Photo: Paul Bachmann
Monday, October 2nd 2017, a day when Americans were coming to terms with the country’s worst mass shooting incident in modern times, ended with the death of one of their greatest rock songwriters.
Tom Petty died from cardiac arrest in hospital at the age of 66 after being found unconsciousness at his Malibu home, the news confirmed by his manager after an evening of claims and counter-claims online. “He died peacefully at 20:40 Pacific time (03:40 GMT Tuesday) surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends,” Tony Dimitriades said.
Petty emerged as an expert exponent of Americana-rooted rock and roll upon his self-titled debut album with the Heartbreakers in 1975, and went on to enjoy enduring hits such as American Girl, Free Fallin’ and I Won’t Back Down.
There was more success in the late eighties when he became a part of the Traveling Wilburys – one of his colleagues from the supergroup, Bob Dylan, has led the tributes, describing him as ‘a great performer, full of the light’, ‘a friend’ who he will ‘never forget’.
Full statement: pic.twitter.com/FGCVI5yIaa
— Tom Petty (@tompetty) October 3, 2017