However, Petty had problems coping with the stress of success and decided to slow things down.
On their comeback album, Southern Accents (1985), Tom Petty The Heartbreakers picked up where they had left off. The recording was not without problems — Petty became frustrated during the mixing process and broke his left hand after punching through a wall.
The album includes the hit single "Don't Come Around Here No More," which was produced by . The video for the single, featuring Tom dressed as , mocking and chasing Alice from the book , then cutting and eating her as if she were a cake. This caused some controversy after it was criticized by groups.
A successful concert tour led to the live album (1986). The band's live capabilities were put to the test when invited Tom Petty the Heartbreakers to join him on his True Confessions tour in addition to select dates with the Grateful Dead through the U.S.
, Australia, Japan (1986) and Europe (1987).
Also in 1987, the group released , a studio album made to sound like a live recording, using a technique they borrowed from Bob Dylan. It includes "Jammin' Me", which Petty wrote with Dylan.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' 1989 tour featured band opening every show. Petty eventually borrowed 's line "rebel without a clue" from "I'll Be You" for the title track of the album.
Petty also appeared in several episodes of (1987 - 1990), playing himself as one of 's neighbors.
This show appeared on the then-fledgling .
In 1989, Petty released the album . Though nominally a solo project, other Heartbreakers and well-known musicians participated in the album's production.
co-produced the album with Petty and of . It was in the Top Ten chart for over 34 weeks and earned triple-platinum status, along the way spawning such hits as "I Won't Back Down", " " and "Runnin' Down A Dream", the video of which was based on several episodes of the classic comic strip by . It can be seen in the video for "I Won't Back Down" that backing singers include Lynne and .
appears in the video on drums; however, they were actually performed by Phil Jones.
Prior to Full Moon Fever, Lynne and Petty worked together in the band, , which also counted , Harrison and as members. The Traveling Wilburys started as a joke in order to record a B-side for a George Harrison single, but the song " " was such a success that the group decided to record a full album, (1988).
However, Roy Orbison's sudden death cast a shadow on the success of The Traveling Wilburys and shortly afterwards, , whom the remaining Wilburys had in mind as a replacement, committed suicide. A second Wilburys album, called (a nod of recognition to bootleggers who had produced a Vol. 2, featuring some Vol.
1 songs) (1990), followed but couldn't quite live up to expectations.
Petty rejoined with the Heartbreakers for his next album, in 1991. It was produced by Lynne and included the hit singles "Learning To Fly" and "Into The Great Wide Open", the latter featuring , and in the video.
In 1994, Petty released his second solo album, , which included hit singles "You Don't Know How It Feels", "You Wreck Me", "It's Good to Be King", "A Higher Place" and "Honey Bee". The album was produced by acclaimed producer . A year later, a six CD box-set was released, entitled .
Approximately half of the tracks were previously available on albums, while the rest were , and live tracks. Two notable tracks are a solo version of Tom's 1981 with , "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" and the song "Waiting For Tonight," which features vocals from . The latter song also appeared on the two CD anthology released in 2000.
In 1996, Petty "reunited" with the Heartbreakers and released a soundtrack to the movie , starring and (see ). Three singles were released from this album; these were "Walls (Circus)" (featuring ), "Climb that Hill" and a written by , "Change the Locks". The album also included a cover of a song by , " ".
In 1999, Petty and the Heartbreakers released their final album with producer at the helm, . Two songs were released as singles in the U.S.
, "Room at the Top" and "Free Girl Now". The album reached number 10 in the U.S.
album charts. A Tom Petty was released in 2000, compiled by .
In 2002, Petty and the Heartbreakers released .
Many of the tracks are stinging attacks on the music industry, criticizing the greediness inherent within it, as well as the tendency of record companies to water down popular rock acts and release throwaway pop music made by scantily-clad young girls. The album reached number 9 in the U.S.
charts.
On July 25, 2006 Petty released a new solo album titled . It debuted at number 4 on the Billboard charts, becoming Petty's highest chart positioning in the era.
Petty has been honored with 16 nominations since 1981. In that year he received his first nomination for "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" in the category of Best Rock Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal. Petty earned a in 1989 for Best Rock Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal for his work with the Traveling Wilburys.
In 1994 he received another two Grammy Awards: Best Male Rock Vocal Performance (for "You Don't Know How It Feels") and Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical). Wildflowers also garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album.
Other Wildflowers achievements included Best Male Video Award for "You Don't Know How It Feels" at the 1995 Video Music Awards.
Tom Petty The Heartbreakers won the same award in 1994 with the video "Mary Jane's Last Dance". At the 1994 ceremony, Petty was also presented with the Video Vanguard Award, citing his longtime contributions to the field. In accepting the award though, while expressing his appreciation to MTV for the award, Petty denied his work was any more important than anyone else's, saying that all artistic expression was equally valid and implicitly validating the work of up-and-coming and aspiring musicians.
As a songwriter, Tom Petty was acknowledged in May 1996 with the prestigious Golden Note Award from . In April 1996, Petty received 's George And Ira Gershwin Award For Lifetime Musical Achievement. In 2002 the group was inducted into the .
In 1985, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers participated in the world-spanning charity rock concert . They also played at the 2001 benefit concert.
In 1994, a tribute album of alternative bands covering Petty songs was released called You Got Lucky.
In , released recorded with the accompaniment of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which won a Grammy for Best Country Album.
Petty appeared in the 1997 movie, , directed by and starring . This was his 3rd appearance on the silver screen, having had a small part in the 1987 movie and a cameo as himself in the 1978 film .
Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
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