Benjamin Montmorency "Benmont" Tench III is an American musician and singer, and a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band formed in Gainesville, Florida, 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, remained with the band for the next two decades. In 1991, Scott Thurston joined the band as a multi-instrumentalist, primarily on rhythm guitar and secondary 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" (1979), "The Waiting" (1981), "Learning to Fly" (1991), and "Mary Jane's Last Dance" (1993), among many others, that stretched over several decades of work.
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 2024, the Dirty Knobs have released three albums.
Echo is the tenth studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Released in April 1999, the album reached number 10 on the Billboard 200 aided by singles "Free Girl Now", "Swingin'" and "Room at the Top", which hit numbers 5, 17 and 19 respectively on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks in 1999. The album was the band's last collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, and was also the last to feature contributions from longtime bassist/vocalist Howie Epstein, who died of a heroin overdose in 2003. Despite still being a member of the band, Epstein is missing from the album's cover photo because he failed to show up for the photo shoot, and Petty ordered it to commence without him. It also marks the first to feature longtime touring member Scott Thurston, as well as the first to credit drummer Steve Ferrone as an official member. Echo was certified Gold by the RIAA in July 1999, only three months after it was released. Echo is the only Heartbreakers' album to feature a lead vocal from another member of the band, namely lead guitarist Mike Campbell on "I Don't Wanna Fight".
Hard Promises is the fourth studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released on May 5, 1981, on Backstreet Records.
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.
You're Gonna Get It! is the second studio album by the American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on May 2, 1978, by Shelter Records. Originally, the album was to be titled Terminal Romance. Its design and art direction was handled by Josh Kosh. The album peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart in its release year, a higher position than its predecessor, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976).
Tom Leadon was an American musician. He was one of the founding members of Tom Petty's original band, Mudcrutch, and remained its guitarist following its revival in 2007. He was the brother of Bernie Leadon, the former banjoist and guitarist of the Eagles.
"Refugee" is a song recorded by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was released in January 1980 as the second single from their album Damn the Torpedoes, and peaking at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The song is in compound AABA form.
Mudcrutch was an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida, whose sound touched on southern rock and country rock. They were first active in the 1970s and reformed in 2007, and are best known for being the band which launched Tom Petty to fame.
"A Woman in Love (It's Not Me)" is a song recorded by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was released in June 1981 as the second single from their album Hard Promises. It peaked at number 79 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.
"You Got Lucky" is the first single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' album Long After Dark. The song peaked at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart, where it stayed for three weeks at the end of 1982. Somewhat unusually for a Petty song, guitars give up the spotlight to allow synths to carry the song's main structure.
"Here Comes My Girl" is a song written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, and recorded by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, their third single from their breakthrough hit 1979 album, Damn the Torpedoes. It peaked at number 59 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on May 24, 1980.
"Scare Easy" is a song written and sung by Tom Petty. It featured on the debut album by rock band Mudcrutch featuring Petty and Mike Campbell. The song was used in a 2008 commercial for My Name Is Earl. The song peaked at #4 on the Billboard chart.
Mudcrutch 2 is the second and final studio album by American rock band Mudcrutch, released on May 20, 2016 and was the last recorded studio material by Tom Petty before his death in 2017. The album entered the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at No. 10, selling about 33,000 copies in its first week.
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.
"Surrender" is a song by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The song has been recorded multiple times over the years but has never been included on a studio album. The song was first released in 2000 as a radio single from the compilation Anthology: Through the Years, and then a live version was available on The Live Anthology. A studio recording from the Damn the Torpedoes sessions was made available on the reissue of the album in 2010. In 2018, a version originally recorded in 1976 was released on the deluxe version of An American Treasure.
Wreckless Abandon is the debut album by American rock band The Dirty Knobs. Released by BMG Rights Management in 2021, the album has received positive reviews from critics. The album was largely recorded live to tape in frontman Mike Campbell's home studio and include compositions that he had written over the course of almost 20 years with the band. The album also features Campbell's former bandmate Benmont Tench and the recording process helped Campbell grieve the 2017 death of longtime collaborator Tom Petty. The Dirty Knobs had been Campbell's side project between Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch work and became his primary focus after Petty's death, leading to this recording and Campbell's first attempts to find a unique voice as a songwriter and performer.
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