Legendary Rocker Tom Petty Dies At 66

Rocker Tom Petty has died at the age of 66 after suffering cardiac arrest at his Malibu home. 

Petty’s longtime manager Tony Dimitriades confirmed the devastating news in a statement late on Monday evening. 

“On behalf of the Tom Petty family we are devastated to announce the untimely death of of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty. He suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu in the early hours of this morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived. He died peacefully at 8:40pm PT surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends,” Dimitriades said in the statement. 

The Lost Hills Sheriffs Station confirmed to Access Hollywood that they responded to Petty’s home on Sunday at 10:46 PM and assisted the Los Angeles Fire Department with transportation of an unresponsive patient to UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center. An erroneous report earlier on Monday falsely reported Perry’s death, leading many fans and celebrities to tweet tributes before the singer passed away late on Monday evening. 

Petty, who was born in Gainesville, Fla., in 1950, rose to fame in the 1970s with his band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The group is known for several big hits including, “American Girl,” “Free Fallin’,” “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” “Breakdown,” “Listen to Her Heart” and “Last Dance With Mary Jane.” 

While the band first formed in the 1970s, it wasn’t until the their third album “Damn The Torpedoes” that they broke through to mainstream music. Their 1980 album nabbed rave reviews and went platinum with hits like “Don’t Do Me Like That” and “Refuge,” thus forging them forward to stardom. 

Petty’s infectious voice and catchy tunes made him a massive success and he earned 18 Grammy nominations and 3 Grammy wins throughout his legendary career.

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. 

Petty was recently on his 40th anniversary tour with his band and their final performance before his passing was at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. He was slated to do several more performances as part of the tour in New York City in early November. 

In December, Petty told Rolling Stone that he thought this would be the group’s final tour together. “I don’t think so. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was thinking this might be the last big one. We’re all on the backside of our sixties. I have a granddaughter now I’d like to see as much as I can. I don’t want to spend my life on the road. This tour will take me away for four months. With a little kid, that’s a lot of time.”

The “Last Dance With Mary Jane” singer is survived by his daughters, Adria Petty, 42, and Kimberly Violette, and his wife, Dana York. He married Dana in 2001. 

Tons of celebrities tweeted their tributes to Petty on Monday. See their special tributes below: