Celebrity Featured: Tom Petty
Artist: Lee Wilde
About Tom Petty
Tom Petty was born October 20, 1950 and is a singer and guitarist. A prolific songwriter, he has also produced numerous hit singles, such as "American Girl", "The Waiting", "Free Fallin'", "I Won't Back Down", "Into the Great Wide Open", "Learning To Fly" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance", most of which remain heavily played on mainstream radio.
Petty has been supported by his band, The Heartbreakers, for the majority of his career. Members of The Heartbreakers have played on each of his solo albums and the band has always backed him when touring in support of those albums.
Petty has been honored with 17 Grammy Award nominations since 1981. Petty earned a Grammy Award in 1989 for Best Rock Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal for his work with the Traveling Wilburys. In 1994 he received another two Grammy Awards: Best Male Rock Vocal Performance (for "You Don't Know How It Feels") and Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical). Wildflowers also garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album.
In 1985, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers participated in the world-spanning charity rock concert Live Aid. They also played at the 2001 America: A Tribute to Heroes benefit concert to where he played the song "I Won't Back Down" as a fitting tribute to the current post 9-11 climate.