The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Tom Petty clings to life following heart attack
Icon had recently completed his band’s 40th anniversary tour
Legendary musician Tom Petty was on life support last night following a suspected heart attack.
Petty, 66, is thought to have suffered a full cardiac arrest and was found unconscious and not breathing in his Malibu home on Sunday night.
Reports in the US said he was taken to UCLA Santa Monica Hospital in a critical condition and was put on life support, with CBS News – citing confir- mation from the Los Angeles Police Department – reporting that the 66-year-old had died after life support was switched off.
However, TMZ later reported, citing unidentified sources, that Petty was not expected to live much longer but was “still clinging to life”.
Petty rose to international fame in the 1970s as the frontman of his band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and released several hits including American Girl, Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, Breakdown, Listen to Her Heart and more.
But he was also a successful solo artist and released the 1989 album Full Moon Fever which featured huge hits including I Won’t Back Down, Free Fallin’ and Runnin’ Down a Dream.
Prior to that, he had joined George Harrison’s group The Traveling Wilburys, which also included Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne.
Petty played his final show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles last Monday, bringing to an end his band’s 40th anniversary tour which covered 53 concerts in 24 states.
In December, Petty told Rolling Stone he believed it would be the group’s last major tour together.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was thinking this might be the last big one,” he was quoted as saying.
“We’re all on the backside of our 60s. “I have a granddaughter now I’d like to see as much as I can.”
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999 and the band was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three years later.