Florida-born singer-songwriter Tom Petty was brought up in the 1950s on a hearty diet of American rock ‘n’ roll. Aged ten, he discovered his early dream of becoming a musician after having the rare chance to meet Elvis Presley. In the summer of 1961, Petty’s uncle had been working on the set of Presley’s film, Follow That Dream, in nearby Ocala, and invited Petty to watch the shoot. After this brush with stardom, Petty had his first musical icon and traded his Wham-O slingshot for a collection of Elvis 45s.
As a teenager in the 1960s, Petty became enamoured with The Beatles after witnessing the band’s 1964 premier in the States live on The Ed Sullivan Show. “The minute I saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show – and it’s true of thousands of guys – there was the way out. There was the way to do it,” he once explained.
“You get your friends, and you’re a self-contained unit. And you make the music,” he added. “And it looked like so much fun. It was something I identified with. I had never been hugely into sports. I had been a big fan of Elvis. But I really saw in the Beatles that here’s something I could do. I knew I could do it. It wasn’t long before there were groups springing up in garages all over the place.”
After this pivotal moment, Petty dropped out of high school at 17 to form his first band. A decade later, having developed his…
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