Tom Petty...in a nutshell

You couldn’t make up a life that’s more perfect for a rock star.  

Elvis showed him how his world could be different.  The Beatles showed him how to get there.  

He started collecting records.  He got an electric guitar and learned how to play.  

His mother encouraged his creativity and nourished his passion while his father despised how different his son was and beat him so hard that it drove him to succeed.  

He showed up in Hollywood with a box full of demos and landed a record deal almost immediately.  When it became clear two albums later that the contract he’d signed was a bad one, he fought the record company…and won.  

Then, when the record company wanted to debut a higher selling price for their albums with one of his releases, he fought them again…and won again.  

He became a video star without the critical accusations of being just a hairstyle band that dogged so many other video stars.  

He became friends with a Beatle.  And toured with Bob Dylan.  And recorded with Johnny Cash.  And became a close friend of Stevie Nicks.  And worked with Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne and Jimmy Iovine and Rick Rubin and Dave Stewart and performed with Prince and Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl.  

He wrote some of the most memorable, most enduring songs of the past 40 years.  And so far in his career he’s sold 80 million albums and counting.  

You have to agree that’s a pretty good run.  And he isn’t done yet!