Tom Petty

Tom Petty was one of the best-selling music artists of all time, making music in a career that lasted from about 1970 to 2017. He was born in Florida in 1950 and had a brother seven years younger than him. He once described his father as a "wild, gambling, drinking guy" who didn't accept the fact that he was mild-mannered and interested in the arts.

He met Elvis Presley in the summer of 1961, and became an instant Presley fan; he went home and traded a slingshot for a collection of Elvis 45's. But when he saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show a few years later, that was when he decided he could be a rock star. He dropped out of high school at age 17 to start a rock band.

He played with a number of bands, but was most famous with the Heartbreakers. His final tour ended in Los Angeles, where he lived. According to friends, he seemed to be in a good mood, but he died of a drug overdose which most people considered accidental. He had apparently been suffering from pain and taking pain medications, so there was great interest in how it happened, but it was taken as a tragedy by the music world, as he was universally popular.


___ 1. Which describes his personality as a kid?
a. wild
b. addicted to drugs
c. serious about studying
d. mild-mannered

___ 2. What performance made him want to be a rock star?
a. a performance of Elvis Presley in the mid-sixties
b. a performance of the Beatles in the mid-sixties
c. a performance of the Heartbreakers
d. a perfomance of Ed Sullivan

___ 3. Why did he drop out of high school?
a. to play music
b. because he didn't get along with his father
c. his father had a rock band
d. he moved to Los Angeles

___ 4. When he traded his slingshot, what did he get in return?
a. Elvis' gun
b. records
c. drugs
d. a fan