Veteran rocker Tom Petty has passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 66. Petty's longtime manager confirmed the singer's death and said that he took his last breath at his home in Malibu.
Petty suffered cardiac arrest at his home and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived. He died peacefully at 8:40 p.m. surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends.
Born on 20 October 1950, in Gainesville, Florida, Petty became interested in the genre when he met Elvis Presley at age 10; he said he knew he wanted to form a band when he saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. He even took lessons from future Eagles guitarist Don Felder.
Petty formed ‘The Heartbreakers’ in the mid 1970s, but it wasn’t until the band’s third album “Damn the Torpedoes” in 1979 that their music really took off, with hits such as “Refugee” and “Don’t Do Me Like That.”
His highest-profile collaboration happened as the 80s rolled into the 90s, when Petty joined Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Electric Light Orchestra's Jeff Lynne to form the ‘Traveling Wilburys’.
Petty and ‘The Heartbreakers’ were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, when they were described by organisers as “the quintessential American individualists,” capturing the voice of the American everyman.
Petty is survived by his wife, Dana York, two daughters and a stepson.
Video Editor: Mohammed Ibrahim
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