![]() ![]() However, after their single, Depot Street, flopped and their newly recorded album remained unreleased, a disillusioned Petty quit Mudcrutch. The week before they left, Petty married Jane Benyo, who was also from Gainesville. Mudcrutch became a popular local band who could play to sizeable crowds across Florida, and in 1974 they signed a deal with Shelter Records and headed for Los Angeles. Gainesville’s musical activity centred on the music store Lipham’s Music, where Petty, Bernie Leadon and the future Eagles guitarist Don Felder all worked at various times. Mudcrutch also included the future Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell. He was singing and playing bass, while on guitar was Tom Leadon, brother of Bernie, who later moved to Los Angeles and joined the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Eagles. Petty formed his first band, the Sundowners, when he was 14, then on his 16th birthday joined the Epics, which later became Mudcrutch. ![]() “You get your friends and you’re a self-contained unit. “ There was the way to do it,” he recalled. The inspiration of Presley was followed by the arrival of the Beatles. He graduated to an electric instrument and began writing his own songs (his first composition was called Baby, I’m Leaving). Tom’s parents gave him an acoustic guitar for Christmas when he was 12. “I caught the fever that day and I never got rid of it,” he recalled. When he was 11, Tom had the life-changing experience of meeting Elvis Presley, when his aunt and uncle took him to see Presley filming Follow That Dream in Ocala, Florida. Tom had a brother, Bruce, who was seven years younger. He was also a drinker and gambler who would sometimes beat his son with his belt. Kitty worked in the Gainesville local tax office Earl went through several jobs including running a grocery store, hawking wholesale goods from a truck to stores, and finally selling insurance. I don’t want to spend my life on the road.”īorn in Gainesville, Florida, Tom was the son of Kitty (nee Avery) and Earl Petty. “I have a granddaughter who I would like to see as much of as I can. “We’re all on the backside of our 60s,” he told Rolling Stone. ![]() Petty had accepted that time was catching up with him and could not foresee further giant tours in future. They also found room for Petty’s solo hits from his 1989 album Full Moon Fever, such as I Won’t Back Down, Free Fallin’ and Runnin’ Down a Dream. They ranged through landmarks such as Refugee, Don’t Come Around Here No More and chart favourites such as Mary Jane’s Last Dance and Learning to Fly. Those recent concerts found the group roving across their entire career, featuring tracks from their 1976 debut album such as American Girl and Breakdown and pieces from their latest album, Hypnotic Eye, which was their first to become a US No 1. Last week the rock star Tom Petty, who has died after suffering a cardiac arrest aged 66, and his band, the Heartbreakers, completed a trio of acclaimed shows at the Hollywood Bowl on their 40th anniversary tour, which had also brought them to Hyde Park in London in July. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |