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On behalf of the Tom Petty family, we are devastated to announce the untimely death of of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty.

He suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu in the early hours of this morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived.

He died peacefully at 8:40PM PST surrounded by family, his bandmates, and friends.

- Tony Dimitriades, longtime manager of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, on behalf of the family

Interesting in that video posted above that ex-Beatles Ringo and George are performing with him, and the reason he embraced music was because he was inspired by the Beatles as a young man. Also, his dad was a jerk to him because he didn't appreciate his son going into the arts. Ridiculous. House in Malibu and $95 million net worth when he passed. Good life. Thanks for the tunes. Sorry I missed his last show at the Hollywood Bowl a week ago Monday.

 

from YA's linked article, this was the only thing I found surprising:
"Although Tom Petty had reduced his smoking to one pack a day..."

when that's considered an accomplishment...  

he was a great one.  one of the best SB halftime performances, too, as far as I'm concerned.  lived his life the way he wanted.  I always appreciated that he brought his family on tour with him.

http://www.houseofhere.com/petty.html

He's 40 years old now. There are metal bones in his right hand to replace the ones he atomized when, in 1985, he slammed his fist into a wall out of frustration with his music and life; it took a lot of physical therapy to get it working again, but nowadays he notices the metal bits only when the weather gets very cold. He's had surgery on his right knee, wrecked from years of "leaping off drum risers"; his left foot is arthritic, possibly from pounding it onstage in time to his music. "I have to survive on medication the rest of my life in order to walk," Petty says. "That's something I can deal with, I suppose." "A lot" of hearing in his left ear is gone; both ears ring. "I feel sometimes like an ex-football player. I'm just becoming aware that my body's been beat up really bad."

as Dan Hicks said:  "You probably think it's easy being up here, singing and everything and playing. It's not. It's not easy. Thank you."

ChilliJon posted:

If Harrison, Dylan, Orbison, Lynne want to record some stuff with you. You've done pretty well. 

My guitar gently weeps was tough to watch when Prince passed on. Kinda becoming a reminder of how lucky we were to be able to appreciate that level of talent. 

 

I think it is getting really tough to see so many musicians pass from our youth.  Why? not only am I getting older but I think music is passing before our eyes.  You know music when the people that make it are musicians?  we don't have that as much it seems anymore.

I really don't know what musicians we'll be missing in 30 years when they pass (Mick Jagger and Keith Richards may still be alive!).  It's a different landscape though now with so much fragmentation and ubiquitous access to so many different artists.  Pre-www most people only had access to big artists that made it to top 40 radio and your local department store's music section.  Those big artists often had the ability to keep turning out good music and they became entrenched in our memories.  Now it seems 98% of rock/pop/R&B/hiphop that most people have heard of are one hit wonders that disappear as quickly as they emerged.  Disposable culture/consumerism.  I can think of a good handful of "big" artists of my generation that will be missed (Prince, Cobain, M. Jackson to an extent...they're already gone).   But I'm middle aged by statistics and really don't know what 20somethings point to as great artists.  They may just have a completely different relationship to music in general except for the rogue revivalists or singer/songwriter clones.

I think you can make an argument that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is THE greatest American rock band, when you consider their entire body of work, longevity, popularity and accessibility, and great songs and performances. Springsteen and the E Street Band has an argument as well but for me it's TP and the HB.

That TP was able to keep the core of the group together for so long, while making music that was still vital and relevant, is a great testament to him. Yes, he was the front man and the leader but that was a real BAND. His relationship and generousity with other artists exhibits the same sort of professionalism and selflessness. A good man. RIP Tom.

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