Rockers React: Tom Petty Dies at 66
UPDATE: The Los Angeles Police Department stated earlier today that it had not confirmed Tom Petty’s death and that the information was inadvertently provided to the media. However, during the evening hours Monday night (Oct. 2), family spokesperson Carla Sacks did confirm to the L.A. Times that the rocker had indeed died. "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," read the statement issued by longtime Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers manager Tony Dimitriades. "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."
It has been an extremely rough day for music fans of all genres, with the news of Tom Petty's death after suffering cardiac arrest coming less than a day after the tragic mass shooting at a country music festival that occurred in Las Vegas last night.
Petty was found unconscious at his Malibu residence Sunday evening (Oct. 1) and was placed on life support for a period of time. Eventually the decision was made to remove the singer from life support after it was determined that there was no brain activity. Tom Petty was 66.
Petty was an icon in the music industry, building one of the most stellar catalogues of music with his band the Heartbreakers. In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to his work with the Heartbreakers, Petty released a trio of solo albums, worked with the all-star supergroup the Travelin' Wilburys and enjoyed a monster hit duetting with Stevie Nicks on "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." Late in his career, he revived his pre-Heartbreakers band Mudcrutch for a pair of albums.
As expected, Petty's death has shocked many in the music industry and the reactions are starting to come in via social media. Below is a sampling of some of the rockers who have spoken about Petty's impact as a musician and what the loss means means to them. We'll continue to update this list as more reactions come in.
Rockers We've Lost in 2017