Petty suffered cardiac arrest and was found
“We are devastated to announce the untimely death of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty,” Dimitriades said on behalf of the family.
He died peacefully at 8.40pm local time surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends.
Bob Dylan called his death “shocking, crushing news” in a statement to Rolling Stone magazine.
Petty, best known for his roots-infused rock music, carved a career as a solo artist as well as with his
band The Heartbreakers and as part of supergroup The Traveling Wilburys.
band The Heartbreakers and as part of supergroup The Traveling Wilburys.
Petty and The Heartbreakers embarked on a 40th anniversary tour of the United States this year and last played three dates in late September at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The band was scheduled to perform two dates in New York in November.
Petty formed The Heartbreakers in the mid 1970s, but it wasn’t until the band’s third album Damn the Torpedoes in 1979 that their music really took off, with hits such as Refugee and Don’t Do Me Like That.
He and the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, when they were described by organisers as “the quintessential American individualists”, capturing the voice of the American everyman.
