Tom Earl Petty, and often The Heartbreakers, is a musician rooting back to Gainesville, Florida. He and the Heartbreakers recently played the Super Bowl XLII Halftime Show in 2008 but the group has been active in different ways since 1976. Tom Petty originally knew he wanted to be a musician when he met Elvis in person during the filming of the Presley Film, Follow That Dream in Ocala, Florida. Petty is often identified with the Heartbreakers, but also does a great deal of solo work, although it can be confusing to decide what is solo at times because of the adamant support of his band. During all of his solo albums one member or another of the Heartbreakers will be heard contributing to the song. For over ten years, the group, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, was together and pushing out albums and singles as a unit.

Releasing such albums as Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, You’re Gonna Get it!, Damn the Torpedoes, and Hard Promises, during this time spawned a number of hit singles such as “Don’t Do Me Like That,” “Listen To Her Heart,” “The Waiting,” and “I Need to Know” to name a few. Shortly thereafter, Ron Blair left the group and was replaced by Howie Epstein on bass by the 1982 release of Long After Dark. In the eighties, Petty founded the Traveling Wilburys along with Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne. They produced two official albums, and a series of bootlegged studio sessions in between. Petty’s first solo album was Full Moon Fever and after a short rejoinder with his bandmates, signed a deal with Warner Bros and has produced several singles and songs since.