Tom Petty dies at 66

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US rock artist Tom Petty dies in Santa Monica[edit | edit source]

Santa Monica, October 2, 2017

At the age of 66, rock musician Tom Petty suffered cardiac arrest on Monday morning, 10/02/17 and died that evening at the UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica in California, according to reports.

Petty, born in Gainesville, Florida in 1950, was best known as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Petty charted 17 hit singles. He was one of the best-selling music artists of all time, selling more than 80 million records. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Petty was also in the Traveling Wilburys.

Petty had a number of acting roles on film and television, playing the mayor of a post-apocalyptic town in the 1997 Kevin Costner film The Postman. In 2002, Petty appeared on The Simpsons episode "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation" and from 2004 to 2009 voiced character Lucky on King of the Hill.

Petty married Jane Benyo in 1974, and they divorced in 1996. With Benyo, Petty had two daughters, Adria and Annakim. He married Dana York in 2001, acquiring a stepson named Dylan from her earlier marriage. He is also survived by a younger brother, Bruce, and a granddaughter, Everly.