Petty: The Biography

Zanes (Revolutions in Sound), a musician who toured with Tom Petty, narrates this balanced chronicle of Petty’s career with the detached delivery of a seasoned journalist combined with the intimacy of a friend bold enough to dig deep beneath the surface of his own musical hero. Petty’s humble Florida roots didn’t portend his eventual musical success. In fact, were it not for a series of unlikely events, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers wouldn’t exist today as rock ’n’ roll royalty, with more than 80 million records sold worldwide. Zanes recounts how Petty built the Heartbreakers from pieces of his previous band, Mudcrutch; declared bankruptcy; battled his record label in court; and confronted the 2003 death of Howie Epstein, the band’s longtime bass player. The author’s access to Petty, current and former bandmates (some quite feisty), family members, and famed producer Jimmy Iovine makes this required reading for fans. Furthermore, Zanes’s working knowledge of band dynamics, in conjunction with his crisp and concise writing, undeniably qualify him to tell this story of one of one of rock’s most reclusive superstars. (Nov.)