US rocker Tom Petty has reportedly died at age 66!
The veteran rocker best known for hits such as Free Fallin’ and American Girl, died on Monday after suffering cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu early on Monday morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Centre but could not be revived, his long-time manager Tony Dimitriades said in a statement.
“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 (03.40 GMT Tuesday) surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends.
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.
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.
Picture credit: Pitchfork
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