Tom Petty
photo credit: Getty Images
photo credit: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images Entertainment
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Thomas Earl Petty

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Tom Petty

Tom Petty

Active - 1978 - 2021  |   Born - Oct 20, 1950 in Gainesville, Florida, United States  |   Died - Oct 2, 2017   |   Genres - Comedy, Music, Drama

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Biography by AllMovie

Best known as a talented rock & roll singer/songwriter of the '80s and '90s, the lanky, blonde Tom Petty has also made a few movie appearances.

Movie Highlights

Sound City
Echo In the Canyon
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
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Factsheet

  • Became interested in rock-and-roll music after meeting Elvis Presley at age 10 (1961); decided to become a rock musician after seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show.
  • First solo album, 1989's Full Moon Fever, charted as high as No. 3 and went triple platinum.
  • Played the Bridge City mayor in Kevin Costner's 1997 film The Postman.
  • Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
  • Began hosting a show called Buried Treasure on XM satellite radio in 2005.
  • Had a recurring guest role on the Fox animated comedy King of the Hill; voiced the character of Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt, who occasionally played guitar in the band Big Mountain Fudgecake.