Thomas Earl Petty was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was the leader and frontman of the rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys.
He was also a successful solo artist.
real name: Thomas Earl Petty
labels: Shelter Records
genres: rock music
awards: Florida Artists Hall of Fame
plays: guitar, voice
member of: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Traveling Wilburys, Mudcrutch, Mudcrutch
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
Petty was born on October 20, 1950, in Gainesville, Florida, the first of two sons of Kitty Petty (née Avery), a local tax office worker, and Earl Petty, a traveling salesman. His brother, Bruce, was seven years younger.
Petty's interest in rock and roll music began at age ten when he had an opportunity to meet 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 watch the movie's filming.
In 1988, Petty, along with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne, was a founding member of the Traveling Wilburys. The band's first song, "Handle with Care", was intended as a B-side of one of Harrison's singles, but was judged too good for that purpose and the group decided to record a full album, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1. A second Wilburys album, mischievously titled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 and recorded without the recently deceased Orbison, followed in 1990. The album was named Vol. 3 as a response to a series of bootlegged studio sessions being sold as Travelling Wilburys Vol. 2. Petty incorporated Traveling Wilburys songs into his live shows, consistently playing "Handle with Care" in shows from 2003 to 2006, and...
Are you them, or do you know them? The mail slot is open.
"Free Fallin'" is the opening track from American musician Tom Petty's debut solo album, Full Moon Fever (1989). The song was written by Petty and his writing partner for the album, Jeff Lynne, and features Lynne on backing vocals and bass guitar.
The duo wrote and recorded the single in two days, making it the first song completed for Full Moon Fever.
Petty explained in an interview with Billboard magazine that he and Jeff Lynne were sitting around trying to come up with a song, and Lynne got him to say "free falling". The next day they recorded the song. Petty did not write the song about a specific person, but instead about what he saw during his frequent drives along Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles. Lynne said "Probably the second song we wrote [for Full Moon Fever] was 'Free Fallin'.' I got the chords to it and we both fleshed out the chorus. It was like 'Evil Woman' in that we got a repetitive chord sequence and then the melody turns into a chorus. Everyone who heard it knew it was a hit, and the next song we did was 'I Won’t Back Down.'"
"Free Fallin'" is widely regarded as one of Petty's best songs. Billboard and Rolling Stone both ranked the song number four on their lists of the greatest Tom Petty songs.
The music video for the song was directed by Piers Garland and Julien Temple and features a teenage girl seen in various places around Los Angeles, including a 1960s pool party and a 1980s skate park. Petty is also seen performing in these places and others, such as the former Westside Pavilion mall.
In 1993, De La Soul and Teenage Fanclub sampled the song for "Fallin'", which appeared on the Judgment Night soundtrack.
"I Won't Back Down" is a song by the American rock musician Tom Petty. It was released in April 1989 as the lead single from his first solo album, Full Moon Fever.
The song was co-written by Petty and Jeff Lynne, his writing partner for the album. It reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Album Rock Tracks chart for five weeks, starting the album's road to multi-platinum status.
Petty has said the following about the recording of the song: "At the session George Harrison sang and played the guitar. I had a terrible cold that day, and George went to the store and bought a ginger root, boiled it and had me stick my head in the pot to get the ginger steam to open up my sinuses, and then I ran in and did the take." The song was written in response to an arson incident that took place at Petty's home in 1987.
The song is written in G major and played in common time with a tempo of 114 beats per minute.
Jerry Smith, reviewer of British music newspaper Music Week, called "I Won't Back Down" an "extremely catchy, chugging rocker" and expressed the opinion that Jeff Lynne's production "is sure to leave its mark in the build up to the release of his forthcoming LP". Music & Media found it to be "rootsy, very American rock with country overtones. Simple and charming with a nostalgic, early 70s production". The scathing review from New Musical Express was written as a message to young readers, with the caveat that "Tom Petty is the man who plays the irritating parts" on the recordings of the then-active Traveling Wilburys. And this work is a clear demonstration of those very irritating parts. Melody Maker's review was also laced with sarcasm....
"Runnin' Down a Dream" is a song co-written and recorded by Tom Petty. It was released in July 1989 as the second single from his first solo album Full Moon Fever.
"Runnin' Down a Dream" achieved reasonable chart success, reaching number 23 both in Canada and on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the top of the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. It has since garnered significant airplay on classic rock stations, and lent its name to the 2007 documentary on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
The song was co-written by Mike Campbell, along with Petty and Jeff Lynne. It was a nod to Petty's musical roots, with the lyric "me and Del were singin' 'Little Runaway'" making reference to Del Shannon and "Runaway".
The music video for "Runnin' Down a Dream", directed by Jim Lenahan and animated by Pittsburgh-based companies Allan & Wilson Animation Studio and Anivision Ltd., featured animation, based loosely on the classic comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland and the animation How a Mosquito Operates, both by Winsor McCay. The video features a drawing style reminiscent of McCay's and showing Petty and a character who resembles Flip travelling through Slumberland. The 1933 film King Kong is also briefly referenced when Petty, atop the Chrysler Building, attempts to swat at attacking oversized mosquitoes, much like Kong swatting at the biplanes in the film.
It was the official theme song of the 2006 NBA Finals as well as the 2008 NBA Finals. The song was also used by ABC in the 2010 NBA Finals when the presentation of the game reached the end of the third quarter and was phased out into a commercial break. The song was featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the in-game classic rock station K-DST. The song is playable in Guitar Hero 5 and was released as downloadable content for Rock Band 2; in Guitar Hero 5 the master track is used.
"You Don't Know How It Feels" is a song and the lead single from American musician Tom Petty's 1994 album Wildflowers. The track features candid lyrics describing the songwriter's desire for personal and professional autonomy.
The single reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, No. 3 on the Canadian RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart, and No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Petty's last top-40 hit in the US. An alternate version was posthumously released on June 26, 2020.