Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
An appearance on the “FM” soundtrack (“Breakdown”) helped establish Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.
“Refuge,” “Don’t Do Me Like That,” “The Waiting,” and “You Got Lucky” followed.
Solo, Petty came up with “I Won’t Back Down” and “Running Down A Dream,” which gave a nod to the late Del Shannon, whose career Petty had worked to revive.
Tom Petty and guitarist Mike Campbell contributed to Stevie Nicks’ “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” Earlier, Nicks had added vocals to Petty’s “Insider.”
For maximum exposure, there was a halftime performance at Super Bowl XLII in Phoenix. Petty & The Heartbreakers played “American Girl,” “I Won’t Back Down,” “Free Fallin’,” and “Runnin’ Down A Dream.”
Petty & The Heartbreakers rolled out “Hypnotic Eye” in ’14. The set, which featured the single “American Dream Plan B,” was the group’s first in four years. The set was also the group’s first #1 album on the Billboard 200. It only took Petty and company a mere thirty-seven years to get to the top spot.
Like a bolt out of the blue, when it looked as though Petty & The Heartbreakers still had more chapters in their story, Petty died of cardiac arrest on 10/02/17. Found unconscious and not breathing in his Malibu home, Petty was rushed to the hospital and put on life support. But with no brain activity life support was removed. He was 66. An autopsy determined that Petty died of an accidental overdose of various medications, including painkillers.
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