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By Christian Emil
 Tom Petty was born October 20, 1950 in Gainesville in Florida.
Tom Petty’s interest in rock and roll music began at age 10 when he met Elvis Presley.
In the summer of 1961, his uncle, Earl Jernigan, was working with the Elvis Presley film ‘Follow That Dream’, and invited Tom to come down and watch it. Tom Petty immediately became an Elvis Presley fan and he soon traded his beloved Wham-O slingshot for a box of Elvis LP’s. He listened to Elvis’s records non-stop for years, then the Beatles, and then Tom started started his career as an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He released his first single called ‘Up in Mississippi’ in 1971.
He is the lead singer of the rock band ‘Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ (1976 - ) and he is a member of ‘Mudcrutch’ (2008 - ) too. For a short period (1988 1991) he was a member of the group ‘Traveling Wilburys’ under the identity of ‘Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr’. The band counted other big names such as Dylan and McCartney.
Tom has recorded a bunch of hit singles, where many of them are still heavily played on classic rock radios, such as ‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’, ‘An American Girl’, and ‘I Won’t Back Down’
His music, and of course most notably his greatest hits, have become increasingly popular among younger generations. He also continues to host sold out shows on his present tour dates.
Tom Petty is also a vocal critic in the modern recording industry.
Tom Petty has for the most of his career been releasing albums with his band, ‘The Heartbreakers’. He has occasionally released solo work, like ‘Highway Companion’, where he performed most of the backing music himself. However, the members of ‘The Heartbreakers’ have played on every single one of his solo albums and the band has always been backing him when touring.
He has also toured with ‘Mudcrutch’ in 2008. In November 2008 ‘Mudcrutch’ released ‘Extended Play Live’ which is a EP recorded during the band’s tour to promote their debut album ‘Mudcrutch’.
On February 3, 2008, ‘Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ performed at the Super Bowl Halftime show. It were a spectacular show, which was consistently well received
Tom Petty first took appearance in a film in 1978, when he had a little known part in ‘FM’ (a music film). Later on he had a small part in ‘Made In Heaven’ from 1987 (a tribute to ‘Queen’).
He has also showed up in several episodes of ‘It’s Garry Shandling’s Show’ in the period of 1987 to 1990, acting as one of Garry Shandling’s neighbors. Petty has also featured in another Shandling’s show; ‘The Larry Sanders Show’, as a final guests. In that episode, Petty got bumped from the show and almost comes to a fight with Greg Kinnear; I do also think that he looks a little like a freak who could get out in such situations.
Petty also appeared as the mayor of Bridge City in the movie, ‘The Postman’ from 1997, which were directed and starred by Kevin Costner. And if anyone haven’t seen ‘The Postman’ I can highly recommend the movie.
In 2002 he appeared in ‘The Simpsons’ in the episode called ‘How I Spent My Strummer Vacation’ (and no it ain’t because I spelled it wrong: the episode is actually called strummer). In the episode, he were acting like a tutor to Homer Simpson in the art of lyric writing. They are composing a song about a drunk girl who drives down the road while she is concerned about the state of public schools. What a funny thing to write about, but what could there possibly else be written about in a ‘Simpsons’ episode?
Homer actually succeeds as a performer but this angers the other stars at the show and as usual it all goes totally wrong.
Petty also has a role as the voice of ‘Elroy Kleinschmidt’ in the animated show ‘King of the Hill’.
In 2007 ‘Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ made a documentary about their life’s named ‘Runnin’ Down A Dream’.
Among many other rewards and honors, Tom Petty been honored with 19 ‘Grammy Award’ nominations and in 1999 ‘Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ received a star on the Hollywood ‘Walk of Fame’.
Personally I find him amazingly interesting because I find his music catching and because despite his high age he’s still able to catch the youth of today. He might not be the most handsome, but he is for sure a very interesting performer.
I’m too, is also one of the, earlier mentioned, young people who searches for his music even though that he actually belongs to my grandfathers generation.
Christian Emil is the owner of http://www.Mp4Unlimited.com offering objective reviews of the best music sites online.
Follow Christian Emil at his blog: http://www.Mp4Unlimited.com/blogs
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