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Oct 02, 2017 Tom Petty By Christopher Roberts

Update 3: The passing of Tom Petty has now been confirmed by his manager Tony Dimitriades, who spoke to The New York Times. He died at 8:40 p.m. Pacific Time last night.

Update 2: Earlier we reported that Tom Petty had died, with the LAPD initially confirming to CBS that he had passed. Since then the LAPD have walked back their statement, posting to Twitter the following: “The LAPD has no information about the passing of singer Tom Petty. Initial information was inadvertantly provided to some media sources.”

Update: According to Noisey and TMZ, Petty is still clinging to life, but is not expected to live much longer. Reports are conflicting.

Tom Petty, the 66-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist who found success in the 1970s and 1980s with his band as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, suffered cardiac arrest last night in his home in Malibu, Los Angeles, and was rushed to the hospital, where he was put on life support, as TMZ has been reporting. Today he was taken off life support and passed away, as the Los Angeles Police Department initially confirmed to CBS. Although now it’s unclear as to his status.

Born in 1950 in Gainesville, Florida, where he grew up, he dropped out of high school at age 17 to join the band Mudcrutch, initially inspired by his love of The Beatles and Elvis Presley. When that band broke up, Petty and its members Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench went on to form Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1976, alongside Stan Lynch and Bon Blair. Their self-titled debut album was released that year and was initially bigger in the U.K., but eventually got attention in America tanks to the singles “Breakdown” and “American Girl.” The band released successful albums throughout the rest of the 1970s and 1980s, but had huge success with 1989’s Full Moon Fever, which went 5x platinum in the U.S. thanks in part to the hit singles “Free Fallin’” and “I Won’t Back Down.” Full Moon Fever, as well as 1994’s well-received Wildflowers, were released just under Petty’s name, but still featured The Heartbreakers. The band’s last album was 2014’s Hypnotic Eye and they were still touring this year.

The band performed at 1985’s famous Live Aid concert and Petty was also in the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys alongside George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne. Below is a selection of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers videos.

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