US rock artist Tom Petty dies at 66

Thursday, October 5, 2017

At the age of 66, US rock musician Tom Petty suffered cardiac arrest on Monday morning and died that evening at the UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica in California, according to reports.

Petty, born in Gainesville, Florida in 1950, was best known as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. With the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist, Petty recorded a number of hit singles. He was one of the best-selling music artists of all time, selling more than 80 million records worldwide over the course of his career. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Petty also co-founded the late 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys.

Petty had a number of acting roles on film and television, playing the mayor of a post-apocalyptic town in the 1997 Kevin Costner film The Postman. In 2002, Petty appeared on The Simpsons episode "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation" and from 2004 to 2009 voiced character Lucky on King of the Hill.

Petty married Jane Benyo in 1974, and they divorced in 1996. With Benyo, Petty had two daughters, Adria and Annakim. He married Dana York in 2001, acquiring a stepson named Dylan from her earlier marriage. He is also survived by a younger brother, Bruce, and a granddaughter, Everly.

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Sources

Lisa Respers France and Brandon Griggs. "Tom Petty dies at 66" — CNN, October 3, 2017
Laura Bradley. "Remembering Tom Petty’s Quirky Roles in The Postman and King of the Hill" — Vanity Fair, October 3, 2017
"Tom Petty" — Biography.com, October 3, 2017
Randy Lewis. "Tom Petty, Heartbreakers frontman and beloved rock figure, dies at 66" — Los Angeles Times, October 2, 2017

Cady Lang. "Tom Petty's Simpson Cameo Perfectly Captured the Thinking Rock Star's Dilemma" — Time Magazine, October 2, 2017
Fred Schruers. "Tom Petty on the 'Good Thing About Getting Old': 'You Know What's Worth Spending Time on and What's Not'" — The Billboard, July 21, 2014
Ron Sayer. "Top talent at The Flowerpot" — Belper News, January 30, 2013

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