Tom Petty

Who Is He?

Tom Petty (1950–2017) fronted Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, a Florida-bred rock band built around jangling guitars, organ, and Petty's plainspoken voice, from 1976 until his death in 2017. He also built a parallel life as a solo artist and, briefly, as a member of the all-star Traveling Wilburys.

Two things make his catalog singular. First, the consistency: across four decades he rarely made a bad record, and his songs, "American Girl," "Refugee," "Free Fallin'," "Learning to Fly," became so woven into American radio that they feel like they've always existed. Second, the defiance: he fought his label over pricing, fought to keep his masters, and fought a bankruptcy filing rather than be pushed around, all while staying resolutely unpretentious about it.

He and the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, and Full Moon Fever and Wildflowers, his two great solo records, sit alongside the band's best work as essential American rock albums.

The Story

His story is one of the steadiest in rock: a band that formed young, found its sound fast, and simply kept delivering for forty years.

1. 1950

   A childhood turned by Elvis

   Born in Gainesville, Florida, Petty later said meeting Elvis Presley on a film set as a boy set the course of his life. He spent his teens playing in local bands before moving toward Los Angeles.

2. 1976

   Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

   Petty assembled the Heartbreakers from Gainesville friends and local Florida musicians, including guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench. Their debut arrived amid punk and disco, but its lean, jangling rock found an audience, especially in the UK.

3. 1979

   Damn the Torpedoes, and a fight with the label

   Before the band's commercial breakthrough, Petty filed for bankruptcy specifically to void his contract and prevent his label's sale from trapping him with a company he didn't choose. He won a new deal and delivered Damn the Torpedoes, the album that made the Heartbreakers stars.

4. 1981

   Standing up to the record price hike

   Petty threatened to title Hard Promises "$8.98" and refuse to release it rather than let his label raise the standard list price for LPs. The label backed down, a rare and public act of defiance from an artist still building his career.

5. 1989

   Full Moon Fever

   Recorded with Jeff Lynne and released as his first true solo album, Full Moon Fever became his biggest commercial success, packed with "Free Fallin'," "I Won't Back Down," and "Runnin' Down a Dream."

6. 1988–1990

   The Traveling Wilburys

   Alongside George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne, Petty joined the Traveling Wilburys, an all-star supergroup formed almost by accident that released two beloved, loose-limbed albums.

7. 1994

   Wildflowers

   A second solo album, produced by Rick Rubin, quieter and more reflective than his band records. Widely regarded as his songwriting peak, it later got the deluxe reissue treatment as Wildflowers & All the Rest using unreleased tracks from the original sessions.

8. 2002

   Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

   Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were inducted, cementing a catalog that, unusually for a band of their era, had almost no weak stretch across nearly three decades.

9. 2017

   A final tour, and a sudden loss

   Petty and the Heartbreakers completed a 40th-anniversary tour in the fall of 2017. Days after the tour's final show, Tom Petty died in October 2017, a loss that was felt across American music.

Start Here

Petty's catalog is deep, but these three, a vintage live take, a defining studio anthem, and the solo hit everyone knows, are the fastest way in. Watch in order.

The Albums

Petty's catalog splits cleanly between the full band and two solo detours. The amber-topped cards are the essential entry points; the blue mark his solo records.

The Playlists

One curated YouTube Music playlist covers the ground fastest: the essential singles, band and solo, in one sitting. Hit the button on the card to play it.

The Band

The Heartbreakers were unusually stable for a rock band of their era: most of the core lineup stayed together for decades, with one change on drums.

• Tom PettyGuitar / VocalsFrontman, principal songwriter, and the band's stubborn conscience; died October 2017
• Mike CampbellLead GuitarPetty's closest musical partner and co-writer of many of the band's biggest hits
• Benmont TenchKeyboardsThe organ and piano textures underneath nearly every Heartbreakers record
• Ron BlairBassOriginal bassist who left in the early 1980s and rejoined the band in 2002
• Stan LynchDrums, 1976–1994Drummer through the band's classic-era run of albums
• Steve FerroneDrums, 1994–2017Joined for Wildflowers and stayed through the band's final tour

Influences

Petty's sound was built from a specific, well-worn stack of records: British Invasion jangle, Dylan's phrasing, and the rock and roll he grew up on in Florida.

Interviews

Two glimpses behind the songs: the band's own channel unpacking a classic riff, and a magazine sit-down about the life around the music.

Going Deeper

Once the hits have you, there's a lot more Petty worth chasing down.

• The Traveling Wilburys — two loose, joyful albums (1988, 1990) made with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne. Essential listening for how relaxed Petty could sound outside his own band.
• Southern Accents (1985) — an uneven but fascinating detour into Southern identity and studio experimentation, home to "Don't Come Around Here No More."
• The Live Anthology (2009) — a sprawling, career-spanning live collection that shows how much the Heartbreakers grew as a road band.
• An American Treasure (2018) — a posthumous box set of rarities and deep cuts, assembled by the band and family after his death.
• Runnin' Down a Dream (2007) — Peter Bogdanovich's four-hour documentary, the definitive film account of the band's history.