Thomas Earl Petty was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was the leader 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.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. Formed in 1976, the band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer Stan Lynch and bassist Ron Blair. In 1982, Blair, weary of the touring lifestyle, departed the band. His replacement, Howie Epstein, stayed with the band for the next two decades. In 1991, Scott Thurston joined the band as a multi-instrumentalist—mostly on rhythm guitar and second keyboard. In 1994, Steve Ferrone replaced Lynch on drums. Blair returned to the Heartbreakers in 2002, the year before Epstein's death. The band had a long string of hit singles including "Breakdown", "American Girl", "Refugee", "The Waiting", "Learning to Fly", and "Mary Jane's Last Dance", among many others, that stretched over several decades of work.
Damn the Torpedoes is the third studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on October 19, 1979. This was the first of three Petty albums originally released by the Backstreet Records label, distributed by MCA Records. It built on the commercial success and critical acclaim of the band's two previous albums and reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album went on to become certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Full Moon Fever is the debut solo studio album by American musician Tom Petty, released on April 24, 1989, by MCA Records. It features contributions from members of his band the Heartbreakers, notably Mike Campbell, as well as Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and George Harrison, Petty's bandmates in the Traveling Wilburys. The record showcases Petty exploring his musical roots with nods to his influences. The songwriting primarily consists of collaborations between Petty and Lynne, who was also a producer on the album. Full Moon Fever became a commercial and critical success, peaking at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and being certified 5× platinum in the United States and 6× platinum in Canada.
Michael Wayne Campbell is an American guitarist and vocalist. He was a member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and co-wrote many of the band's hits with Petty, including "Refugee", "Here Comes My Girl", "You Got Lucky", and "Runnin' Down a Dream". Outside of The Heartbreakers, he has worked as a session guitarist and songwriter with a number of other acts, including composing and playing on the Don Henley hits "The Boys of Summer" & "The Heart of the Matter" as well as working on most of Stevie Nicks's solo albums. Campbell, along with Neil Finn, joined Fleetwood Mac to replace lead guitarist Lindsey Buckingham on their world tour in 2018–2019. After the end of that tour, he has been involved in his own band, the Dirty Knobs. As of 2022, the Dirty Knobs released two albums.
Southern Accents is the sixth studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on March 26, 1985, through MCA Records. The album's lead single, "Don't Come Around Here No More", co-written by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song "Southern Accents" was later covered by Johnny Cash for his Unchained album in 1996.
Playback is a box set compilation by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released in 1995. It contains popular album tracks, B-sides, previously unreleased outtakes, and early songs by Petty's previous band Mudcrutch.
The Overture & the Underscore is the 2004 debut album by Australian singer-songwriter Sarah Blasko.
Into the Great Wide Open is the eighth studio album by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Released in July 1991, it was the band's last with MCA Records. The album was the second that Petty produced with Jeff Lynne, following the successful Full Moon Fever (1989).
Stanley Joseph "Stan" Lynch is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for 18 years until his departure in 1994.
"I'll Be You" is a song by the American rock band The Replacements. It was written by lead singer Paul Westerberg and released as the lead single from the band's sixth studio album Don't Tell a Soul in 1989. After being singled out by Reprise executive Lenny Waronker as a potential hit, the song was heavily promoted by the label and became the band's only single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 51.
"Learning to Fly" is a song by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was written in 1991 by Tom Petty and his writing partner Jeff Lynne for the band's eighth studio album, Into the Great Wide Open (1991). The entire song is based on four simple chords,. Released in June 1991 by MCA, it became a top hit for Petty and the Heartbreakers, topping the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and peaking at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Pack Up the Plantation: Live! is the first official live album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released in November 1985 by MCA Records. It was released as a double LP and, in slightly truncated form, a single cassette or compact disc. A concert film of the same name was released on home video in 1986. Stevie Nicks sings on two songs, including the US single "Needles and Pins", which reached No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Into the Great Wide Open" is a song by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, included as the third track on their eighth studio album, Into the Great Wide Open (1991). Released as a single in September 1991, the song reached number four on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart but stalled at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100. Internationally, the song peaked at number 23 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart and found moderate success in Belgium and Germany.
"Breakdown" is the first single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' self-titled debut album. It became a Top 40 hit in the United States and Canada.
Robert Francis Cranny is a musician, songwriter and record producer based in Sydney, Australia.
Sarah Elizabeth Blaskow, known professionally as Sarah Blasko, is an Australian singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. From April 2002, Blasko developed her solo career after fronting Sydney-based band, Acquiesce, between the mid-1990s and 2001. She had performed under her then married name, Sarah Semmens, and, after leaving Acquiesce, as Sorija in a briefly existing duo of that name. As a solo artist Blasko has released six studio albums, The Overture & the Underscore, What the Sea Wants, the Sea Will Have – which peaked at No. 7 on the ARIA Albums Chart, As Day Follows Night – which reached No. 5, I Awake – which made No. 9, Eternal Return, and Depth of Field.
Hypnotic Eye is the thirteenth and final studio album by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released in the UK on July 28, 2014 and in the United States on July 29, by Reprise Records. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, becoming the only Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album ever to top the chart. Hypnotic Eye was nominated for the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. It was the Heartbreakers' final studio album before disbanding in 2017, following Petty's death in October of that year.
An American Treasure is a 2018 compilation album and box set of Tom Petty, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch released by Reprise Records on September 28, 2018. The set includes several rare and unreleased songs alongside more obscure album tracks that showcase Petty's songwriting. The majority of the content is Heartbreakers material but there are also several solo songs and some recordings by Mudcrutch. Critical reception has been positive.
The Best of Everything is a 2019 greatest hits album with recordings made by Tom Petty, with his backing band The Heartbreakers, as a solo artist, and with Mudcrutch. It was released on March 1.
