Tom Petty

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Thomas Earl Petty grew up in Florida, and his interest in Rock and Roll came at the age of 10 after shaking hands with Elvis Presley. In his early days, Tom Petty was the member of bands like Epic and Mudcrutch. Mudcrutch was especially popular in the Gainesville, FL club scene, but nothing materialized for the band outside of Florida. Tom Petty decided to pursue a solo career, and Tom Petty's Heartbreaker's were formed.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker's released their self-titled debut in 1976. This initial release did not fair extremely well in the USA, but was popular in the UK. The song "Breakdown" from this release did make it into the top 40. Subsequent albums picked up for the band. Tom Petty's 2nd release, You're Gonna Get It, was released in 1978 and featured the hit songs "I Need to Know" and "Listen To Her Heart". Damn the Torpedoes was released in 1979 and featured the hit songs "Refugee", "Don't Do Me Like That", and "Here Comes My Girl".

As the 80's rolled in, Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker's continued releasing hit songs. You may remember the songs "The Waiting" (Hard Promises, 1981), "Don't Come Around Here No More" (Southern Accents, 1985), and "Jammin' Me" (Let Me Up I've had Enough, 1987). The band's 1989 release, Full Moon Fever, featured the hit songs "I Won't Back Down", "Free Fallin", and "Running Down a Dream". Some of you may also remember that in the late 1980's, Tom Petty hooked up with Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and Jeff Lynne to form the super group the Traveling Wilburys. In 1991, Tom Petty released the album Into the Great Wide Open, which featured the hit title track in addition to the song "Learning to Fly". "Mary Jane's Last Dance" was a hit song specifically written for the bands first greatest hits release in 1992.

Since the band's heyday of the 1980's and early 1990's, Tom Petty has continued to perform on stage and in studio (and their has been some more top 40 hits). Many people are probably also aware that Tom Petty shows up from time to time as an actor, on both the silver screen and on television (even as a cartoon characters on shows like The Simpsons and King of the Hill). At the time of this writing, the Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker's Discography was as follows:

Listen for free or download any Tom Petty track for just 12 cents per song!